The traditional land of the Fort McKay First Nation was on the historical voyageur route that linked the rich Athabaskan region to Hudson Bay.

[5] The Cree, one of the "largest tribes in Canada" were referred to by the early explorers and fur traders as Kristineaux, Kinisteneaux, Kiliston, Kree, Cris and various other names such as Nahathaway.

It is noted in the department of Indian Affairs Annual Reports that Pee-ay-sis of the Lac La Biche band as far north as Great Slave Lake."

Alexander Mackenzie who travelled from Montreal to the Arctic Ocean via the Methy Portage (see map) provided a detailed account of the Kinisteneaux (Cree) in 1789.

The land covered by Treaty 8, 840,000 square kilometres (84,000,000 ha)[8] is larger than France and includes northern Alberta, northeastern British Columbia, northwestern Saskatchewan and a southernmost portion of the Northwest Territories.

[16] "The hydrogeologic sequence is typical of the mineable area west of the Athabasca River and is comprised of the following units from oldest to youngest: 1) the eroded top of the Devonian sequence, which includes the Slave Point and Waterways Formations; and in the RSA the Devonian section includes both aquifers and aquitards; the Waterways underlies the Project in the LSA; 2) the McMurray Formation, which contains bitumen; portions of the lower McMurray are water saturated (i.e., basal water sand); where present, the basal aquifer appears to be non‐saline; there are also water‐bearing lenses of sand within the ore body (Middle McMurray); 3) the Clearwater Formation; (aquitard); composed of shale and siltstone; in places the Wabiskaw D sand of the lower Clearwater also contains bitumen; 4) Quaternary sediments including undifferentiated glacial deposits and buried channels and glacial surficial deposits (contains aquifers and aquitards); and

[17] The community originated in the Moose Lake area, which is located 64 km northwest of Fort McKay, and there are gravesites on their traditional lands there, according to a January 20, 2018 article in The Narwhal.

[17] On 6 August 2013, Alberta Energy Regulator’s (AER) denied the FMFN appeal arguing that the Dover oilsands project using steam-assisted gravity drainage technology (SAGD) development would have little impact on FMNN lands.

The Fort MacKay First Nation's lawyer, Karen Buss, predicted that the new panel might "order the regulator to start its process over with direction to consider treaty rights issues identified by the band.

[17] Prosper Petroleum's Rigel Oil Sands Project is a steam-assisted gravity drainage technology (SAGD) development[21] that is located just three kilometres off the shore of Namur Lake.