As the Gateway to Thaidene Nëné, Frontier Lodge offers world-class fishing and cultural programs.
In January 2020, the Łutsël K’é Dene First Nation (LKDFN) became the proud owners of Frontier Lodge, located just a few kilometres from our community on Tu Nedhé (Great Slave Lake). A board of directors made up of community members guides lodge operations.
For decades, our members have worked as expert guides at Frontier, as well as in other positions, sharing their deep knowledge of our homelands with fishers who come from all over the world to catch enormous lake trout, as well as northern pike and grayling.
Over the last few years, lodge staff and contractors have been busy with much-needed capital improvements, including upgrades to buildings, fixtures and equipment, and furniture. At the same time, work has been done to connect the lodge to the land and the Dënesųłıné people who have called this place home since time immemorial.
The lodge board and staff hosted community meetings and interviewed Łutsël K’é Elders to ensure that local history, traditions, stories, and culture are shared with guests in a respectful and appropriate way. Through that engagement, seven culturally significant places from across Thaidene Nëné, including Ɂedacho Kué (Artillery Lake) and Nıtłër Nu Na Tłazı̨(Wildbread Bay), were selected as themes for the rejuvenated guest cabins. Bilingual signage; paintings, carvings, and hides made by local people; Elders stories; and archival photography are all part of immersing guests in Dënesųłıné language and culture. The response to the transformation has been very positive. Guests value the opportunity to learn more about the place they are visiting–Thaidene Nëné, the Land of the Ancestors–and the Dënesųłıné people who have stewarded the land since time immemorial. Frontier Lodge complements and supports new local tourism enterprises.
In 2023, Frontier Lodge was named Northwest Territories Tourism's operator of the year. The award recognized how the lodge, through a pandemic and wildfire evacuations, has worked hard to deliver superior tourism experiences to visitors from around the world, all while making positive contributions to the community of Łútsël K’é and the tourism sector in the NWT.
Read the full press release here. Photo credit: NWTT - Angela Gzowski
