The intention of this development was to overcome the relatively short operating window of drillships during the ice-free season (100 to 110 days a year) and the water depth limitations of artificial dredged islands in the Canadian part of the Beaufort Sea.

In order to expedite the delivery of the vessels, Gulf Canada had already purchased the engines, gearboxes, shaft lines and propellers before signing the C$79 million shipbuilding contract for two hulls.

[1] While the other BeauDril icebreakers and drilling units were given names drawn from the Northern Territories native languages,[6] Terry Fox was named after Terrance Stanley "Terry" Fox (1958–1981), a Canadian athlete, humanitarian and cancer research activist known for his 1980 Marathon for Hope, an attempted cross-Canada run to raise money and awareness for cancer research, after losing his right leg to osteosarcoma.

The icebreaker was completed on 16 September 1983, slightly behind the original schedule which called for delivery in April when Gulf Canada's exploratory drilling program was set to begin.

[9] Her 4.8-metre (16 ft) LIPS Canada nickel aluminium bronze controllable pitch propellers are designed to transmit 9,564 hp (7,132 kW) of power per shaft to the water and produce a combined static bollard pull of about 1,590 kilonewtons (162 tf).

During icebreaking operations, the ice friction is reduced by lubricating the hull-ice interface with a 750 kW (1,010 hp) low-pressure air bubbling system developed by Wärtsilä.

[4] During her maiden voyage to the Arctic, Terry Fox was called in to assist the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) oceanographic survey ship Surveyor that had become beset in 1.2-to-1.5-metre (4 to 5 ft) thick ice west of Point Franklin off Alaska.

Twelve wells alone were drilled in the Amauligak prospect, the most significant oil and gas field discovered in the region, but the high expectations for the Beaufort Sea were not met: the area was characterized by a large number of small, widely scattered resources.

During the leasing period, the icebreaker was found to meet Canadian Coast Guard's needs satisfactorily, and the vessel was purchased from Gulf Canada Resources on 1 November 1993.

[24] In June 2023, Terry Fox was among the Canadian Coast Guard ships that was deployed in the search efforts involved in the Titan submersible implosion.