The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada. At a land area of approximately 1,127,711.92 km2 (435,412.01 sq mi) and a 2021 census population of 41,070, it is the second-largest and the most populous of the three territories in Northern Canada. Its estimated population as of the second quarter of 2024 is 44,920. Yellowknife is the capital, most populous community, and 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.
Canada has ten provinces and three territories that are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North America—New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and the Province of Canada —united to form a federation, becoming a fully independent country over the next century. Over its history, Canada's international borders have changed several times as it has added territories and provinces, making it the world's second-largest country by area.
Devolution is the statutory delegation of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to govern at a subnational level, such as a regional or local level. It is a form of administrative decentralization. Devolved territories have the power to make legislation relevant to the area, thus granting them a higher level of autonomy.
Paul Okalik is a Canadian politician. He is the first Inuk to have been called to the Nunavut Bar. He was also the first premier of Nunavut.
Consensus government is a form of government by consensus decision-making in Canada used in two of Canada's three federal territories as well as in Nunatsiavut, an autonomous area in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador.
The Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly, or Legislative Council of the Northwest Territories, is the legislature and the seat of government of Northwest Territories in Canada. It is a unicameral elected body that creates and amends law in the Northwest Territories. Permanently located in Yellowknife since 1993, the assembly was founded in 1870 and became active in 1872 with the first appointments from the Government of Canada.
The court system of Canada is made up of many courts differing in levels of legal superiority and separated by jurisdiction. In the courts, the judiciary interpret and apply the law of Canada. Some of the courts are federal in nature, while others are provincial or territorial.
The 1898 North-West Territories general election took place on 4 November 1898. This was the fourth general election in the history of the North-West Territories, Canada. It was held to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of the North-West Territories.
The history of Northwest Territories capital cities begins with the purchase of the Territories by Canada from the Hudson's Bay Company in 1869, and includes a varied and often difficult evolution. Northwest Territories is unique amongst the other provinces and territories of Canada in that it has had seven capital cities in its history. The territory has changed the seat of government for numerous reasons, including civil conflict, development of infrastructure, and a history of significant revisions to its territorial boundaries.
Hunter A. Tootoo is a Canadian politician who served as the Member of Parliament for Nunavut from 2015 to 2019. Elected as a Liberal to the House of Commons, he was appointed Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard by Justin Trudeau on November 4, 2015. Tootoo resigned from that position on May 31, 2016, to take a leave from Parliament to seek treatment for alcohol addiction. He returned to Parliament by the end of July 2016 after the completion of his treatment program, but sat as an independent member for the remainder of the 42nd Parliament and did not run for re-election.
Elections NWT is an independent, non-partisan public agency responsible for the administration of territorial general elections, by-elections, and plebiscites in accordance with the Elections and Plebiscites Act. Elections NWT is headed by the Chief Electoral Officer, an officer of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories.
Section 30 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a section that, like other provisions within the section 25 to section 31 block, provides a guide as to how Charter rights should be interpreted and applied by Canadian courts. It addresses how the Charter applies in the territories of Canada. In 1982, when it became law, these were the Northwest Territories and the Yukon Territory. The Yukon Territory is now called Yukon, and Nunavut was created from the eastern Northwest Territories to become Canada's third territory in 1999.
Nunavut is the largest and northernmost territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the Nunavut Act and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act, which provided this territory to the Inuit for self-government. The boundaries had been drawn in 1993. The creation of Nunavut resulted in the first major change to Canada's political map in half a century since the province of Newfoundland was admitted in 1949.
Because the country contains two major language groups and numerous other linguistic minorities, in Canada official languages policy has always been an important and high-profile area of public policy.
The 2015 Northwest Territories general election was held November 23, 2015. Under the territory's fixed election date legislation, the election was supposed to be held on October 5, 2015, however, since the federal election date of October 19, 2015, overlapped with that date, the N.W.T. government moved the date of the territorial election. The election selected 19 members of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories.
The Oil and Gas Operations Act is a legislation that legally gives the Government of the Northwest Territories the right to govern onshore “exploration, production, processing and transportation of oil and gas resources in the Northwest Territories”.
Kieron Testart is a Canadian politician serving in the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories, representing the riding of Range Lake. He is currently serving his second non-consecutive term, having first been elected in the 2015 to the riding of Kam Lake in 2015. Defeated in Kam Lake in the 2019 election by Caitlin Cleveland, Testart sought and won the open seat of Range Lake in the 2023 election four years later.
The 2019 Northwest Territories general election was held on October 1, 2019. Nineteen members were elected to the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories.
