Northern Journal

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Northern Journal
Northern Journal logo.jpeg
TypeWeekly newspaper
Founder(s)Don Jaque
PublisherDon Jaque
EditorCraig Gilbert
Managing editorDon Jaque
Managing editor, designSandra Jaque
Photo editorPaul Bannister
Staff writersDali Carmichael
Founded1977
LanguageEnglish
Headquarters207 McDougal Road, P.O. Box 990, Fort Smith, N.W.T. Canada X0E 0P0
ISSN 0707-4964
Website http://www.norj.ca

The Northern Journal was a weekly newspaper based out of Fort Smith, Northwest Territories, Canada.

History

The newspaper was founded in 1977 as the Slave River Journal. In 2011, owner and publisher Don Jaque renamed the paper to expand its coverage beyond Fort Smith. The Northern Journal had a stated circulation of 4,000, as of June 2013. [1]

Coverage of the Northern Journal included Fort Smith, the N.W.T.'s South Slave region, Fort Chipewyan and the oilsands industry near Fort McMurray. Staff were based in the Fort Smith newsroom, although the newspaper also relied on freelancers across the Northwest Territories and had regular contributors based in Yellowknife. [2]

Jaque announced on March 1, 2016 that the newspaper would be closing because of "a perfect storm" of circumstances. [3]

The region's small population and business community made it difficult to keep the newspaper profitable. Most businesses had also moved their advertising to Facebook. [3] [4]

The newspaper had also lost advertising from oil companies because of coverage of health concerns towards the oilsands shared by people living in Fort McKay and Fort Chipewyan. The collapsing oil prices of the 2010s oil glut forced most remaining businesses to withdraw advertising. [3]

The biggest shortfall came when the government of the Northwest Territories stopped advertising. [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northwest Territories</span> Territory of Canada

The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada. At a land area of approximately 1,144,000 km2 (442,000 sq mi) and a 2016 census population of 41,790, it is the second-largest and the most populous of the three territories in Northern Canada. Its estimated population as of 2023 is 45,668. Yellowknife is the capital, most populous community, and only city in the territory; its population was 19,569 as of the 2016 census. It became the territorial capital in 1967, following recommendations by the Carrothers Commission.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Athabasca River</span> Canadian river in Alberta

The Athabasca River is a river in Alberta, Canada, which originates at the Columbia Icefield in Jasper National Park and flows more than 1,231 km (765 mi) before emptying into Lake Athabasca. Much of the land along its banks is protected in national and provincial parks, and the river is designated a Canadian Heritage River for its historical and cultural importance. The scenic Athabasca Falls is located about 30 km (19 mi) upstream from Jasper.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slavey</span> First Nations aboriginal people of Canada

The Slavey are a First Nations indigenous peoples of the Dene group, indigenous to the Great Slave Lake region, in Canada's Northwest Territories, and extending into northeastern British Columbia and northwestern Alberta.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Chipewyan</span> Hamlet in Alberta, Canada

Fort Chipewyan, commonly referred to as Fort Chip, is a hamlet in northern Alberta, Canada, within the Regional Municipality (RM) of Wood Buffalo. It is located on the western tip of Lake Athabasca, adjacent to Wood Buffalo National Park, approximately 223 kilometres (139 mi) north of Fort McMurray.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Slave Lake</span> Second-largest lake in the Northwest Territories, Canada

Great Slave Lake is the second-largest lake in the Northwest Territories of Canada, the deepest lake in North America at 614 m (2,014 ft), and the tenth-largest lake in the world by area. It is 469 km (291 mi) long and 20 to 203 km wide. It covers an area of 27,200 km2 (10,500 sq mi) in the southern part of the territory. Its given volume ranges from 1,070 km3 (260 cu mi) to 1,580 km3 (380 cu mi) and up to 2,088 km3 (501 cu mi) making it the 10th or 12th largest by volume.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wood Buffalo National Park</span> National park in Alberta and Northwest Territories, Canada

Wood Buffalo National Park is the largest national park of Canada at 44,741 km2 (17,275 sq mi). It is in northeastern Alberta and the southern Northwest Territories. Larger in area than Switzerland, it is the second-largest national park in the world. The park was established in 1922 to protect the world's largest herd of free-roaming wood bison. They became hybridized after the introduction of plains bison. The population is currently estimated at about 3,000. It is one of two known nesting sites of whooping cranes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chipewyan</span> Indigenous people of northwestern Canada

The Chipewyan are a Dene Indigenous Canadian people of the Athabaskan language family, whose ancestors are identified with the Taltheilei Shale archaeological tradition. They are part of the Northern Athabascan group of peoples, and hail from what is now Western Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chipewyan language</span> Athabaskan language spoken in northwestern Canada

Chipewyan or Dënesųłinë́, often simply called Dëne, is the language spoken by the Chipewyan people of northwestern Canada. It is categorized as part of the Northern Athabaskan language family. It has nearly 12,000 speakers in Canada, mostly in Saskatchewan, Alberta, Manitoba and the Northwest Territories. It has official status only in the Northwest Territories, alongside 8 other aboriginal languages: Cree, Tlicho, Gwich'in, Inuktitut, Inuinnaqtun, Inuvialuktun, North Slavey and South Slavey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo</span> Municipality in Alberta, Canada

The Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo is a specialized municipality in northeast Alberta, Canada. It is the largest municipality in North America by area and is home to oil sand deposits known as the Athabasca oil sands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Smith, Northwest Territories</span> Town in Northwest Territories, Canada

Fort Smith is a town in the South Slave Region of the Northwest Territories (NWT), Canada. It is located in the southeastern portion of the Northwest Territories, on the Slave River and adjacent to the Alberta border along the 60th parallel north.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Resolution</span> Hamlet in Northwest Territories, Canada

Fort Resolution is a hamlet in the South Slave Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. The community is situated at the mouth of the Slave River, on the shores of Great Slave Lake, and at the end of the Fort Resolution Highway. It is the headquarters of the Deninu Kųę́ First Nation, whose Chief is Louis Balsillie.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo</span> Provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada

Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo is a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada. The district is one of 87 districts mandated to return a single member (MLA) to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post method of voting.

<i>Treaty 8</i> Treaty between First Nations and Canadian Crown

Treaty 8, which concluded with the June 21, 1899, signing by representatives of the Crown and various First Nations of the Lesser Slave Lake area, is the most comprehensive of the eleven Numbered Treaties. The agreement encompassed a land mass of approximately 840,000 km2 (320,000 sq mi). Treaty territory, which includes thirty-nine First Nation communities in northern Alberta, northwestern Saskatchewan, northeastern British Columbia, and the southwest portion of the Northwest Territories, making it the largest of the numbered treaty in terms of area. The treaty was negotiated just south of present-day Grouard, Alberta.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South Slave Region</span> Administrative region in Northwest Territories, Canada

The South Slave Region is one of five administrative regions in the Northwest Territories of Canada. According to Municipal and Community Affairs the region consists of seven communities with the regional office situated in Fort Smith and a sub-office in Hay River. With the exception of Enterprise and Hay River the communities are predominantly First Nations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort McKay First Nation</span>

The Fort McKay First Nation (FMFN) is a First Nations government in northeast Alberta comprising five Indian reserves – Fort McKay 174, Fort McKay 174C, Fort McKay 174D, Namur Lake 174B and Namur River 174A. The FMFN, signed to Treaty 8, is affiliated with the Athabasca Tribal Council and its members are of Cree, Metis and Dene heritage. The FMFN's traditional lands include portions of the Athabasca oil sands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boats of the Mackenzie River watershed</span>

The Mackenzie River in Canada's Northwest Territories is a historic waterway, used for centuries by Indigenous peoples, specifically the Dene, as a travel and hunting corridor. Also known as the Deh Cho, it is part of a larger watershed that includes the Slave, Athabasca, and Peace rivers extending from northern Alberta. In the 1780s, Peter Pond, a trader with the North West Company became the first known European to visit this watershed and begin viable trade with the Athapascan-speaking Dene of these rivers. The Mackenzie River itself, the great waterway extending to the Arctic Ocean, was first put on European maps by Alexander Mackenzie in 1789, the Scottish trader who explored the river. The watershed thus became a vital part of the North American fur trade, and before the advent of the airplane or road networks, the river was the only communication link between northern trading posts and the south. Water travel increased in the late 19th century as traders, dominated primarily by the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), looked to increase water services in the Mackenzie River District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Akaitcho</span> Chief of the Yellowknives, an Indigenous Canadian group (ca. 1786–1838)

Akaitcho was a Copper Indian, and Chief of the Yellowknives. His territory included the region from the eastern portion of the Great Slave Lake, in the Northwest Territories, Canada, to the Coppermine River, in Nunavut. He was recruited to act as interpreter, guide, and hunter for John Franklin's first of three Arctic expeditions, the Coppermine Expedition of 1819–1822.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Region 5, Northwest Territories</span> Census division in the Northwest Territories, Canada

Region 5 is the name of a Statistics Canada census division, one of six in the Northwest Territories, Canada. It was introduced in the 2011 census, along with Regions 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6, resulting in the abolition of the former census divisions of Fort Smith Region and Inuvik Region. Unlike in some other provinces, census divisions do not reflect the organization of local government in the Northwest Territories. These areas exist solely for the purposes of statistical analysis and presentation; they have no government of their own.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South Slave Divisional Education Council</span> School in Fort Smith, Northwest Territories, Canada

The South Slave Divisional Education Council (SSDEC) is the organizational entity responsible for the administration of public schools within the South Slave Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. Its responsibility includes all schools within the five communities of the South Slave. Specifically, it is responsible for schools in the communities of Fort Resolution, Fort Smith, K'atl'odeche First Nation, Hay River, and Łutselk'e. Given the vast distances between communities, and the relatively small populations, the eight schools of the South Slave range in enrolment from 60 to 250 students. Although considered part of the South Slave Region by other departments of the Government of the Northwest Territories, the communities of Fort Providence and Kakisa are served by the Deh Cho Divisional Education Council and not the SSDEC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ɂejëre Kʼelnı Kuę́ 196I</span> Indian reserve in Smiths Landing

Ɂejëre Kʼelnı Kuę́ 196I, also known as Hay Camp, is an Indian reserve in northern Alberta, Canada. The reserve is one of ten reserves under the governance of the Smith's Landing First Nation, known in their language as the Dene Ch'anie. The reserve is located on the west bank of Slave River within Wood Buffalo National Park, and comprises 213 ha.

References

  1. "Reinventing the press | upherebusiness.ca". upherebusiness.ca. Archived from the original on August 18, 2013.
  2. About us srj.ca [ dead link ]
  3. 1 2 3 4 Jaque, Don (March 1, 2016). "Death of a newspaper by a thousand cuts – Northern Journal". Northern Journal. Retrieved June 13, 2023.
  4. Rendell, Mark (February 22, 2016). "Last Days of the Northern Journal". Edge North. Retrieved June 13, 2023.

60°00′24″N111°53′17″W / 60.00667°N 111.88806°W / 60.00667; -111.88806