Fort Smith Region, Northwest Territories Great Bear Lake, which is now entirely within the modern-day Region 2. It contained more than 77 percent of the population and more than 54 percent of the land area of the Northwest Territories. Its main economic centre was the territorial capital of Yellowknife; it also contained the town of Fort Smith. The 2006 census reported a population of 32,272 spread over a land area of . Fort Smith Region, Northwest Territories Fort Smith Region was a former Statistics Canada census division, one of two in the Northwest Territories, Canada. It was abolished in the 2011 census, along with the
Yellowknife also resulted in new discoveries at the Con Mine, greatly extending the life of the mine. The Yellowknife townsite expanded from the Old Town waterfront, and the new townsite was established during 1945–1946. The Discovery Mine, with its own townsite, operated to the north-northeast of Yellowknife from 1950 to 1969. Between 1939 and 1953, Yellowknife was controlled by the Northern Affairs department (now Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada) of the Government of Canada. A small council, partially elected and partially appointed, made decisions. By 1953, Yellowknife had grown so much that it was made a municipality, with its own council