The lake has been called Swan Lake then Whitefish Lake (Lac Poisson Blanc in French). In 1911 the lake was renamed Garson Lake after a
Hudson's Bay Company post manager at
Onion Lake, Saskatchewan.
Mgr. Grandin O.M.I. wrote in 1880 that there were 200 people at La Loche Lake and Whitefish Lake. In 1895, Father Penard of the La Loche Mission wrote that there was a settlement of 50 people at Whitefish Lake. On August 4, 1899, the
Dene residents of Garson Lake signed an adhesion to
Treaty 8 at Fort McMurray. Their descendants came to be known as the Portage La Loche Band. Today they form the
Clearwater River Dene Nation. In the Piercy Report of 1944, the settlement was called Garson Lake or Whitefish Lake. The community had 17 families with 50 children under the age of 18. The community had no services of any kind and was not accessible by road. In 1999, Garson Lake Road, a access road from Highway 155, was completed to Garson Lake. == Demographics ==