Area Total1,346,106 km2 | Population Total 41,462 | |
Colleges and Universities Aurora College, Aurora College, Thebacha, Aurora College, North Slave, Aurora College, Aurora Destinations Points of interest Nahanni National Park Reserve, Great Slave Lake, Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, The Wildcat Cafe, Ingraham Trail | ||
The Northwest Territories (NWT; French: les Territoires du Nord-Ouest, TNO) is a territory of Canada. With a population of 41,462 in 2011 and an estimated population of 43,537 in 2013, the Northwest Territories is the most populous Territory in Northern Canada. Yellowknife became the territorial Capital in 1967, following recommendations by the Carrothers Commission.
Contents
- Map of Northwest Territories
- Alexandra falls northwest territories canada
- Geography
- History
- Economy
- Culture
- References
Map of Northwest Territories
The Northwest Territories, a portion of the old North-West Territory, entered the Canadian Confederation July 15, 1870, but the current borders were formed April 1, 1999, when the territory was subdivided to create Nunavut to the east, via the Nunavut Act and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act. While Nunavut is mostly Arctic tundra, the Northwest Territories has a slightly warmer climate and is mostly boreal forest (taiga), although portions of the territory lie north of the tree line, and its most northern regions form part of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.
The Northwest Territories are bordered by Canadas two other territories, Nunavut to the east and Yukon to the west, and by the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan to the south.
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Geography
Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canadas two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, and four provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, and Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south and Manitoba to the extreme southeast. It has a land area of 1,183,085 km2 (456,792 sq mi).
Geographical features include Great Bear Lake, the largest lake entirely within Canada, and Great Slave Lake, the deepest body of water in North America at 614 m (2,014 ft), as well as the Mackenzie River and the canyons of the Nahanni National Park Reserve, a national park and UNESCO World Heritage Site. Territorial islands in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago include Banks Island, Borden Island, Prince Patrick Island, and parts of Victoria Island and Melville Island. Its highest point is Mount Nirvana near the border with Yukon at an elevation of 2,773 m (9,098 ft).
History
The present-day territory came under government authority in July 1870, after the Hudsons Bay Company transferred Ruperts Land and North-Western Territory to the British Crown, which subsequently transferred them to the Government of Canada, giving it the name the North-West Territories. This immense region comprised all of todays Canada except that which was encompassed within the early signors of Canadian Confederation, that is, British Columbia, early forms of present-day Ontario and Quebec (which encompassed the coast of the Great Lakes, the Saint Lawrence River valley and the southern third of Quebec), the Maritimes (PEI, NS and NB), Newfoundland, the Labrador coast, and the Arctic Islands, except the southern half of Baffin Island (the Arctic Islands remained under direct British claim until 1880).
After the 1870 transfer, some of the North-West Territories was whittled away. The province of Manitoba was created ON July 15, 1870, at first a tiny square area around Winnipeg, and then enlarged in 1881 to a rectangular region composing the modern provinces south. By the time British Columbia joined Confederation on July 20, 1871, it had already (1866) been granted the portion of North-Western Territory south of 60 degrees north and west of 120 degrees west, an area that comprised most of the Stickeen Territories.
In 1882, Regina in the District of Assiniboia became the territorial capital. Alberta and Saskatchewan were separated from the NWT to become provinces in 1905 (Regina became the provincial capital of Saskatchewan).
In 1876, the District of Keewatin, at the centre of the territory, was separated from the NWT. In 1882 and again in 1896, the remaining portion was divided into the following districts (corresponding to the following modern-day areas):
Keewatin was returned to the Northwest Territories in 1905.
In the meantime, the Province of Ontario was enlarged northwestward in 1882. Quebec was also extended northwards in 1898, and the Yukon was made a separate territory in that same year to deal with the Klondike Gold Rush, and also to remove the NWTs government from the burden of administering the sudden boom of population, economic activity, and the influx of non-Canadians.
The provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan were created in 1905, and Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec acquired the last addition to their modern landmass from the NWT in 1912. This left only the districts of Mackenzie, Franklin (which absorbed the remnants of Ungava in 1920), and Keewatin within what was then given the name Northwest Territories. In 1925, the boundaries of the NWT were extended all the way to the North Pole on the sector principle, vastly expanding its territory onto the northern ice cap.
The reduced Northwest Territories was not represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1907 until 1947, when the electoral district of Yukon—Mackenzie River was created. This riding only included the District of Mackenzie. The rest of the Northwest Territories had no representation in the House of Commons until 1962, when the Northwest Territories electoral district was created in recognition of the Inuit having been given the right to vote in 1953.
In 1912, the Parliament of Canada made the official name of these territories the Northwest Territories, dropping all hyphenated forms of it. Between 1925 and 1999, the Northwest Territories covered a land area of 3,439,296 km2 (1,327,920 sq mi) – larger than that of India.
On April 1, 1999, the eastern three-fifths of the Northwest Territories (including all of the District of Keewatin and much of that of Mackenzie and Franklin) became a separate Canadian territory named Nunavut.
Economy
The NWTs geological resources include gold, diamonds, natural gas and petroleum. BP is the only oil company currently producing oil in the Territory. NWT diamonds are promoted as an alternative to purchasing blood diamonds. Two of the biggest mineral resource companies in the world, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto mine many of their diamonds from the NWT. In 2010, NWT accounted for 28.5% of Rio Tintos total diamond production (3.9 million carats, 17% more than in 2009, from the Diavik Diamond Mine) and 100% of BHPs (3.05 million carats from the EKATI mine).
Culture
Aboriginal issues in the Northwest Territories include the fate of the Dene who, in the 1940s, were employed to carry radioactive uranium ore from the mines on Great Bear Lake. Of the thirty plus miners who worked at the Port radium site, at least fourteen have died due to various forms of cancer. A study was done in the community of Deline, called A Village of Widows by Cindy Kenny-Gilday, which indicated that the number of people involved were too small to be able to confirm or deny a link.
There has been racial tension based on a history of violent conflict between the Dene and the Inuit, who have now taken recent steps towards reconciliation.
Land claims in the NWT began with the Inuvialuit Final Agreement, signed on June 5, 1984. It was the first Land Claim signed in the Territory, and the second in Canada. It culminated with the creation of the Inuit homeland of Nunavut, the result of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement, the largest land claim in Canadian history.
Another land claims agreement with the T???ch? people created a region within the NWT called Tli Cho, between Great Bear and Great Slave Lakes, which gives the T???ch? their own legislative bodies, taxes, resource royalties, and other affairs, though the NWT still maintains control over such areas as health and education. This area includes two of Canadas three diamond mines at Ekati and Diavik.