The Northwest Territories is a territory of Canada. At a land area of approximately and a 2026 estimated population of 45,904, it is the second-largest and second-most populous of the three territories in Northern Canada. Under its modern borders, the Northwest Territories consists of a large part of Denendeh—traditional land of the Dene—and most of the Inuvialuit Settlement Region (known as Inuvialuit Nunangit Sannaiqtuaq in Inuinnaqtun)—traditional land of the Western Canadian Inuit. The territory also contains some land traditionally used by Cree and Métis peoples. Its capital and most populous community is Yellowknife, the only city in the territory; its population was 20,340 as of the 2021 census. It became the territorial capital in 1967, following recommendations by the Carrothers Commission.
The territory entered Canadian Confederation on July 15, 1870, replacing most of British North America's regions of North-Western Territory, Rupert's Land and, after 1880, the British Arctic Territories. At that time, it consisted of a vast but sparsely populated area covering a majority of modern Canada's land area, including most of Nunavut, the Canadian Prairies, Northern Ontario, Northern Quebec and Labrador. Since 1870, the territory has been divided four times to create new provinces and territories or enlarge existing ones. Its current borders date from April 1, 1999, when the territory's size was decreased again by the creation of a new territory of Nunavut to the east.
While Nunavut is mostly Arctic tundra, the Northwest Territories has a slightly warmer climate and is both boreal forest (taiga) and tundra, and its most northern regions form part of the Arctic Archipelago.
The Northwest Territories has the most interprovincial and inter-territorial land borders among all provinces and territories of Canada. It is bordered by the territories of Nunavut to the east and Yukon to the west, and by the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan to the south; it also touches Manitoba to the southeast at a quadripoint that includes Nunavut and Saskatchewan. The land area of the Northwest Territories is roughly equal to that of France, Portugal and Spain combined, although its overall area is even larger because of its vast lakes.
Name
At first, it was named the North-West Territories. The name was changed to the present Northwest Territories in 1906. The name was originally descriptive, adopted by the British government during the colonial era to indicate where it lay in relation to the rest of Rupert's Land. It has been shortened from North-Western Territory and then North-West Territories.
In Inuktitut, the Northwest Territories are referred to as (Inuktitut syllabics: ) . The northernmost region of the territory is home to the Inuvialuit, who primarily live in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region (), while the southern portion is called (an Athabaskan word meaning "our land"). is the vast Dene country, stretching from central Alaska to Hudson Bay, within which lie the homelands of the numerous Dene nations.
Since the Yukon Territory was split from it in 1898, it is no longer the westernmost territory, and until Nunavut was split from it in 1999 it included territory extending as far east as Canada's Atlantic provinces. There has been some discussion of changing the name, possibly to a term from an Indigenous language. One proposal was "Denendeh", as advocated by the former premier Stephen Kakfwi, among others. One of the most popular proposals for a new name—to name the territory "Bob"—began as a prank, but for a while it was at or near the top in the public-opinion polls.
Geography
Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canada's two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, as well as four provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south, and Manitoba (through a quadripoint) to the extreme southeast. It has a land area of .
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 , 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 .
Climate
The Northwest Territories extends for more than and has a large climate variance from south to north. The southern part of the territory (most of the mainland portion) has a subarctic climate, while the islands and northern coast have a polar climate.
Summers in the north are short and cool, featuring daytime highs of and lows of . Winters are long and harsh, with daytime highs of and lows of . The coldest nights can reach up to each year.
Extremes are common, with summer highs in the south reaching and lows reaching below . In winter in the south, it is not uncommon for the temperatures to reach , but they can also reach the low teens during the day. In the north, temperatures can reach highs of , and lows into the low negatives. In winter in the north, it is not uncommon for the temperatures to reach but they can also reach single digits during the day.
Thunderstorms are not rare in the south. In the north, they are very rare but do occur. Tornadoes are extremely rare, however, an EF-1 tornado occurred in Fort Smith on June 2, 2019. The Territory has a fairly dry climate due to the mountains in the west.
About half of the territory is above the tree line. There are not many trees in most of the eastern areas of the territory, or in the north islands.
+Average daily maximum and minimum temperatures for selected cities in Northwest TerritoriesCityJuly (°C)July (°F)January (°C)January (°F) Fort Simpson 24/11 75/52 −20/−29 −4/−19 Yellowknife 21/13 70/55 −22/−30 −7/−21 Inuvik 20/9 67/48 −23/−31 −9/−24 Sachs Harbour 10/3 50/38 −24/−32 −12/−25
History
There are multiple Indigenous territories overlapping the current borders of the Northwest Territories. These include Denendeh, Inuvialuit Settlement Region (Inuvialuit Nunangit Sannaiqtuaq), and both Métis and Nêhiyawak countries (Michif Piyii and ᓀᐦᐃᔮᓈᕁ nêhiýânâhk, respectively). Of these, Denendeh and the Dene nations are the most prominent with the rest of the Dene country ("Dene-ndeh" or Deneland) covering much of what is now Alaska, British Columbia, and the northern regions of the prairie provinces. Some of its constituent territories include Tłı̨chǫ Country, Got'iné Néné, Dehchondéh, and Gwichʼin Nành, amongst others including those of the Dënë Sųłinë́ (Nëné, "land"), Dane-z̲aa (Nanéʔ), and the T'satsąot'ınę (Ndé). Historically, Dene have lived across Denendeh and what is now the NWT since the era of Yamoria and Yamozha.
Along the northern coast live one of the subdivisions of Inuit: the Inuvialuit, a conglomerate of several Inuvialuit peoples, including the Uummarmiut, Kangiryuarmiut, and Siglit. Their country, variously called Inuvialuit Nunangit, Inuvialuit Nunungat, or Inuvialuit Nunangat corresponds to the Inuvialuit Settlement Region and forms part of the greater Inuit Nunangat. Amongst the other Inuit, there are also the Copper Inuit who inhabit their traditional territory, Inuinnait Nunangat, between the Kitikmeot and Inuvik Regions. To the south are the Cree First Nations and Métis.
In 1670, the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) was formed from a royal charter, and was granted a commercial monopoly over Rupert's Land. Present day Northwest Territories laid northwest of Rupert's Land, and was known as the North-Western Territory. Although not formally part of Rupert's Land, the HBC made regular use of the region as a part of its trading area. The Treaty of Utrecht saw the British become the only European power with practical access to the North-Western Territory, with the French surrendering their claim to the Hudson Bay coast.
Europeans have visited the region for the purposes of fur trading, and exploration for new trade routes, including the Northwest Passage. Arctic expeditions launched in the 19th century include the Coppermine expedition.
In 1867, the first Canadian residential school opened in the region in Fort Resolution. The opening of the school was followed by several others in regions across the territory, thus contributing to it reaching the highest percentage of students in residential schools compared to other area in Canada.
The present-day territory came under the authority of the Government of Canada in July 1870, after the Hudson's Bay Company transferred Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory to the British Crown, which subsequently transferred them to Canada, giving it the name the North-West Territories. This immense region comprised all of today's Canada except British Columbia, an early form of Manitoba (a small square area around Winnipeg), early forms of present-day Ontario and Quebec (the coast of the Great Lakes, the Saint Lawrence River valley and the southern third of modern Quebec), the Maritimes (Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick), Newfoundland, the Labrador coast, and the Arctic Islands (except the southern half of Baffin Island).
After the 1870 transfer, some of the North-West Territories was whittled away. The province of Manitoba was enlarged in 1881 to a rectangular region composing the modern province's 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 (and a portion of the Peace River country).
The North-West Territories Council was created in 1875 for more local government in the North-West Territories. At first wholly made up of appointed members, it got its first elected members in 1882 and became wholly elected in 1888 when the council was reorganized as the Legislative Assembly of the North-West Territories. Frederick Haultain, an Ontario lawyer who practised at Fort Macleod from 1884, became its chairman in 1891 and Premier when the Assembly was reorganized in 1897. The modern provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta were created in 1905. Contemporary records show Haultain recommended that part of the NWT split off to become the present provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan become a single province, named Buffalo. The long-serving NWT member for Yorkton, Dr. Thomas Alfred Patrick, supported the creation of two provinces in that area.Patrick, Pioneer of Vision, The Reminiscences of T.A. Patrick, M.D., p. 117-119 The Canadian government of Sir Wilfrid Laurier chose to draw up the provinces roughly according to Patrick's guidance.Alberta Online Encyclopedia biography of Frederick HaultainMardon and Mardon, Alberta Election Results, 1882-1992, p. 195
In the meantime, the British Arctic Territories were transferred to Canada and added to the North-West Territories in 1880. The province of Ontario was enlarged north-westward in 1882. Quebec was also extended northwards in 1898. Yukon was also made a separate territory that year and eventually gained additional territorial powers with the 2003 Yukon Act. One year after the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan were created in 1905, the Parliament of Canada renamed the "North-West Territories" as the Northwest Territories, dropping all hyphenated forms of it.