Northwest Territories (electoral district) Northwest Territories (electoral district) Northwest Territories () is a federal electoral district represented in the House of Commons of Canada. This riding was created in 1962 from Mackenzie River riding. It was composed of the entire territory of the Northwest Territories. In 1979, the riding was divided into the ridings of Western Arctic and Nunatsiaq (later Nunavut). Following the creation of the territory of Nunavut in 1999, the riding of Western Arctic was made coterminous with the new Northwest Territories. After 1999, Western Arctic was an anomaly in that, unlike Nunavut and Yukon, it did not share the name of
Melville Island (Northwest Territories and Nunavut) deposits. The island was believed to have deposits of coal and oil shale since the first half of the 20th century. The first Canadian Arctic island exploratory well was spudded in 1961 at Winter Harbour. It drilled Lower Paleozoic strata to a total depth of . In the 1970s, the northern portion of the island on the east side of the Sabine Peninsula proved to contain a major gas field, known as Drake Point. The lease was owned by Panarctic Oils, a joint operation with the Canadian Government. Melville Island (Northwest Territories and Nunavut) Melville Island is an uninhabited island