Tucked into the northern Alberta landscape roughly 85 kilometres southwest of Cold Lake and about 14 kilometres north of Highway 28, St. Lina is a small hamlet situated within the County of St. Paul No. 19. The community is home to the St. Lina Community Hall, which serves as a local gathering point for area residents. Known in French as Ste-Lina, the hamlet sits in a region that was historically shaped by early exploration and the movement of settlers seeking land in northern Canada.
The history of the area stretches back to 20 August 1856, when Father Maissonneuve set out with four men to open a trail northward from Lac La Biche, passing through what would eventually become Sugden, Ste-Lina, and St-Vincent. At the time, none of these locations had yet been given names. The trail gradually became an important route for hauling supplies to northern points along the Athabasca River, winding its way east of the present-day hamlet of Mallaig before crossing a creek just east of Ste-Lina, where a camp was established to provide travellers and horses a place to rest. As word spread eastward about the furs and timber available in the region, settlers began arriving, surveyors mapped out the land, and homesteads were made available for a fee of $10.00. St. Lina was formally named and established as a hamlet alongside neighbouring communities such as Goodridge, Beaver River, Sugden, Boyne Lake, McRae, and Ashmont. A population of 24 was recorded during the 1991 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada.