The History of the Northwest Territories has been a struggle for responsible government, provincial rights, and social development.
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The territories were purchased from the Hudson's Bay Company.
Northwest Territories delayed entering confederation due to the Red River Rebellion. As a result the province of Manitoba was created. Both jurisdictions entered confederation in 1870.
The first Northwest Territories government sits in 1872 after the Temporary North-West Council is appointed.
The first Northwest Territories government sat inside the territories at Fort Livingstone for the first time in 1876. In 1898, The Yukon stopped being part of Northwest Territories
The Arctic Archipelago was transferred from the United Kingdom to Canada in 1880. The Northwest Territories hit its peak in size.
The first territorial election took place in 1881.
French was abolished as an official language in 1892.
Following the Klondike Gold Rush, a separate Yukon Territory is created from the western NWT in 1898.
Alberta and Saskatchewan separated from the territories in 1905. Although the District of Keewatin was given back to the territories, the population dropped from approx 160,000 to 17,000, of which 16,000 were aboriginal and had no right to vote under Canadian law.[1] The government of the Northwest Territories defaulted back to its 1870 constitutional status, and once again came under federal control, governed from Ottawa.
Elections returned in 1951, but rather than being fully elected body, the Councils and Assemblies were a mix of elected and appointed members.
In 1969, A special committee of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories chose a new flag for the territory. Robert Bessant's design was chosen among entries to a Canada-wide contest.
The government would introduce the popular polar bear license plate in 1970.
In 1975, the territorial government once again became a fully elected body.
In April 1982, a majority of Northwest Territories residents voted in favour of a division of the area, and the federal government gave a conditional agreement seven months later. After a long series of land claim negotiations between the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada and the federal government (begun earlier in 1976), an agreement was reached in September 1992. In June 1993, the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act and the Nunavut Act were passed by the Canadian Parliament, and the transition to the new territory of Nunavut was completed on April 1, 1999.
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