Yellowknife and town hall. The first mayor of Yellowknife was Jock McNiven. In September 1967, Yellowknife officially became the capital of the Northwest Territories. This important new status sparked what has been coined as the third boom in Yellowknife. New sub-divisions were established to house an influx of government workers. In 1978 the Soviet nuclear-powered satellite Kosmos 954 crashed to Earth near Yellowknife. There were no known casualties, although a small quantity of radioactive nuclear fuel was released into the environment, and Operation Morning Light—an attempt to retrieve it—was only partially successful. A new mining rush and fourth building boom for
Provinces and territories of Canada territories are not sovereign, but instead their authorities and responsibilities come directly from the federal level, and as a result have a commissioner instead of a lieutenant governor. Notes: There are three territories in Canada. Unlike the provinces, the territories of Canada have no inherent sovereignty and have only those powers delegated to them by the federal government. They include all of mainland Canada north of latitude 60° north and west of Hudson Bay, as well as most islands north of the Canadian mainland (from those in James Bay to the Canadian Arctic islands). The following table lists the territories