On the same day as the RM of Ellice, the Rural Municipality of Archibald was also incorporated, named for Archibald McDonald (1836-1915), a chief factor with the HBC at Fort Ellice. It included the communities of Manson, McAuley, and Willen.[6]
Named in 1880 by Oblate missionary Father Jules Decorby, the community's founder, St. Lazare was incorporated as a village on December 31, 1949.[7][8]
On January 1, 2015, the RMs of Archie and Ellice and the Village of St. Lazare amalgamated to establish the present-day Rural Municipality of Ellice-Archie.[1] It was formed as a requirement of The Municipal Amalgamations Act, which required that municipalities with a population less than 1,000 amalgamate with one or more neighbouring municipalities by 2015.[10] The Government of Manitoba initiated these amalgamations in order for municipalities to meet the 1997 minimum population requirement of 1,000 to incorporate a municipality.[11]
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Ellice-Archie had a population of 831 living in 351 of its 392 total private dwellings, a change of -6.3% from its 2016 population of 887. With a land area of 1,153.14 km2 (445.23 sq mi), it had a population density of 0.7/km2 (1.9/sq mi) in 2021.[2]