Fort McKay

Fort McKay (formerly Fort MacKay) is a small First Nations (Aboriginal) village in Wood Buffalo with a population of 621 in 2021. Like Fort McMurray 60 km to the south, the hamlet of Fort MacKay is part of the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo.

Understand
This page covers a large but sparsely-populated rural area on the Athabasca River north of Fort McMurray, Alberta.

Most of this territory is First Nations reserve land which belongs to the Fort McKay First Nation. Its members are of Cree and Dene heritage.

The economy is centred on the development of the Athabasca oil sands to the immediate south and north. Motorists travelling north on Highway 63 pass through oil sands developments en route to the community.

History
The community was named in 1912 after Dr. Williams Morrison MacKay, the first president of the Northern Alberta Medical Association. At the request of the Fort McKay Métis Community, the name of the hamlet was changed to Fort McKay in 2018.

Fort McKay hosted 5000 evacuees from the 2016 Fort McMurray Wildfire but itself was put under an evacuation notice due to the northward advance of the flames toward the community.

By car
The only road access is Highway 63, which runs south through Fort McMurray ending at Highway 55 between Athabasca and Lac La Biche. Services on much of this road are limited. To the north, this highway reaches a dead end without passing through any other villages. There is no all-season road north to Fort Chipewyan.

See and do
Fort McKay is a town full of services for the oil and gas industry. It's not a place to be looking for a lot of things to see or do. It's a working town.

Eat

 * There is a Tim Horton's directly north of the Fort McKay hamlet.
 * Fort McMurray has more dining options.

Sleep
There are three lodges which, while nominally open to the public, tend to be rather basic as they target primarily workers in the nearby oil sands camps:

Go next

 * Fort McMurray