People of the Northwest Territories

Population composition

American Indians (First Nations) make up more than one-third of the territorial population and include the Dene and the Métis. Concentrated in the Mackenzie valley area, the Dene belong to several tribes, all part of the Athabaskan language family. Tribal organization was never strong among the Dene, and small bands led by individuals chosen for their skill in the hunt were the effective social unit. This arrangement was easily molded to the needs of the fur trade when it reached the Mackenzie area in the 18th century. Thereafter, the exchange of furs for imported goods became the basis of the Dene economy. Government treaties were made with the groups living south of Great Slave Lake in 1899 and with those living farther north only in 1921. No reservations were established, but a substantial number of small indigenous settlements have the same status as reservations elsewhere. The decline of the fur trade in the 20th century left many Dene unemployed. The Métis (people of mixed Indian and European ancestry) were granted legal recognition as a native group by the Canadian government in 2003.

Constituting about one-tenth of the population, the Inuit (the aboriginal Arctic people of Canada, called Eskimo in the United States) are found mainly in the northern coastal portions of the territories. They are distinct from the Dene in language and culture and generally live apart from them. (The vast majority of Canadian Inuit are found in Nunavut.)

The remainder of the people in the territories are mainly of European descent. Most live in the more economically advanced Fort Smith region, where they find employment in mining, transportation, and public service. Much of this population has always been transient.

Settlement patterns

The aboriginal peoples of the territories once led nomadic lives; the Inuit in particular survived by adapting to the harsh natural environment. But this balance was disturbed when Europeans established permanent settlements and introduced firearms, resulting in the drastic depletion of the barren-ground caribou, an important food source. Attempts to introduce domestic reindeer and other domesticated animals have not been successful. Most aboriginal people now live in towns and small settlements. Although hunting and fishing continue to provide some food, these settlements rely on imported food, fuel, and other necessities.

The territories are among the most sparsely populated habitable regions of the world. Nearly all the population lives in small settlements along the Mackenzie River, with smaller numbers along the Arctic coastlines of the mainland and northern islands. In addition to Yellowknife, the main towns are Hay River, Fort Smith, and Inuvik; all are in the Mackenzie area. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries the territories had much lower rates of international immigration than the Canadian provinces; they also tended to lose more residents to interprovincial migration than they gained.

Agriculture, forestry, hunting, and fishing

Although there are areas of arable land in the southern parts of the Mackenzie valley, farming is not profitable. Some field crops are grown for local use, but most foodstuffs must be imported, greatly increasing their price. The Fort Smith region has most of the territories’ approximately 130,000 square miles (330,000 square km) of forested land, but, even there, large stands of marketable timber are not plentiful. Several sawmills process the timber only for local use.

Trapping continues to provide income for some of the aboriginal population. Muskrat, beaver, marten, mink, and lynx are the most important furs taken in the Mackenzie area, while Arctic fox remains the principal fur in the Arctic regions. Fishing and hunting of sea mammals also provide some employment. Whitefish, lake trout, pickerel, and northern pike are fished commercially on Great Slave Lake and some smaller lakes. Seals and small whales are hunted for food, and some sealskins are marketed commercially.

Resources and power

Mining has been the principal nonrenewable resource industry of the territories. Gold has been mined at Yellowknife on the north shore of Great Slave Lake since the late 1930s. Radioactive ores were mined at Port Radium on Great Bear Lake in the 1930s, initially to produce radium; later, during World War II and afterward, uranium was mined. Large-scale lead and zinc mining was carried on at Pine Point from the late 1960s until the 1980s, when the ore deposit became depleted. Smaller metal mining projects have been carried out at widely scattered sites, a few in the high Arctic regions. Silver, copper, tungsten, and cadmium are among the metals that have been produced. Diamonds were first discovered at Lac de Gras, northeast of Great Slave Lake, in 1991, setting off a prospecting boom that led to the discovery of several other commercially significant diamond-bearing properties. The first commercial production of diamonds began in 1998. Petroleum fuels for use in the territories are obtained from refineries located at the Norman Wells and Pointed Mountain fields. The Mackenzie delta and Beaufort Sea areas also have substantial oil and gas reserves. Gasoline and diesel fuel are important both for transportation and for electric power generation. Large-scale hydroelectric power development has not been feasible, but a number of small sites have been developed to supply power to local industries and communities.

Services and labour

Although mining is the dominant industry in the territories, services constitute a vital part of the economy. At the beginning of the 21st century about half of the labour force was employed in various service industries. Another fifth of the labour force worked in public administration. Tourism is an important portion of the service sector; adventure tours, driving tours, sportfishing, hunting, and such natural phenomena as the aurora borealis and long summer days attract visitors from other parts of Canada, Japan, and the United States.

Transportation

Nearly all passenger and much freight traffic is carried by air services. Flights link Yellowknife and other major settlements along the Mackenzie valley to Edmonton, Alta.

Surface transportation for heavy freight is mainly by water. The waterway is supplemented in the southern part of the Fort Smith region by the Mackenzie Highway and a railway connecting Hay River to the trans-Canada rail systems in Alberta. A highway that runs from Fort Simpson links the southern Mackenzie valley to the Alaska Highway in Yukon, while to the north the Mackenzie delta is connected to Dawson, Yukon, by the Dempster Highway. Tractor trains and other overland vehicles using temporary winter roadways carry freight into remote areas. Snowmobiles are used for light winter travel.