The Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation is a band government. It represents local people of the Denesuline (Chipewyan) ethnic group. It controls one Indian reserve: Chipewyan 201, near Fort Chipewyan, Alberta. The band is party to Treaty 8, and is a member of the Athabasca Tribal Council.
The band launched a court challenge in 2007 to an oilsands lease given to Shell Canada by the provincial government which, the band alleged, they were not given a chance to oppose. In 2011, the band lost its suit, but planned to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.
The band was the focus of Neil Young's 2014 concert campaign against the Athabasca oil sands development. In the wake of that the band withdrew from the Oil Sands Monitoring program, which they say lacks input from aboriginal peoples and doesn't address treaty rights.