Northwest Territories

I

Energy

Oil is produced at Norman Wells, located on the east bank of the Mackenzie River, and natural gas is produced in the southwest corner of the Northwest Territories. In 1997 the value of oil and natural gas production was C$235 million and C$10 million, respectively. Pipelines transport both oil and natural gas to southern Canada, where they are distributed to markets in southern Canada and the United States. Large oil and gas deposits exist in the Beaufort Sea and near the Mackenzie River delta. Because the cost of producing and transporting Beaufort oil to world markets is well above the world price for oil, these oil fields remain undeveloped.

J

Transportation

The transportation system of the Northwest Territories has three main functions. The primary function is to allow people to travel between communities in the Northwest Territories and to other regions of Canada and the world. The secondary function is to export the region’s oil, gas, and minerals to southern Canada and the United States and to import equipment and supplies needed by the energy and mining industries. The third function is to ship consumer goods and foodstuffs from southern Canada to retail stores in the Northwest Territories.

Air transportation reaches all communities and isolated mining sites, and riverboats service about 80 percent of the communities, primarily those along the Mackenzie River and the Arctic coast. Highways and roads that can be used in the winter extend to more than half of the settlements, and rail transportation ends at Hay River on the south shore of Great Slave Lake. Pipelines ship oil and gas to southern destinations. Aircraft are used to transport miners to and from the isolated Lupin gold and BHP diamond mines on a weekly basis. Food, equipment, and supplies are trucked to the mine sites along a winter road that begins at Yellowknife.

K

Tourism

The Northwest Territories attracts many tourists, especially in the summer. Tourists come for a variety of reasons. Hikers are attracted to Nahanni National Park Reserve in the southwest, where they can explore the wilderness. Sport fishers and hunters seek the experience of catching arctic char or hunting a polar bear. Other tourists just come to see this unique part of the world. Many tourists are fascinated by the aurora borealis (northern lights), an electric discharge in the atmosphere powered by solar wind and Earth’s magnetosphere. Japanese tourists, especially young couples, come to Yellowknife in the winter to enjoy the northern lights, which they believe will bring them good luck and increase their chances of having children.

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IV

The People

A

Population Patterns

Since World War II (1939-1945) the population of the Northwest Territories has more than doubled, reaching a total of 37,360 inhabitants, according to the 2001 national census. This represents an apparent decrease from the 1991 population of 57,649, but the 1991 figure included residents of the Territory of Nunavut. From 1991 to 1996 the population increased by 6,753, a population gain of almost 12 percent, well above Canada’s national average of 6.6 percent for that period. Since more people left the Northwest Territories than immigrated to the area during this time, the entire population growth was due to natural increase. The Northwest Territories has a high birth rate (16.2 births per 1,000 persons in 2005–2006) and a low death rate (5.1 deaths per 1,000 persons), resulting in a very high rate of natural increase. While the fertility rate has declined over the last decade, it remains well above the national average. Consequently, the population of the Northwest Territories is expected to continue to grow.

The population is unevenly distributed into two major population clusters. The largest cluster forms around Great Slave Lake, where about three-quarters of the people live. A secondary cluster is found in the Mackenzie Valley and accounts for nearly one-quarter of the total population. The rest of the Northwest Territories is sparsely populated, totaling fewer than 2,000 inhabitants. Almost everyone lives in one of three types of communities: administrative and service centers such as Yellowknife, resource towns such as Norman Wells, and indigenous settlements such as Aklavik.

B

Principal Cities

The principal cities in the Northwest Territories are Yellowknife (population 16,541 in 2001), Hay River (3,510), and Fort Smith (2,185), all of which are located around Great Slave Lake. The major towns are Inuvik (2,894), Rae (1,552), Fort Simpson (1,163), and Tuktoyaktuk (930). Most remaining settlements are small and populated mainly by indigenous people.

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