where is fort smith?

Fort Smith (a.k.a. Smith) is located on the west bank of the Slave River,  at the 60th parallel in the Northwest Territories on the boarder with Alberta.  That's about all we are close to.  It's a 9 hour drive to Yellowknife (1 hr flight worth $700 return), 15 to Edmonton (2 hr flight worth $1200 return) and a full day's flying home (to Ottawa).   So lots of driving and flying to get anywhere.


View fort smith in a larger map

The community is very well-equipped for a town of ~2400.  Check out the excellent town website here.  We have two grocery stores, a pharmacy, a library, a book store, a health centre, and an amazing rec centre.  There are three Aboriginal groups in town -- Salt River First Nation, Smiths Landing First Nation and the Metis.  There is quite the government presence (it used to be the capital of the NWT) and also houses the Thebaca Campus of the Aurora College as well as the Aurora Research Institute.  We have a great local newspaper, the Slave River Journal, as well. 

Nestled in the middle of the boreal forest, access to nature is only a few minutes drive from town.  Smith is also the main gateway for Wood Buffalo National Park, the 2nd largest park in the world.  It is an important nesting place for the whooping crane, one of the rarest birds in the world and home to the largest free ranging population of wood bison in the world.... so, a pretty special place.     

The only road to Smith