Hay River Reserve

, 2004 Although the Dene had been using the area around the mouth of the Hay River for many years as a fishing site it was not settled until the 1890s when Chief Chiatlo led a group to the site. Later both the Anglican, with a mission school, and the Roman Catholic Church along with trading posts and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police arrived. However, the NWT Government says that the first building in the area was the Hudson's Bay Company, followed by the Roman Catholic Mission, and then the Anglican Mission. The original site was located right at the mouth of the river just east of Vale Island at However, this site was subject to flooding and it was decided to move to a different area. The current site is located on the south shore of the Hay River, near the mouth of Great Slave Lake In 1974 the then chief, Daniel Sonfrere, negotiated a settlement with the Government of Canada and the first reserve in the NWT was formed. ==Gallery==

File:Hay River Mission Site n-1979-004-00151.jpg|Hay River Mission site File:A view of the Hay River settlement from the Mission Boarding School, Northwest Territories, 1922 - Vue de Hay River a partir de la Mission, Territoires du -Nord-Ouest, 1922 (14112957702).jpg|A view of the Hay River settlement from the Mission Boarding School, 1922 File:Children on their way to school in Hay River, Northwest Territories, 1931 - Enfants en route pour l’école à Hay River (Territoires du Nord-Ouest), 1931 (13929401648).jpg|Children on their way to school in Hay River, 1931 File:St. Luke’s English Church Mission School, Hay River, Northwest Territories, 1922 - École missionnaire de l’Église anglicane St. Luke’s, Hay River (Territoires du Nord-Ouest), 1922 (14112742641).jpg|St. Luke's English Church Mission School, Hay River, 1922 ==Climate==

Hay River has a subarctic climate (Dfc) with mild to warm summers and long cold winters. == Demographics ==

In the 2021 Canadian census conducted by Statistics Canada, Hay River Dene 1 had a population of 259 living in 90 of its 116 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 309. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. == Arts and culture ==

Hay River Reserve is the setting for a children's story called Smelly Socks. The book was written by Robert Munsch and illustrated by Michael Martchenko. Munsch created the story based on a little girl named Tina whom he met while visiting the reserve in 1984. The illustrations in the book were based on actual pictures of Tina and the community provided by local multimedia artist Frederick Lepine. ==See also==