Tetlit Service Co-operative

Community owned Co-operatives in the Arctic are multi-purpose businesses that provide a wide range of services to their members and their communities. Services provided by local Co-ops include retail stores, hotel and tourism operations, cable television, arts and craft marketing, fuel distribution, construction & heavy equipment services, property rental and a variety of agency type services. Tetlit Service Co-operative operates a retail facility and a hotel/restaurant including a conference and cultural centre that displays local artifacts and art. Other businesses operated by this Co-op include fuel delivery, a gas bar, cable television services, a post office and other local services. The traditional name is Teetl’it Zheh (Town at the head of the waters). Fort McPherson was established in 1852 when a Gwich’in village named Old Fort moved from six kilometres upriver to the present town site and is located on a triangular bluff overlooking the Peel River, at the southwestern edge of the Mackenzie Delta. In 1860, an Anglican mission was set up by Father Grollier, and in 1903 a Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) detachment was built. Traditionally, the Teetl’it Gwich’in people of the area moved between the Richardson Mountains and the river valleys according to seasonal hunting and fishing opportunities. They were known to visit the Hudson Bay trading post to exchange goods. Eventually, many settled in the community now known as Fort McPherson. Fort McPherson has a population of approximately 776. More than 80 percent of the population is of Gwich’in descent, making Fort McPherson the largest Gwich’in settlement in the Northwest Territories.