Demographics of Northwest Territories Demographics of Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories is a territory of Canada. It has an area of 1,171,918 square kilometres and a population of 41,464 as of July 1, 2006. "*Note: Yukon Territory was ceded from Northwest Territories in 1898." "**Note: Alberta and Saskatchewan were created from parts of Northwest Territories in 1905." "***Note: Data through 1996 includes Nunavut. 2001 data does not include Nunavut." "Source: Statistics Canada" French was made an official language in 1877 by the appointed government, after lengthy and bitter debate resulting from a speech from the throne in 1888 by Lt. Governor Joseph Royal. The
Nunavut and all of the islands in Hudson Bay, James Bay, and Ungava Bay, including the Belcher Islands, all of which belonged to the Northwest Territories from which Nunavut was separated. This makes it the fifth-largest subnational entity (or administrative division) in the world. If Nunavut were a country, it would rank 15th in area. Nunavut has long land borders with the Northwest Territories on the mainland and a few Arctic islands, and with Manitoba to the south of the Nunavut mainland; it also meets Saskatchewan to the southwest at a quadripoint). Through its small satellite territories in the southeast, it