Districts of the Northwest Territories

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The vastness of Canada's Northwest Territories meant that for much of its history it was divided into several districts for ease of administration. These territorial divisions were abolished during the territory's most recent contraction in 1999.

Originally Canada gained control of the Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory from the Hudson's Bay Company in 1870. At the same time, a small piece of Rupert's Land was formed into the province of Manitoba, but the rest of the two territories were merged and renamed the North-West Territories. This region included the vast bulk of Canada's current territory and covered an area about the size of western Europe. In 1880 the Canadian Arctic Archipelago was ceded to Canada by the United Kingdom and this was also added to the territory.

In 1876 the District of Keewatin, between Manitoba and Ontario and along the entire west coast of Hudson Bay, had become populated by loggers and gold seekers. The area was claimed by both Ontario and Manitoba, and the federal government felt making it into its own territory would be a useful compromise. Unlike later districts this region was separated from the North-West Territories, and was, in effect, another territory. The Keewatin District was administered from Winnipeg, Manitoba, by the Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba and Keewatin, a federal appointee.

1882

As the southern part of the territories became populated, four more districts were created in 1882; unlike Keewatin, these remained a part of the North-West Territories, and thus were formally called provisional districts:

The District of Alberta was where the southwestern part of the province of Alberta is today, east of British Columbia, west of the line between ranges 10 and 11 of the Dominion Land Survey (about 112° west) and north of the American border.
The District of Athabaska covered the northern half of what is today Alberta.
The District of Assiniboia was where the southernmost quarter of Saskatchewan is today (south of the Ninth Correction Line, about 51.97° north), but stretched somewhat further west into what is today Alberta.
The District of Saskatchewan was to the north of Assiniboia extending halfway up modern Saskatchewan. It stretched further east than Assiniboia, running all the way to the shore of Lake Winnipeg and the Nelson River. It also stretched west into what is now Alberta.

The Provisional District of Alberta, Provisional District of Assiniboia, Provisional District of Athabasca, and finally the Provisional District of Saskatchewan were four districts of the Northwest Territories created in 1882. They were named provisional districts to distinguish them from the District of Keewatin which had a more autonomous relationship from the NWT administration.^[1]

1895

In 1895 the northern section of the territory was divided into four more districts for ease of administration:

The District of Franklin was made up of the Arctic islands.
The District of Ungava was made up of what is today northern Quebec
The District of Yukon was made up of what is today the Yukon Territory. In 1898, due to the Klondike Gold Rush, it was made a fully separate territory.
The District of Mackenzie was the rest, stretching from the Yukon border in the west to the Keewatin border in the east, and containing none of the islands.
The District of Athabaska expanded and covered the northern half of what is today both Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Due to the vastness of the Northwest Territories, it was divided into more administrative districts. 1895 saw the formation of the District of Franklin, District of Keewatin, District of Ungava and the District of Mackenzie which were all part of the. By this date, the Provisional District of Athabasca had extended as far west as the first meridian.^[2]^[3]

In 1905 the districts of Alberta, Assiniboia, Athabaska, and Saskatchewan were reorganized to form the two provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. A small eastern portion of the Districts of Saskatchewan and Athabaska were added to Keewatin, as was a portion of the District of Mackenzie. Keewatin's autonomy was removed, however, and it was made equal to the three other remaining districts of the Northwest Territories. It was also at this time that the hyphen was removed from "North-West Territories".

In 1912 the District of Ungava was merged into Quebec, and most of the District of Keewatin was divided between Ontario and Manitoba as the borders of those three provinces were pushed northwards.

The three remaining districts continued to be used for a number of decades, but as control over the territory was moved from government bureaucrats to a centralized government in Yellowknife, they began to have far less use. Eventually the territory was divided into five administrative regions entirely separate from the three districts: Inuvik, Fort Smith, Kitikmeot, Keewatin and Baffin, although the three districts continued to appear on many maps.

In 1999 the territory was divided in two with the separation of Nunavut, and the Districts of Mackenzie, Keewatin, and Franklin disappeared. The boundaries of the five aforementioned regions were rearranged so that the three latter regions moved in entirety into Nunavut. Fort Smith region and Inuvik region remain in use as census divisions of the Northwest Territories but do not possess any form of autonomy.