History of the Northwest Territories Government of the Northwest Territories, arrived in Yellowknife on board a chartered DC-7. In 1969, A special committee of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories chose a new flag for the territory. Robert Bessant's design was chosen among entries to a Canada-wide contest. The government would introduce the popular polar bear license plate in 1970. In 1975, the territorial government once again became a fully elected body. By 1961, the federal government devolved responsibility for place naming to the provinces. But not in the territories. In 1984, the Canadian Government agreed to transfer the responsibility for naming places to
Garden of the Provinces and Territories of Public Works and Government Services Canada, officially renamed the park. In December 2015, the federal government requested that the National Capital Commission approve the garden as the site of the proposed Memorial to the Victims of Communism rather than its previously approved site, a plot of land by the Supreme Court of Canada building. One quarter of the site is composed of formal terraces, with the flags of the provinces and territories in the order of their entry to Confederation. Bronze plaques include the floral emblems for each of the provinces and territories. A tall fountain symbolizes a tree.