Fort St. James is a

district municipality A district municipality is a designation for a class of municipalities found in several locations, including Canada, Lithuania, and South Africa. Canada British Columbia Under provincial law, municipalities in British Columbia are to be desi ...

and former fur

trading post A trading post, trading station, or trading house, also known as a factory in European and colonial contexts, is an establishment or settlement where goods and services could be traded. Typically a trading post allows people from one geogr ...

in northern central

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, Canada. It is located on the south-eastern shore of Stuart Lake in the

Omineca Country The Omineca Country, also called the Omineca District or the Omineca, is a historical geographic region of the Northern Interior of British Columbia, roughly defined by the basin of the Omineca River but including areas to the south which allowed ...

, at the northern terminus of Highway 27, which connects to Highway 16 at Vanderhoof. It is home to the John Prince Research Forest which features abundant wildlife. This community celebrated its

bicentennial __NOTOC__ A bicentennial or bicentenary is the two-hundredth anniversary of a part, or the celebrations thereof. It may refer to: Europe * French Revolution bicentennial, commemorating the 200th anniversary of 14 July 1789 uprising, celebrated ...

in 2016 and is incorporated as a

Fort St. James National Historic Site

Founded by the

North West Company The North West Company was a Fur trade in Canada, Canadian fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in the regions that later became Western Canada a ...

explorer and

fur trade The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal ecosystem, boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals h ...

r Simon Fraser in 1806, it came under the management of the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...

in 1821 with the forced merger of the two battling fur companies. Also known historically as Stuart Lake Post, it is one of British Columbia's oldest permanent European settlements and was the administrative centre for the

's New Caledonia fur district. The fort, rebuilt four times, continued as an important trading post well into the twentieth century. Now the fort is a

National Historic Site of Canada National Historic Sites of Canada () are places that have been designated by the federal Minister of the Environment on the advice of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (HSMBC), as being of national historic significance. Parks C ...

with some buildings dating to the 1880s.

History

As part of his commission from the

Fraser Fraser may refer to: Places Antarctica * Fraser Point, South Orkney Islands Australia * Fraser, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb in the Canberra district of Belconnen * Division of Fraser (Australian Capital Territory), a former federal ...

and his assistants John Stuart and James McDougall explored potential river routes to the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

from 1805 through 1808. Explorations in the Winter of 1805-06 by McDougall resulted in the discovery of Carrier's Lake, now known as Stuart Lake. In the heart of territory inhabited by the Carrier or

Dakelh The Dakelh (pronounced ) or Carrier are a First Nations in Canada, First Nations Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous people living a large portion of the British Columbia Interior, Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada. The Dakel ...

First Nation, this proved to be a lucrative locale for

fur trading The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal ecosystem, boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals h ...

and so a post – Fort St. James – was built on its shore in 1806. In 1821, the fort came under the control of the

, when the

merged with it. It subsequently became the administrative headquarters of the company's vast

New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

District. The fur trade was slow to take root in the area, since the economy of the

people had been based on the fishery, rather than on trapping. In addition, there were customary and ceremonial restrictions which placed obstacles in the way of an efficient fur economy. Nonetheless, eventually the post became profitable, and continued to function until its closure in 1952. The community is located on the south-eastern shore of Stuart Lake, at the head of the Stuart River. Both the lake and the river are named for Fraser's assistant John Stuart, who would later become head of the

District of the North West Company.

Climate

Fort St. James is located in the sub-boreal spruce zone of

, a sub-division of the hemiboreal climatic zone. It is characterised by severe, snowy winters and short, warm summers. The region is rich in wildlife. Under the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

Fort St. James is classified as a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...

(''Dfb'').

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; ), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. It is headquartered in ...

, Fort St. James had a population of 1,386 living in 586 of its 671 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 1,598. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. About one quarter of the population of the greater Fort St. James area identify as being of

First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...

origin The town is surrounded by numerous, small

communities and

Indian reserves In Canada, an Indian reserve () or First Nations reserve () is defined by the ''Indian Act'' as a "tract of land, the legal title to which is vested in Her Majesty, that has been set apart by Her Majesty for the use and benefit of a band." R ...

, including Pinchie, Tachie, and Nak'azdli. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Fort St. James had the highest proportion of

South Asians Ethnic groups in South Asia are ethnolinguistic groupings within the diverse populations of South Asia, including the countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Afghanistan is variously considered to be a p ...

of any municipality in Canada, forming approximately 22% of the total population as per the

1991 census It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union collapsed, leaving fifteen sovereign republics and the CIS in its place. In July 1991, India abandoned its policies of dirigism, license r ...

. The South Asian community of Fort St. James was composed mostly of

Punjabis The Punjabis (Punjabi language, Punjabi: ; ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ; romanised as Pañjābī) are an Indo-Aryan peoples, Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group associated with the Punjab region, comprising areas of northwestern India and eastern Paki ...

of the Sikh faith. Gursikh Temple, the local

gurdwara A gurdwara or gurudwara () is a place of assembly and place of worship, worship in Sikhism, but its normal meaning is "place of guru" or "home of guru". Sikhism, Sikhs also refer to gurdwaras as ''Gurdwara Sahib''. People from all faiths and rel ...

, was built in 1981. The Sikh population of Fort St. James declined from 435 in 1991 (21.6% of the municipality's 2,015 residents) to 20 in 2021 (1.5% of the municipality's 1,330 residents), as many Sikhs moved to

Greater Vancouver Greater Vancouver, also known as Metro Vancouver, is the metropolitan area with its major urban centre being the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The term ''Greater Vancouver'' describes an area that is roughly coterminous with the r ...

. The Gursikh Temple was donated to the Victory

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

Church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

in 2013. *Note: Totals greater than 100% due to multiple origin responses.

Notable people

Jim Playfair James Playfair (born May 22, 1964) is a Canadian former ice hockey coach and defenceman. He was drafted in the first round, 20th overall, by the Edmonton Oilers in the 1982 NHL entry draft. Following his retirement due to an injury, Playfair coac ...

, Associate Coach of the Edmonton Oilers, NHL *

Larry Playfair Larry William Playfair (born June 23, 1958) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He played for the Buffalo Sabres and Los Angeles Kings in the NHL and he has worked as a color analyst for Sabres television broadcasts since his 199 ...

, Former NHL player with the Buffalo Sabres and the Los Angeles Kings * Dylan Playfair, Actor, most notable role is "Reilly" on TV show Letterkenny. * Brian Spencer "Spinner", former player in the National Hockey League and the subject of the film, 'Gross Misconduct'. * Chief Kwah (aka Chief Kw'eh), (ca. 1755–1840), leading Dakelh chief of the Stuart Lake area. * Cody Legebokoff, Convicted serial killer *Rowan Yates, Professional Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege player * Johan Pitka, Estonian military commander

Notes

References

External links

* {{authority control District municipalities in British Columbia Populated places in the Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako Hudson's Bay Company forts North West Company forts