Fort McPherson, Northwest Territories


Fort McPherson is a hamlet located in the Inuvik Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is located on the east bank of the Peel River and is south of Inuvik on the Dempster Highway.
The two principal languages spoken are Gwich'in and English.
Originally the site of a Hudson's Bay Company post the community was named for Murdoch McPherson.
The Gwich'in people of Fort McPherson are very welcoming of strangers and go out of their way to make them welcome. Most people have vehicles and regularly make trips to either Inuvik, or Whitehorse, Yukon.

History

Fort McPherson was the starting point of Francis Joseph Fitzgerald's famous tragic journey of "The Lost Patrol". All four men on the Patrol, including Fitzgerald, were buried at Fort McPherson on 28 March 1911. In 1938, the graves were cemented over into one large tomb, with cement posts at the four corners connected by a chain. In the centre is a memorial to the Royal Northwest Mounted Police Patrol of 1910.

National Historic Site

In 1969, the area comprising the boundaries of the community of Fort McPherson, as it was mapped in 1898, was designated a National Historic Site of Canada, in recognition of the fact that the site had served as the principal Hudson's Bay Company trading post in the MacKenzie Delta region for over 50 years, and had been the first North-West Mounted Police post in the Western Arctic.

Transportation

Fort McPherson is accessible by road all year from Dawson City and Whitehorse, Yukon, with the exception of spring break-up and fall freeze-up on the Peel River. The community also has access to Inuvik via the Dempster Highway and crosses the Mackenzie River at Tsiigehtchic.
There is also a small airport at Fort McPherson, Fort McPherson Airport, that has seasonal flights to Inuvik Airport on Aklak Air when the road across the Peel is closed. The former Fort McPherson Water Aerodrome was listed as closed in the 15 March 2007 Canada Flight Supplement.

Demographics

Population is 700 according to the 2016 Census, an 11.6% decrease from the 2011 Census count of 792. In the 2016 Census 695 people identified as Indigenous, 610 as First Nations, 15 as Métis, 20 as Inuit or Inuvialuit, 10 giving multiple or other aboriginal responses and 40 Non-Aboriginal. In 2017 the Government of the Northwest Territories reported that the population was 776 with an average yearly growth rate of -0.4% from 2007.

Climate

Fort McPherson experiences a subarctic climate. The highest temperature ever recorded in Fort McPherson was on 7 August 1919 and 20 July 2001. The coldest temperature ever recorded was on 14 January 1894.