Article

Fort Liard

Published Online August 7, 2012

Last Edited March 4, 2015

Fort Liard, NWT, incorporated as a hamlet in 1987, population 536 (2011c), 583 (2006c). The Hamlet of Fort Liard is located on the south bank of the Liard River, 544 km by air southwest of Yellowknife and about 25 km north of the BC border.

Fort Liard, NWT, incorporated as a hamlet in 1987, population 536 (2011c), 583 (2006c). The Hamlet of Fort Liard is located on the south bank of the Liard River, 544 km by air southwest of Yellowknife and about 25 km north of the BC border. One of the oldest continuously occupied Indigenous sites in the NWT, the area has been used as a fishing camp by Indigenous cultures for about 9000 years. As late as 1966, most of the Dene residents still lived the traditional lifestyle and spent winter months away from the settlement and on the trapline. The community was isolated until the opening of the Liard Highway in 1984.

Today, trapping, hunting and traditional arts and crafts are combined with work in the oil and natural gas sector. In 2000, natural gas wells went into production in the area but currently have suspended operations.