_ NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
MAJOR CITIES
The capital city of Northwest Territories is Yellowknife. Yellowknife is also the only city in NWT but there are other important towns, like Fort Smith, Hay River, Norman Wells, and Inuvik. Fort Smith is important because it is home to Aurora College, which attracts students from across NWT and Nunavut. Fort Smith is also the gateway to Wood-Buffalo National Park, the largest national park in Canada. Norman Wells is important because it has a large supply of oil and gas, as well as a 1800m air strip for incoming and outgoing flights. Inuvik is important because it is home to the Beaufort Delta and the Mackenzie River Delta, two very important expanses of waters.
_MAJOR LANDFORMS
_ The physical appearance of the Northwest Territories is many varied landscapes. Some of these varied landscapes are hills, mountains, rivers, river valleys, lakes, tundra and forests. Tundra is a treeless and barren landscape because of low temperatures and short growing seasons. Some more important landforms are the Mackenzie River and Valley, the Mackenzie Mountains, Great Slave Lake, Great BearLake, Virginia Falls, the Nahanni River, the Franklin Mountains, Melville Hills, and Cameron Hills.
NATURAL RESOURCES
this is a NWT diamond
Some of the NWT's natural resources are diamonds, zinc, gold, oil, gas, fur and fish. The ways we use these resources are: diamonds for jewelry, cutting and grinding tools, abrasive (diamond powder),high pressure experiments and microchips. Zinc for battery’s, paint, rubber, heat dispersers, fire retardant, dyes, pigments, zinc powder and nuclear weapons. Gold for jewelry, medicine, food and drinks, thread, photographs, C-Ds and automobiles. Oil for machines, cosmetics, religion, painting, heat transferring, lubrication, fuel and chemical feedstock. Gas for electricity generation, ammonia production, methanol production, urea production, LNG exportation, hydrogen production and cooking fuel. Fur for coats, boots, vests, hats, gloves, scarves and tents. And fish for human food, oil, fertilizer and feed for domestic animals.
TOURISM
this is the northern lights at night time in the NWT.
One
interesting place in the NWT is Yellowknife because every march the Canadian championship dog derby is held there. The dog derby is a 150 mile track.
Because of the long track dogs have to be especially bred, fed and exercised.
Along the way one rider is pulled by about 6 dogs. The competition is won by the
fastest team. So if you like dogs, racing, lots of people and fun then come to
Yellowknife this march. Another thing to see is the northern lights. Also
located in Yellowknife this exciting display of light dancing in the sky is
sure to wow anyone. The northern lights are by the result of collisions between
gaseous particles in the earths atmosphere with charged particles that are
colliding. The most common color,a pale yellowish green is produced by high
altitude oxygen , at heights of up to 200 miles. Nitrogen produces blue or
purplish-red light. With all of these colors and shapes the make northern
lights something you don’t want to miss. Fortunately the northern lights can be
seen around 260 days a year in the NWT. So go to Yellowknife as soon as you
can. One last thing to do is go to one of Yellowknife's 'many parks or trails.
Parks or trails offer a scenic view of the city skyline for walkers, bikers or
hikers taking a route through them. With some 17 lakes and 38 acres of parks and
trails within Yellowknife, nobody has to leave the city to enjoy the
wilderness. A couple of their many trails are Frame lake trail, Niven lake trail,
Prospector trail and Yellowknife trail.
_ LOCATION
_ The location of the NWT is in northern Canada toward the west. The NWT stretches from the northern most regions of Canada to only just above BC, AB and SK. Surrounding the NWT is the arctic ocean to the north, BC, AB and SK to the south, Nunavut to the east and Yukon to the west.
OTHER COOL FACTS
this bird is the Gyrfalcon, the NWT's territorial bird
Some other
facts about the NWT are the population: 43,554, there official languages are
Chipewyan, Cree, English, French, Gwich’in, Inuinnaqtun, Inuktitut, Inuvialuktu, North Slavey, South Slavey and Titcho,that the total land area in
all provinces and territories is 3rd, the total land area is
1,346,106km, the territorial flower is the Mountain avens, the territorial
tree is the Tamarack Larch, the territorial bird is the Gyrfalcon and that Bob
Mcleod is there premier.
CLIMATE
The northern most regions in the NWT have a subarctic climate but the more south regions have a polar climate. In the northern winter the daytime high is sometimes -20 degrees Celsius and the daytime low -40 degrees Celsius. Sometimes the daytime low is -50 degrees Celsius. The summers in the north see daytime highs in the mid teens and daytime lows in the single degrees. Sometimes it can reach a high of 36 degrees Celsius in the daytime summer. Both tornadoes and thunderstorms are rare in the north but in the south thunderstorms are not rare like in the north.
TRANSPORTATION
This is the Mackenzie river ice road in NWT.
Unlike other provinces or territories some places in NWT are only accessible by one or two methods of transportation. For example Inuvik is only accessible by plane or by driving on an ice road in the winter. Some more ways of transportation in the NWT are taking paved roads, gravel roads and ferries. Ice roads are frozen man made structures that sit on an expanse of frozen water. Ice roads are also bare, they have no trees, bushes or any other vegetation.
LANGUAGE
Unlike some other provinces or territories the NWT is home to 11 official languages such as English, French, Cree, Chipewyan, Gwich'in, Inuinnaqtun, Inuktitut, Inuvailukt, North Slavey, South Slavey and Titcho. Unfortunately laws are only published in French and English. In court people are allowed to use any of the NWT's official languages. In 1888 the people voted that English should be the only language used in assembly. There was also a vote in 1892 that decided that the NWT was to be a English only territory. However in the 1980s the federal government wanted the government of the NWT to make French a official language again. As a result to the making of French as a official language again the government thought that other languages should be made official. That is where they came up with the list shown above.
PLANTS AND ANIMALS
a caribou drinking
The NWT is home to many plants and animals. If I were to list all the plants and animals and tell a little bit about each thing it would be to big a paragraph to write or read so I will just talk about 5 plants and 5 animals. First I will start talking about caribou. Caribou are used in traditional and cultural events. They are also still used in some clothing like gloves, hats and jackets. Caribou are also some peoples main source of food. Gyrfalcons are the NWT territorial bird as well as being the worlds largest falcon at 50-63 cm tall. The gyrfalcon diet consists of ptarmigan there primary prey, lemmings, ground squirrels, hares and other birds. However gyrfalcons living on the arctic coast eat mostly seabirds. Unlike some other snakes, the terrestrial garter snake is not harmful. The terrestrial garter snake is confined to only the laird river valley in terms of of distribution. The terrestrial garter snake can be identified by its gray, brown and greenish colored stripes on its back. The terrestrial garter snake is found active in the day time. The NWT is also home to 3 different kinds of bears including the black bear, grizzly bear and polar bear. Like many other wildlife, bears are an important part of the NWT ecosystem. Some people depend on bears for many different cultural and economic reasons. Unfortunately there can be conflicts between bears and humans for food. Whales, marine animals also inhabit the NWT. Their outer skin known as Muktuk, is very valuable because it is very high in vitamin C. Whale meat can also be eaten, luckily it stays good for 7 months but then it starts to become strong tasting, but some people do not mind. Due to the cold climate in both the north and south of the NWT there is little plant life found there, but some of the plants that do live in NWT like fire weed, saxifrage and purple mountain, have to be very well adapted to climate. Unlike the plant life in the NWT the trees that live there can be found in other places in Canada. Some trees living in NWT are pine, larch, spruce and birch. Forest also covers 19 percent of the NWT. Over all there is very little plant life in the NWT.
HISTORY
The territory you
see today when you at a map of NWT was not always what it is now. In 1859 the NWT did not even belong to Canada, it
belonged to the Hudson bay company. But in 1870 the Hudson bay company gave
over the land to the government of Canada. Since the territory was so large
then (containing most of Yukon, Nunavut, what was going to be Manitoba, Alberta
and Saskatchewan) the government started to make other provinces and
territories like Manitoba. Manitoba was created in July 15, 1870. Then in 1881
it was enlarged from a small square to a much larger rectangle that included
the southern part as it is today. Then in 1905 Saskatchewan and Alberta were
made provinces. In 1876 the district of Keewatin was detached from the NWT. But
in 1905 the district was attached again. In 1898 the Yukon was created because
of the Klondike gold rush was to much work for the NWT government. There was
also a over flowing population at the time. In 1925 the NWT borders were
enlarged to the North Pole. In 1912 the NWT was given the official name
Northwest Territories by the Parliament of Canada. In 1999 the eastern part of
the NWT was formed into the territory Nunavut.
INCOME
The average income for a family of five in the NWT is 79,241 dollars. The main sources of income are aboriginal activities such as fishing, hunting and trapping. There is also a commercial fishing industry that is being encouraged in the NWT. The fur harvesting industry is also important - supplying many aboriginal families there income. Inuit arts and crafts are a widely used source of income - 1 in 14 people earn a income in this way. In 2002 the NWT had 0.25 percent of Canada's national income. The hunting, trapping and fishing industry is used mainly by small communities, and although the industry is a fair size only 5000 people have a official license. People tend to trap animals such as foxes, lynx, marten and seals.
GOVERNMENT
Because of the fact that the NWT is a territory thats means they have less rights than a territory. An example is that the NWT does not get to have as much of there resources as a province would. But during his time as premier of the NWT Kafwi tried to give territorys more rights. Unlike provincal governments and the Yukon the NWT is not divided up into political parties but instead it is a consensus goverment. The government in the NWT is called the legislative assembly. The NWT current premier is Bob McLeod. He was elected Oct 1, 2007. The only time that the NWT was divided up into parties was from 1898 to 1905, since then the NWT has not been divided into parties. The commissioner of the NWT is George Tuccaro and the deputy commissioner is Margaret Thorn. A commissioner is the chief executive. It is apponted by the governor-in-council of canada by the suggestion of the federal minister of aboriginal affairs and northern development.
POPULATION
The total population of the NWT is 43,554 people as of the 2011 census. 58.4% of the NWT population live in a urban environment while 41.6% live in a rural environment. the top three towns and cities by population are Yellowknife in first, Hay River in second and Inuvik in third. Considering the land area of the population is very small. Most of the NWT is made up of small towns and settlements. Since the population of Canada is 34,278,406 the NWT only makes up a tiny portion of it. Between January 1, 2010 and January 1, 2011 the population of the NWT only increased by 63 people. 2,213 people moved into the NWT from other provinces and territories while 2,746 people moved away. Just over half the population of the NWT is aboriginal. 137 people moved into the NWT from other countries during 2010. 51% of the NWT population was aboriginal as of 2010.
SIZE
With a total land area of 1,146,106 km the NWT is not the biggest province or territory but it is 3rd in land area. The NWT used to be a lot bigger - containing what is now Nunavut, Yukon, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The NWT accounts for about 6% of Canada's land area.