Northwest Territories - Demographics, Language

pop (2000e) 64 600; area 1 346 106 km²/519 597 sq mi. Canadian territory extending over the N of Canada, consisting of the Arctic islands, the islands in Hudson and Ungava Bays, and the land N of 60°N, between Hudson Bay and the Yukon territory; sparsely populated, two-thirds Athapaskan-speaking peoples and Inuit; capital, Yellowknife (since 1967); mining (lead, zinc, gold), handicrafts, fur products, fishing, tourism, oil; land held by the Hudson's Bay Company (Rupert's Land and North West Territory) changed to the present name on entering Canadian federation, 1870; present form of administration adopted, 1905; governed by a commissioner and an elected 24-member Legislative Assembly; the new Canadian territory of Nunavut was created in 1999 from a region formerly in E Northwest Territories.

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Flag of Northwest Territories Coat of arms of Northwest Territories
Motto: none
Official languages	Dene Suline, Cree, Dogrib, English, French, Gwich’in, Inuktitut, Slavey
Flower	Mountain avens
Tree	Tamarack
Bird	Gyr Falcon
Capital	Yellowknife
Largest city	Yellowknife
Commissioner	Tony Whitford
Premier	Joe Handley (Consensus government (no party affiliations))
Parliamentary representation  - House seat  - Senate seats	1 1
Area Total  - Land  - Water  (% of total)	Ranked 3rd 1,346,106 km² 1,183,085 km² 163,021 km² (12.11%)
Population  - Total (2006)  - Density	Ranked 11th 41,861 0.03/km²
GDP (2005)  - Total  - Per capita	$4.083 billion (11th) $94,953 (1st)
Confederation	1870 (Hudson's Bay Company cedes territory to Canada) (5th)
Time zone	UTC-7
Abbreviations  - Postal  - ISO 3166-2  - Postal Code Prefix	NT CA-NT X0,X1(Yellowknife)
Website	www.gov.nt.ca
All rankings include the territories

For other geographical names that include "Northwest", see Northwest.

The Northwest Territories (NWT;

Major Territorial Mines

Con Mine - 1938-2003 (gold) Giant Mine - 1948-2004 (gold) Ptarmigan and Tom Mine - 1941-1942, 1986-1997 (gold) Negus Mine - 1939-1952 (gold) Thompson-Lundmark Mine - 1941-1943, 1947-1949 (gold) Discovery Mine - 1950-1969 (gold) Camlaren Mine - 1962-1963, 1980-1981 (gold) Eldorado Mine - 1933-1940, 1942-1960, 1976-1982 (radium, uranium, silver, copper) Echo Bay Mine - 1964-1975 (silver and copper) Ekati Diamond Mine - 1998-current (diamonds) Diavik Diamond Mine - 2003-current (diamonds) Pine Point Mine - 1964-1988 (lead and zinc) Cantung Mine - 1962-1986, 2002-2003, 2005-current (tungsten) Rayrock Mine - 1957-1959 (uranium) Terra Mine - 1969-1985 (silver and copper) Tundra Mine - 1964-1968 (gold) Salmita Mine - 1983-1987 (gold) Colomac Mine - 1990-1992, 1994-1997 (gold)

Demographics

Population of Northwest Territories since 1871

Year	Population	five-year % change	ten-year % change	Rank among provinces and territories
1871	48,000	n/a	n/a	6
1881	56,446	n/a	17.6	7
1891	98,967	n/a	75.3	7
1901	20,129*	n/a	-79.7	11
1911	6,507**	n/a	-67.7	11
1921	8,143	n/a	25.1	10
1931	9,316	n/a	14.4	10
1941	12,028	n/a	29.1	10
1951	16,004	n/a	33.1	11
1956	19,313	20.7	n/a	11
1961	22,998	19.1	43.7	11
1966	28,738	25.0	48.8	11
1971	34,805	21.1	51.3	11
1976	42,610	22.4	48.3	11
1981	45,740	7.3	31.4	11
1986	52,235	14.2	22.6	11
1991	57,649	10.3	26.0	11
1996	64,402	11.7	23.2	11
2001	37,360***	-42.0	-35.2	11
2006	41,861****	12.0	-35.0	11

*Note: Yukon territory was ceded from Northwest Territories in 1898.

**Note: Alberta and Saskatchewan were created from parts of Northwest Territories in 1905.

***Note: Data through 1996 includes Nunavut. 2001 data does not include Nunavut.

****Note: Preliminary 2006 census estimate.

Source: Statistics Canada

Ten largest population centres

Ten largest municipalities by population

Municipality	2001	1996
Yellowknife	16,541	17,275
Hay River	3,510	3,611
Inuvik	2,894	3,296
Fort Smith	2,185	2,441
Behchoko	1,552	1,662
Fort Simpson	1,163	1,257
Tuktoyaktuk	930	943
Fort McPherson	761	878
Fort Providence	753	748
Norman Wells	666	798

Language

French was made an official language in 1877 by the appointed government, after lengthy and bitter debate resulting from a speech from the throne in 1888 by Lt. Governor Joseph Royal.