The district was most recently contested in the 2020 general election, during which incumbent NDP MLA Buckley Belanger was re-elected, but a by-election is scheduled for February 15, 2022 to replace Belanger who resigned to run (unsuccessfully) for the Liberal Party of Canada in the riding of Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River during the 2021 Canadian federal election.

The original Athabasca electoral district was created before the 1908 general election out of parts of Battleford, Redberry, Prince Albert and Kinistino, and consisted of the sparsely populated northern half of Saskatchewan.

This arrangement lasted until the 1971 general election, when the northern half of Meadow Lake was added back to the district.

In the subsequent by-election, the Saskatchewan Party's Jim Lemaigre, defeating NDP candidate Georgina Jolibois.

[1] Along with the neighbouring northern riding of Cumberland, Athabasca is considered one of the safest New Democratic seats in Saskatchewan,[2] although candidates for the centre-right Saskatchewan Party have polled somewhat better results in the 21st century compared to SP and Progressive Conservative candidates in previous elections.