Garden River, Alberta
Garden River, also known as Garden Creek, is an unincorporated community in northern Alberta, Canada, within Wood Buffalo National Park. It is on the north shore of the Peace River at the terminus of Garden River Road, an extension of Highway 58, approximately east of the Town of High Level. It is a First Nations community of the Little Red River Cree Nation.
History
Lying 5 kilometres inside the original 1922 boundary of Wood Buffalo National Park, this predominantly First Nations community was never officially recognized by the federal government, until a special amendment to the Canada National Parks Act removed the community from the park on June 19, 2017. Corresponding orders-in-council from the provincial government of Alberta are expected to facilitate the creation of a new Indian reserve encompassing Garden River's territory. This would become the third reserve of the Little Red River Cree Nation, after Fox Lake 162 and John D'Or Prairie 215.Demographics
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Garden River had a population of 706 living in 113 of its 133 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 643. With a land area of, it had a population density of in 2021.Most of the residents speak Woods Cree at home.