A plebiscite on the boundary between Northwest Territories and the new territory of Nunavut was held in the Northwest Territories on 4 May 1992.Northwest Territories (Canada), 4 May 1992: Border with Nunavut
Direct Democracy The proposed border was approved by 54% of voters. A second referendum later in the year gave the final approval to the creation of the new territory.

Background

A 1982 referendum had approved the division of the Northwest Territories and the creation of a new

territory A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or a ...

, later to become Nunavut. The federal government gave a conditional agreement to the plan seven months later. In December 1991 the federal government reached an agreement with the

Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...

on their land claims, with the "Parker line" (named for former Commissioner

John Havelock Parker John Havelock Parker, OC (February 2, 1929 – March 9, 2020) was the commissioner of the Northwest Territories from April 15, 1979 to July 31, 1989. He had previously been Deputy Commissioner of Northwest Territories from 1967 to 1979. Biogra ...

who worked on establishing the borders) set as the boundary between the existing territory and the new one. The boundary roughly approximates the

tree line The tree line is the edge of the habitat at which trees are capable of growing. It is found at high elevations and high latitudes. Beyond the tree line, trees cannot tolerate the environmental conditions (usually cold temperatures, extreme snow ...

in Canada.

Results

References

{{Northwest Territories elections Referendums in the Northwest Territories Politics of Nunavut History of Nunavut Northwest Territories jurisdictional boundaries plebiscite Northwest Territories jurisdictional boundaries plebiscite Northwest Territories jurisdictional boundaries plebiscite Jurisdictional boundaries plebiscite Northwest Territories jurisdictional boundaries plebiscite