Northwest Territories

B

Exploration

The first European to reach the Great Slave Lake area was English explorer Samuel Hearne. Hearne was an employee of the Hudson’s Bay Company, an English corporation, and was stationed at Prince of Wales Fort at the mouth of the Churchill River in what is now Churchill, Manitoba. In 1770 the company instructed Hearne to search for the source of rich copper deposits reported near the Arctic Ocean. Chipewyans trading at the fort knew the way to the copper deposit, and in December 1770 their chief, Matonabee, took Hearne on a journey to the copper deposit on the Arctic coast. On their return, Hearne and the Chipewyans spent several months during the winter of 1771 and 1772 at Great Slave Lake, where they hunted caribou and built canoes for the journey back to Prince of Wale’s Fort.

The North West Company, based in Montréal, extended its fur-trading posts into the Mackenzie River basin in the late 18th century. Peter Pond, an American fur trader, reached the Athabasca River (in present-day Alberta) in 1778. In 1784 Pond drew a map of the Mackenzie basin using information he obtained from Indians who had come to trade with him. Using Pond’s map, Scottish-born Canadian explorer Sir Alexander Mackenzie canoed to the mouth of the Mackenzie River in 1789. Fur-trading posts were established along his route.

As a result of the fur trade, the British had a clear idea of the geography of the Mackenzie basin, but they had little knowledge of the Arctic Archipelago. The British navy began a futile search for a navigable sea route (called the Northwest Passage) along the north coast of North America, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. In 1845 British naval officer Sir John Franklin began to search for a route through the Arctic Ocean. After entering the Arctic Ocean, Captain Franklin’s ships became locked in heavy ice; he and his men disappeared. The British admiralty launched a massive search and in the process mapped most of the Canadian Archipelago.

Canadian explorer and anthropologist Vilhjalmur Stefansson made the last major explorations of the area. From 1906 to 1918 Stefansson made three expeditions into the western Arctic. He traveled to several islands in the Arctic Ocean, including Borden Island, just north of Prince Patrick Island.

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C

Colonial Status

As part of British North America, the region centered on the Mackenzie River was perhaps the most profitable fur-trapping area in Canada. Because of the long, cold winters, the beaver pelts were particularly thick, making them extremely valuable. The North West Company entered the region first but was soon followed by the Hudson’s Bay Company. To end bitter quarreling, the British government forced the two companies to merge in 1821 under the name Hudson’s Bay Company. Following the merger, the British government granted the company a trade monopoly in much of Canada, including the Mackenzie basin. From 1821 to 1870 the Hudson’s Bay Company encouraged the Indians to trade furs at its posts along the Mackenzie River. The main Hudson’s Bay Company trading posts in the Northwest Territories were located at Fort Smith, Fort Resolution, Fort Providence, Fort Liard, Fort Simpson, Fort Norman, and Fort Good Hope; Fort McPherson was the most northerly Hudson’s Bay Company post.

D

Confederation

In 1870 the Hudson’s Bay lands became part of Canada and were renamed the Northwest Territories. In 1880 the British government transferred its claim to the Arctic Archipelago to Canada. These geopolitical changes had little impact on the people in the Canadian north. The fur trade remained the foundation of the region’s economy, and the indigenous peoples continued their traditional way of life.

Cultural change was occurring, however, not only among the Indians but also among the Mackenzie delta Inuit. Until the 1890s the Inuit had little contact with the outside world. In 1890 American whaling ships moved into Canadian waters, using Herschel Island off the Yukon coast as their wintering base. Both Alaskan and Mackenzie delta Inuit became involved with the whalers. The men hunted with the whalers while the women made clothing for the crew. By 1910, however, the market for whale products had collapsed. The arctic fox had become a valuable pelt, and the Inuit became fur trappers. A fur-trading post was established at Herschel Island in 1915 but was later abandoned for one at Aklavik in the Mackenzie delta.

In the 19th century, missionaries established churches at the fur-trading posts in the Mackenzie Valley and began converting Indians from their pagan beliefs to Christianity. With the fur trade expanding into the Arctic in the early 20th century, more Anglican and Roman Catholic priests moved into the region. Both the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches undertook the task of assimilating the Indians, Métis, and Inuit into the “white man’s world.” By the 1920s the Canadian government had helped in this assimilation process by turning over the education of Indians, Métis, and Inuit to the churches. Both churches established residential schools in the Northwest Territories.

E

The 20th Century

At the beginning of the 20th century the Northwest Territories was the homeland of Indians, Métis, and Inuit. These three indigenous peoples lived on the land, hunting and trapping. By the middle of the 20th century, however, the region had become a resource hinterland. In order to extract its natural resources the Northwest Territories needed to develop a transportation system.

During World War II the threat of a Japanese invasion changed the region’s geopolitical value. In response to this threat, the American military constructed the Alaska Highway, which connects Dawson Creek, British Columbia, with Delta Junction, Alaska. The U.S. Army also built an oil pipeline that extended from Norman Wells, Northwest Territories, to Whitehorse, in the Yukon Territory, and then on to Fairbanks, Alaska. Both transportation systems were designed to secure supplies for the American military forces in Alaska, and both were built at great expense. The pipeline was later abandoned. The Northwest Territories was linked to the Yukon Territory by the Dempster Highway, which connects Inuvik and other communities in the Mackenzie delta with Dawson in the Yukon Territory. A Yukon highway connects Dawson Creek with Whitehorse, which is on the Alaska Highway. Construction of the Dempster Highway began in 1959, but it was not open to the public until 1979.

The territory developed as a resource center because of the rising demand for energy and raw materials. The Canadian north—particularly the Northwest Territories—attracted resource developers. Several gold mines had been operating since the 1930s, and in the 1970s oil companies discovered vast quantities of petroleum in the Mackenzie River basin.

Also during the 1970s, the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry examined the potential environmental and social impacts of a proposal to transport natural gas to American markets from Prudhoe Bay along the Mackenzie Valley. The Indian Brotherhood of the Northwest Territories (later called the Dene Nation) became active in the public hearings about the pipeline.

The Indian Brotherhood also presented its case for land claims and a separate political area for the Dene, called Denendeh. In 1990 the Dene Nation and the Canadian government reached an agreement-in-principle regarding the land claims proposed on behalf of the Dene bands. Some of the bands did not support the agreement, and the idea of a Dene political area faded. In the following years two Dene bands, the Gwich’in and the Sahtu, reached separate agreements with the federal government in Ottawa.

Although the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Project did not proceed, another energy proposal was approved in 1980. The second proposal, known as the Norman Wells Oil Expansion and Pipeline Project, allowed pipelines to transport oil from Norman Wells to North American markets. The pipeline is still in operation. In the 1990s diamonds were discovered just east of Great Bear Lake, and by 1998 two diamond mines were operating. In the course of 50 years, resource projects transformed the region’s economy from fur trading to mineral exploitation.

F

Recent Developments

At the dawn of the 21st century, the Northwest Territories faced a number of challenges. These challenges included diversifying its economy, settling land claims, and deciding on a new constitution.

Economic diversification is a challenge for the Northwest Territories because geography and environment limit the territory to development of nonrenewable resources. The discovery of a vast field of diamonds has made a significant difference to the regional economy. However, the Northwest Territories remains heavily dependent on and vulnerable to world demand for its primary products. Its economy exposes the territory to boom-and-bust cycles, and economic diversification is an elusive goal.

The second challenge is settling outstanding land claims. Modern land claims began in 1984 with the Inuvialuit Final Agreement. This agreement empowered the Inuvialuit, allowing them more opportunity to chart their own destiny. The settlement was followed by two other agreements, the Gwich’in (1992) and the Sahtu (1993), representing the northern half of Denendeh. The remaining Dene land claims are in the southern half of the Northwest Territories and represent the southern half of Denendeh.

A third challenge is the choice between maintaining the existing form of government and creating a new constitution. To examine this question, indigenous leaders and members of the Legislative Assembly formed the Constitutional Development Steering Committee in 1992. In 1996 this committee recommended that political power be shared between indigenous and nonindigenous residents. By April 1999 the Northwest Territories had been divided into two parts: Nunavut, and the remainder of the Northwest Territories. Government officials in the Northwest Territories continued to debate changes to the constitution, but the issue remained unresolved in early 2006. Until a resolution is achieved, the Northwest Territories retains its current name and existing government structure.

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