Cold Lake First Nations

The Cold Lake First Nations is a First Nations band government. This band is the governing body for people descended from several different historic groups, hence the plural, nations, used in the band's name. In August 2016, there were 2,858 members of this band, of which 1,382 lived within five reserves, about 220 square kilometres (85 sq mi) large within the province of Alberta.

The Chipewyan of Cold Lake occupy the territory around present-day Cold Lake, Alberta, in the northeast of the province close to the Saskatchewan border. They are the only Chipewyan community who are signatory to Treaty Six and are somewhat isolated from other Chipewyan. Their closest Chipewyan neighbors are situated at Ejerésche or Dillon, Saskatchewan and K’ái K'oz Desé or Janvier, Alberta, both of which are approximately 5 hours away by motor vehicle.

Oral traditions of the Cold Lake First Nations reach back in time and in traditions similar to those we can expect at the end of the last ice age.Prehistoric artifacts, such as stone tools and pottery, have been dated to over 4,000 years old. Researchers have also discovered a pre-Columbian campsite covering about 1,200 square metres along the lakeshore at English Bay. Locally known as Berry Point, the area has been used by the Chipewyan for fishing, hunting and gathering medicines since time immemorial. The bones of their ancestors are buried in gravesites there.

The Chipewyan of Cold Lake were traditionally a nomadic people who lived off the land by hunting and gathering. Wetlands, prairie and boreal forest made up their homelands in this eco-region and was indeed plentiful in food. During the fur trade era, they trapped in and around Primrose Lake and Cold Lake where there was an abundance in fur-bearing animals such as beaver and muskrat

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