Norway House is a population centre of over 5,000 people, some north of

Lake Winnipeg Lake Winnipeg () is a very large, relatively shallow lake in North America, in the Canadian province of Manitoba. Its southern end is about north of the city of Winnipeg. Lake Winnipeg is Canada's sixth-largest freshwater lake and the third- ...

, on the bank of the eastern channel of the

Nelson River The Nelson River is a river of north-central North America, in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. The river drains Lake Winnipeg and runs before it ends in Hudson Bay near Port Nelson, Manitoba, Port Nels ...

, in the province of

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. The population centre shares the name ''Norway House'' with the northern community of Norway House and Norway House 17, a First Nation reserve of the Norway House Cree Nation (Kinosao Sipi Cree Nation). Thus, Norway House has both a Chief and a Mayor. The community is located by air north of

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

, by air east of

The Pas The Pas ( , ) is a town in Manitoba, Canada, at the confluence of the Pasquia River and the Saskatchewan River and surrounded by the unorganized Northern Region of the province. It is approximately northwest of the provincial capital, Winn ...

, and by air south of Thompson. To drive from Winnipeg, it is approximately ; from Thompson, it is about . Major economic activities include commercial fishing, trapping, logging, and government services. Seasonal unemployment varies, with peaks as high as 70%. Norway House was an important establishment of the Hudson's Bay Company for most of the 19th century, serving as a major depot, and from the 1830s, as the seat of the Council of the Northern Department of

Rupert's Land Rupert's Land (), or Prince Rupert's Land (), was a territory in British North America which comprised the Hudson Bay drainage basin. The right to "sole trade and commerce" over Rupert's Land was granted to Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), based a ...

History

After the arrival of Europeans in North America, the

Hayes River The Hayes River is a river in Northern Manitoba, Canada, that flows from Molson Lake to Hudson Bay at York Factory. It was historically an important river in the development of Canada and is now a Canadian Heritage River and the longest natu ...

became an important link in the development of Canada. The Hayes was the favoured route between

York Factory York Factory was a settlement and Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) factory (trading post) on the southwestern shore of Hudson Bay in northeastern Manitoba, Canada, at the mouth of the Hayes River, approximately south-southeast of Churchill. York ...

and the interior of western Canada for explorers,

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 ...

rs and European settlers from 1670 to 1870, because transit was easier and food was more readily available. After Anthony Henday's explorations, Joseph Smith was sent in 1756, from

, to explore the area. He ascended the

seeking Lake Winnipeg. He reached Little Playgreen Lake on September 21 that year. In 1816, Lord Selkirk sent out a band of

Norwegians Norwegians () are an ethnic group and nation native to Norway, where they form the vast majority of the population. They share a common culture and speak the Norwegian language. Norwegians are descended from the Norsemen, Norse of the Early ...

, apparently ex-convicts, to build a road from

and a series of supply posts. There are also some accounts that suggest that Norwegians were employed in 1814 and sent to nearby

Playgreen Lake Playgreen Lake or Play Green Lake, is a lake in the province of Manitoba in Canada. The lake covers an area of and it is a part of the Nelson River watershed. The lake is the ninth largest lake in the province. It is located along the Nelson Ri ...

with a herd of

reindeer The reindeer or caribou (''Rangifer tarandus'') is a species of deer with circumpolar distribution, native to Arctic, subarctic, tundra, taiga, boreal, and mountainous regions of Northern Europe, Siberia, and North America. It is the only re ...

to introduce

reindeer herding Reindeer herding is when reindeer are herded by people in a limited area. Currently, reindeer are the only semi-domesticated animal which naturally belong to the North. Reindeer herding is conducted in nine countries: Norway, Finland, Sweden, Russ ...

for

animal husbandry Animal husbandry is the branch of agriculture concerned with animals that are raised for meat, animal fiber, fibre, milk, or other products. It includes day-to-day care, management, production, nutrition, selective breeding, and the raising ...

and pulling sleighs during the winter for the Hudson's Bay Company. They built Norway House at Mossy Point on the west side of the Nelson's outflow from Lake Winnipeg in 1817, replacing the former Jack River post at that location. In the last days of the rivalry between 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 ...

and 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 ...

, prior to their union in 1821, Colin Robertson, of the Hudson's Bay Company from their office in Montreal, organized a brigade of mostly

French-Canadians French Canadians, referred to as Canadiens mainly before the nineteenth century, are an ethnic group descended from French colonists first arriving in France's colony of Canada in 1608. The vast majority of French Canadians live in the provi ...

led by John Clarke, bound for the Athabasca country to compete with the North West Company by developing the trade of supplying the colonists in addition to the company's usual business of trading furs. In 1822, Governor Simpson passed through Norway House in the depth of winter on his way to Cumberland House. Simpson traveled through Norway House to the

Columbia District The Columbia District was a fur-trading district in the Pacific Northwest region of North America, in both the United States and British North America in the 19th century. Much of its territory overlapped with the temporarily jointly occupi ...

in 1824–25, journeying from York Factory. He investigated a quicker route than previously used, following the

Saskatchewan River The Saskatchewan River (Cree: , "swift flowing river") is a major river in Canada. It stretches about from where it is formed by the joining of the North Saskatchewan River and South Saskatchewan River just east of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan ...

and crossing the mountains at Athabasca Pass. This route, which passed through Norway House, was thereafter followed by the York Factory Express brigades. In 1825 or 1826, much of the post was destroyed by fire. In 1826, the company abandoned its position on Mossy Point in favour of its present position on the East River, now known as the Jack River, in order to be nearer to the fishery, the food supply of its population. In 1830, Cumberland House, formerly the most important post in the interior, was supplanted by Norway House. From the 1830s, the Councils of the Hudson's Bay Company (annual meetings of its chief factors) met at Norway House rather than York Factory. These meetings would involve planning decisions for the following year and promotions from clerk to Chief Trader and from Chief Trader to Chief Factor. Such promotions were within the authority of the Governor and Committee. The recommendations of the council would be given to Governor Simpson who would make his recommendations to London. The last of the great Northern Council meetings that were started by Simpson a half century earlier was convened at Norway House by Donald Smith in July 1870. The men met around a great oak table with Smith as the new Governor, following his success in negotiations earlier that year concerning the Red River Rebellion on behalf of Canada, and empowered him to represent them in London concerning the rights of the Chief Factors and Chief Traders to share in the £300,000 transfer fee payable upon the surrender of Rupert's Land. The remnants of the former Hudson’s Bay Company fort established in 1825; the company's principal inland depot for the fur trade and the site where

Treaty 5 ''Treaty Five'' is a treaty between Queen Victoria and Saulteaux and Swampy Cree non-treaty band governments and peoples around Lake Winnipeg in the District of Keewatin. A written text is included in ; see also Much of what is today ce ...

was signed in 1875 was designated a

National Historic Sites 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 ...

in 1932. Surviving buildings include the Archway Warehouse (1839-1841), the Gaol (1855-1856) and the Powder Magazine (1837-1838).

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 ...

, Norway House had a population of 363 living in 134 of its 190 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 478. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. Norway House 17 had a population of 5,390 in 2021 an increase of 12.1% since 2016. The community included 2,239 private dwellings on a land area of 72.99 square km. These two adjoining communities form a population centre of 5,753.

Transportation

Provincial Road (PR) 373, an all-weather road, leads from Norway House past PR 374 which leads to Cross Lake, through Jenpeg and then joins Provincial Trunk Highway 6. There is a ferry that shuttles vehicles across the Nelson Channel just north of Norway House. This ferry runs most of the year, except into the winter months when an ice bridge is opened. The ferry is known to get stuck occasionally in the freeze-up season and cause delays. The most important means of transportation in this remote territory is the

airplane An airplane (American English), or aeroplane (Commonwealth English), informally plane, is a fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine, Propeller (aircraft), propeller, or rocket engine. Airplanes come in a vari ...

. Manitoba Northern Airports maintains Norway House Airport with a crushed-rock

airstrip An aerodrome, airfield, or airstrip is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for public or private use. Aerodromes in ...

. There are daily flights to Winnipeg with Perimeter Aviation.

Services

Norway House has several restaurants, two hotels, a Royal Bank branch, two Northern stores, two Tim Horton locations and a KFC fast food restaurant, a full service post office, two video stores and paved roads within the community. Norway House is served by the

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; , GRC) is the Law enforcement in Canada, national police service of Canada. The RCMP is an agency of the Government of Canada; it also provides police services under contract to 11 Provinces and terri ...

and the NHCN Safety Officers.

Education

The Helen Betty Osborne Ininiw Education Resource Centre is a kindergarten to Grade 12 school with a preschool program as well. It was preceded by the Rossville residential school. It is one of the most technologically-advanced schools in the province and one of the biggest schools of the Frontier School Division. Norway House is home to a regional centre of the University College of the North and has satellite degree programming from

Brandon University Brandon University is a university located in the city of Brandon, Manitoba, Canada, with an enrolment of approximately 3,375 (2020) full-time and part-time undergraduate and graduate students. The current location was founded on July 13, 1899, ...

's Faculty of Education and the

University of Manitoba The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a public research university in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Founded in 1877, it is the first university of Western Canada. Both by total student enrolment and campus area, the University of ...

Climate

Norway House has a

subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a continental climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of ...

(Dfc) bordering a warm summer

continental climate Continental climates often have a significant annual variation in temperature (warm to hot summers and cold winters). They tend to occur in central and eastern parts of the three northern-tier continents (North America, Europe, and Asia), typi ...

(Dfb). As is typical in Manitoba, precipitation patterns are dominant in summers, with winters being cold and dry. Norway House recorded Manitoba's coldest temperature on January 9, 1899, when the temperature reached -52.8°C (-63°F).

Treaty and York Boat Days

The Treaty and York Boat Days are annually each summer from the beginning of August for a week; the York Boat events serve as the main attraction. These are team boat races with participants aged 8–18. This event is to honor the traditions of the ancestors who once used York Boats as a means of transportation. Treaty and York Boat Days has a variety of hosts each year who set up food booths for the community to come together, often these booths prepare meals that are homemade.

References

External links

Norway House Community Council

Norway House Cree Nation

Stats Canada, 2006 Census, Norway House Reserve 17

Manitoba Aboriginal and Northern Affairs, Community Profile, Norway House
{{NHSC Designated places in Manitoba Hudson's Bay Company trading posts Northern communities in Manitoba Norwegian Canadian settlements Settlements in Manitoba Unincorporated communities in Northern Region, Manitoba