Fort McKay is a First Nation community of approximately 800 Cree and Dene people located in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, approximately 55 kilometres north of Fort McMurray.
First Nation roots run deep in Fort McKay, stretching back to 1820 and coinciding with the placement of the Hudson Bay Company trading post in the area. In 1912, the community was named after Dr. William Morrison MacKay—Alberta’s first resident doctor and the first President of the Northern Alberta Medical Association.
This land gave abundantly to our ancestors. Their livelihood, and naturally what Fort McKay has become today, depended on a keen ability to gather, hunt, fish, nurture, and work in nature. To this day, our people have an unbreakable connection to the environment and continually work to protect, respect, and restore its natural beauty while attending to the economic health and growth of Fort McKay.