Holy Trinity Anglican Church

The community of Yellowknife grew up originally on Latham Island and the nearby point of land jutting out into Yellowknife Bay, and it was here that the first church was built. After the Second World War the city expanded onto the higher ground above the lake and the present church was consecrated in 1950. After an extensive expansion and renovation the present church seats about 150 people comfortably, has an office for the priest, a nursery and choir room, as well as a large entranceway and cloakroom facilities on the upper level. The basement includes a hall, stage area, kitchen and washrooms, as well as a number of storage rooms. It was here that the SideDoor began its operation in 1996. The SideDoor moved to its new building in April 2002.

Since 1967 Yellowknife has been the capital of the Northwest Territories; government personnel, both federal and territorial, account for a third of the population. The mining industry, gold and diamonds account for another third of the population and the remaining third are from the support section, tradespeople, tourism, education, health, etc. Although the surrounding area of the southern Mackenzie is the homeland of the Dene people and both they and a number of Inuit make their homes in Yellowknife, the majority of the community is of non-native origin. One section of the city, on the tip of Latham Island (N'dilo), and the nearby community of Detah, however, is almost exclusively Dene. The Anglican Church has been in the Mackenzie area for well over a century, but the pioneer work of the early years was never followed through and now most of the Dene people in the southern part of the region are members of the Roman Catholic Church. The congregation of Holy Trinity consists mainly of people from southern Canada, and indeed from around the world, numbering about 150 families.