The Northwest Territories (NWT) lie north of the 60th parallel, above Saskatchewan, Alberta, and eastern British Columbia, and between the Yukon and Nunavut. These dimensions represent a recent change. With the creation of Nunavut on April 1, 1999, the area of the former Northwest Territories, which stretched from the Yukon east to Baffin Island and included all of the Arctic archipelago, was reduced by approximately two-thirds, from 3 426 320 km2 to 1 171 918 km2.

This is not the first time that the Northwest Territories has undergone dramatic boundary changes. At one point or another during the NWT's history, it has included all of Alberta, Saskatchewan and the Yukon and most of Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec.

The History

The ancestors of the Dene Indian people lived along the Mackenzie Valley in the NWT 10 000 years ago. The first Inuit people are believed to have crossed the Bering Strait about 5 000 years ago, spreading east along the Arctic coast.

In 1789, Alexander Mackenzie discovered the Mackenzie River and followed it to its mouth at the Arctic Ocean. Fur traders soon established posts in the Mackenzie River basin. Late in the next century, missions were founded in the area. The Europeans reshaped the North, bringing with them a new economy and way of life. Communities grew around trading posts, mission schools and Royal Canadian Mounted Police stations.

In 1870, the British government transferred control of the North-Western Territory to Canada. Ten years later, the British government annexed the islands of the Arctic archipelago, which also became part of the Territories. In 1905, both Alberta and Saskatchewan were created from the Territories. Finally in 1912, the provinces of Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec were enlarged, fixing the Northwest Territories with a size and shape that remained unchanged until 1999, when Nunavut was established.

By the Second World War, mineral exploration and the military were playing a role in northern development, prompting a more active interest in the NWT by the rest of Canada.

Government and Politics

Although not a province, the NWT government has the same general responsibilities as provincial governments: taxation, municipal bodies, education, wildlife, health and hospital services, forest management, housing, social services and economic development. It lacks jurisdiction over land and resource administration, including control over the pace and scale of resource development and subsurface water rights.

The issue of settling Aboriginal land claims in the NWT emerged in the 1970s. In 1984, a final agreement was reached with the Inuvialuit of the western Arctic; it provided some 2 500 people with 91 000 km2 of land, financial compensation, social development funding, hunting rights and a greater role in wildlife management, conservation and environmental protection.

In 1992, the Gwich'in settled a comprehensive land claim that provided 22 422 km2 of land in the northwest part of the NWT and 1 554 km2 in the Yukon, subsurface rights, a share in the resource royalties derived from the Mackenzie River Valley, tax-free capital transfers, hunting rights, a greater role in the management of wildlife, land and the environment, and the right of first refusal on a variety of activities related to wildlife.

The year 1993 saw the conclusion of the Nunavut land claims agreement. It was the largest land claim ever settled in Canada. The agreement gave the Inuit people control of more than 350 000 km2 of land (of which 36 000 km2 include mineral rights), more than $14 billion over 14 years, and guaranteed participation in decisions on land and resource management. In April 1999, according to the agreement, the former Northwest Territories was divided, creating the new territory of Nunavut.

The People

The present population of the NWT is over 42,000. Dene, Inuvialuit and Métis peoples make up 48 percent, the non-Aboriginal population about 52 percent. Most live in small communities; Yellowknife, the capital, has a population of more than 15,000.