67°27'N, 133°44'W
Tsiigehtchic is a community of less than 200 persons located at the confluence of the Mackenzie River and the Arctic Red River. Formerly called Arctic Red River, the community officially changed its name to Tsiigehtchic (Mouth of Iron River) in 1994 to honour it's traditional name. This location has a very long history as a summer fish camp for the Gwichya Gwich'in ("people of the flat lands") and was the site of many gatherings and trade (both friendly and not so friendly) between the Gwichya Gwich'in, Slavey and Inuvialuit.
As long as anyone can remember, the Gwichya Gwich'in traveled up the Arctic Red River into the mountains along the Yukon NWT border, in late summer. There they lived and hunted through the winter. When the river opened in spring, they returned to their fishing grounds at Tsiigehtchic and other places along the Mackenzie River for the summer.
Missionaries established a Roman Catholic church in the area in 1868, however some families continued to winter in the mountains until the 1960s. Construction of the Dempster Highway in the 1970s brought wage employment, and some community members operate the ferry which carries summer traffic across the Mackenzie and the Arctic Red Rivers.
