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Yellowknife (; Dogrib: ) is the capital, largest community, and only city in the
Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...
, Canada. It is on the northern shore of
Great Slave Lake Great Slave Lake (french: Grand lac des Esclaves), known traditionally as Tıdeè in Tłı̨chǫ Yatıì (Dogrib), Tinde’e in Wıìlıìdeh Yatii / Tetsǫ́t’ıné Yatıé (Dogrib / Chipewyan), Tu Nedhé in Dëne Sųłıné Yatıé (Chi ...
, about south of the
Arctic Circle The Arctic Circle is one of the two polar circles, and the most northerly of the five major circles of latitude as shown on maps of Earth. Its southern equivalent is the Antarctic Circle. The Arctic Circle marks the southernmost latitude at w ...
, on the west side of Yellowknife Bay near the outlet of the
Yellowknife River The Yellowknife River is a river in the Northwest Territories, Canada. It flows south and empties into Yellowknife Bay, part of Great Slave Lake, at the city of Yellowknife. The lake is drained by the Mackenzie River into the Arctic Ocean as part ...
. Yellowknife and its surrounding water bodies were named after a local
Dene The Dene people () are an Aboriginal peoples in Canada, indigenous group of First Nations in Canada, First Nations who inhabit the northern Boreal forest of Canada, boreal and Arctic regions of Canada. The Dene speak Northern Athabaskan languag ...
tribe, who were known as the "Copper Indians" or "Yellowknife Indians", today incorporated as the
Yellowknives Dene First Nation The Yellowknives Dene First Nation is a band government in the Northwest Territories. It represents the Yellowknives people, namesake of the territorial capital Yellowknife. Its membership primarily resides in two communities: Ndilǫ, bordering t ...
. They traded tools made from
copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...
deposits near the Arctic Coast. Its population, which is ethnically mixed, was 19,569 per the
2016 Canadian Census The 2016 Canadian census was an enumeration of Canadian residents, which counted a population of 35,151,728, a change from its 2011 population of 33,476,688. The census, conducted by Statistics Canada, was Canada's seventh quinquennial census. ...
. Of the eleven official languages of the Northwest Territories, five are spoken in significant numbers in Yellowknife:
Dene Suline Chipewyan or Denesuline (ethnonym: ), often simply called Dene, is the language spoken by the Chipewyan people of northwestern Canada. It is categorized as part of the Northern Athabaskan languages, Northern Athabaskan language family. Dënës ...
, Dogrib, South and North Slavey, English, and French. In the Dogrib language, the city is known as ''Sǫǫ̀mbak’è'' (, "where the money is"). Modern Yellowknives members can be found in the adjoining, primarily Indigenous communities of
Ndilǫ Ndilǫ is a First Nations community in the North Slave Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. The small Dene community is located on the edge of Yellowknife on the tip of Latham Island. It had a population of approximately 321 people in 201 ...
and
Dettah Dettah, sometimes, incorrectly, as ''Detah'', is a First Nations community in the North Slave Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. Located just southeast of the capital of Yellowknife, it is a drive from that city by ice road across the ...
. The Yellowknife settlement is considered to have been founded in 1934, after
gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...
was found in the area, although commercial activity in the present-day waterfront area did not begin until 1936. Yellowknife quickly became the centre of economic activity in the NWT, and was named the capital of the Northwest Territories in 1967. As gold production began to wane, Yellowknife shifted from being a
mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...
town to a centre of government services in the 1980s. However, with the discovery of
diamond Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the Chemical stability, chemically stable form of car ...
s north of the city in 1991, this shift began to reverse. In recent years, tourism, transportation, and communications have also emerged as significant Yellowknife industries.


History

Traditionally,
First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...
people of the
Yellowknives The Yellowknives, Yellow Knives, Copper Indians, Red Knives or T'atsaot'ine (Dogrib language, Dogrib: ''T'satsąot'ınę'') are indigenous peoples of Canada, one of the five main groups of the First Nations in Canada, First Nations Dene who live ...
Dene culture occupied this region. By the 1930s, they had a settlement on a point of land on the east side of Yellowknife Bay,
Dettah Dettah, sometimes, incorrectly, as ''Detah'', is a First Nations community in the North Slave Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. Located just southeast of the capital of Yellowknife, it is a drive from that city by ice road across the ...
. The current municipal area of Yellowknife was occupied by prospectors who ventured into the region in the mid-1930s. A Klondike-bound prospector, E.A. Blakeney, made the first discovery of gold in the Yellowknife Bay area in 1898. The discovery was viewed as unimportant in those days because of the Klondike Gold Rush and because Great Slave Lake was too far away to attract attention.Price, Ray. ''Yellowknife'', Peter Martin Associates,
Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
, 1967. Page 22.
In the late 1920s, aircraft were first used to explore Canada's
Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar regions of Earth, polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenla ...
regions. Samples of
uranium Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weak ...
and
silver Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...
were uncovered at
Great Bear Lake Great Bear Lake ( den, Sahtú; french: Grand lac de l'Ours) is a lake in the boreal forest of Canada. It is the largest lake entirely in Canada (Lake Superior and Lake Huron are larger but straddle the Canada–US border), the fourth-largest ...
in the early 1930s, and prospectors began fanning out to find additional metals.Watt, Frederick B. ''Great Bear: A Journey Remembered'', Outcrop, Yellowknife, 1980. . In 1933 two prospectors, Herb Dixon and Johnny Baker, canoed down the Yellowknife River from Great Bear Lake to survey for possible mineral deposits. They found gold samples at Quyta Lake, about up the Yellowknife River, and some additional samples at Homer Lake. The following year, Johnny Baker returned as part of a larger crew to develop the previous gold finds and search for more. Gold was found on the east side of Yellowknife Bay in 1934 and the short-lived
Burwash Mine The Burwash Mine was a small gold property discovered in the fall of 1934 by Johnny Baker and Hugh Muir at Yellowknife Bay, Northwest Territories. The town of Yellowknife did not exist yet at that point, but the discovery of gold at Burwash was th ...
was developed. When government geologists uncovered gold in more favourable geology on the west side of Yellowknife Bay in the fall of 1935, a small staking rush occurred. From 1935 to 1937, one prospector and trapper named Winslow C. Ranney staked in the area between David Lake and Rater Lake with few commercial results. The nearby hill known as
Ranney Hill Ranney Hill (pronounced, 'Ran-ee") is a rock outcrop approximately 10 kilometers north of Yellowknife, the capital city of the Northwest Territories of Canada. At 682 ft / 208 m. high, it is one of three visible outcrops that can be seen north ...
is his namesake and a popular hiking destination today.
Con Mine The Con Mine (1938-2003) was the first gold mine developed in the Northwest Territories, Canada, just south of Yellowknife. The property was staked by Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company of Canada (Cominco) in September 1935 in response to t ...
was the most impressive gold deposit and its development created the excitement that led to the first settlement of Yellowknife in 1936–1937. Some of the first businesses were Corona Inn, Weaver & Devore Trading, Yellowknife Supplies and post office, and
The Wildcat Cafe The Wildcat Cafe is a vintage log cabin structure in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada and represents the mining camp style of early Yellowknife. The structure, which houses a summer restaurant, is located in what was then the central busi ...
. Con Mine entered production on 5 September 1938. Yellowknife boomed in the summer of 1938 and many new businesses were established, including the
Canadian Bank of Commerce The Canadian Bank of Commerce was a Canadian bank which was founded in 1867, and had hundreds of branches throughout Canada. It merged in 1961 with the Imperial Bank of Canada to form the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. History In 1866 a ...
,
Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business div ...
, Vic Ingraham's first hotel,
Sutherland's Drug Store Sutherland's Drug Store is a small family-owned drug store in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada. The company was established in Fort McMurray, Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is par ...
, and a pool hall. The population of Yellowknife quickly grew to 1,000 by 1940, and by 1942, five gold mines were in production in the Yellowknife region. However, by 1944, gold production had ground to a halt as men were needed for the war effort. An exploration program at the
Giant Mine The Giant Mine was a gold mine located on the Ingraham Trail, north of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. Giant Mine was within the Kam Group, a part of the Yellowknife greenstone belt. Gold was discovered on the property and mineral claims sta ...
property on the north end of town had suggested a sizable gold deposit in 1944. This new find resulted in a massive post-war staking rush to Yellowknife.Decoursey, Duke. ''The Yellowknife Years'', Parkview Publishing, Squamish, BC. p. 112. It also resulted in new discoveries at the Con Mine, greatly extending the life of the mine. The Yellowknife townsite expanded from the Old Town waterfront, and the new townsite was established during 1945–1946. The
Discovery Mine The Discovery Mine was a gold mine 84 kilometers northeast (approx bearing of 15 degrees) of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories that operated between 1950 and 1969. Gold was discovered here by Alfred Giauque in 1944. A complete townsite, on Giauq ...
, with its own townsite, operated to the north-northeast of Yellowknife from 1950 to 1969. Between 1939 and 1953, Yellowknife was controlled by the Northern Affairs department (now Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada) of the
Government of Canada The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown ...
. A small council, partially elected and partially appointed, made decisions. By 1953, Yellowknife had grown so much that it was made a municipality, with its own council and town hall. The first mayor of Yellowknife was Jock McNiven. In September 1967, Yellowknife officially became the capital of the Northwest Territories. This important new status sparked what has been coined as the third boom in Yellowknife. New sub-divisions were established to house an influx of government workers. In 1978 the
Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
nuclear-powered satellite
Kosmos 954 Kosmos 954 (russian: Космос 954) was a reconnaissance satellite launched by the Soviet Union in 1977. A malfunction prevented safe separation of its onboard nuclear reactor; when the satellite reentered the Earth's atmosphere the follow ...
crashed to Earth near Yellowknife. There were no known casualties, although a small quantity of radioactive
nuclear fuel Nuclear fuel is material used in nuclear power stations to produce heat to power turbines. Heat is created when nuclear fuel undergoes nuclear fission. Most nuclear fuels contain heavy fissile actinide elements that are capable of undergoing ...
was released into the environment, and Operation Morning Light—an attempt to retrieve it—was only partially successful. A new mining rush and fourth building boom for Yellowknife began with the discovery of diamonds north of the city in 1991. The
Giant Mine The Giant Mine was a gold mine located on the Ingraham Trail, north of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. Giant Mine was within the Kam Group, a part of the Yellowknife greenstone belt. Gold was discovered on the property and mineral claims sta ...
was the subject of a bombing during a
labour dispute A labor dispute is a disagreement between an employer and employees regarding the terms of employment. This could include disputes regarding conditions of employment, fringe benefits, hours of work, tenure, and wages to be negotiated during ...
in 1992 that resulted in one of the deadliest mass murders in Canada with 9 deaths. The last of the gold mines in Yellowknife closed in 2004. Today, Yellowknife is primarily a government town and a service centre for the diamond mines. On 1 April 1999, its purview as capital of the NWT was reduced when the territory of
Nunavut Nunavut ( , ; iu, ᓄᓇᕗᑦ , ; ) is the largest and northernmost Provinces and territories of Canada#Territories, territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the ''Nunavut Act'' ...
was split from the NWT. As a result, jurisdiction for that region of Canada was transferred to the new capital city of
Iqaluit Iqaluit ( ; , ; ) is the capital of the Canadian territory of Nunavut, its largest community, and its only city. It was known as Frobisher Bay from 1942 to 1987, after the large bay on the coast on which the city is situated. In 1987, its t ...
. Consequently, Yellowknife lost its standing as the Canadian capital city with the smallest population.


Geography

Yellowknife is on the
Canadian Shield The Canadian Shield (french: Bouclier canadien ), also called the Laurentian Plateau, is a geologic shield, a large area of exposed Precambrian igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks. It forms the North American Craton (or Laurentia), the anc ...
, which was scoured down to rock during the last ice age. The surrounding landscape is very rocky and slightly rolling, with many small lakes in addition to the larger Great Slave Lake. Trees such as spruce and
birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech-oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 30 ...
are abundant in the area, as are smaller bushes, but there are also many areas of relatively bare rock with
lichen A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.Civil Twilight Twilight is light produced by sunlight scattering in the upper atmosphere, when the Sun is below the horizon, which illuminates the lower atmosphere and the Earth's surface. The word twilight can also refer to the periods of time when this ...
lasts all night from late May to mid-July.


Climate

Yellowknife has a
subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of an ocean, ge ...
(
Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...
: ''Dfc''). Although winter is predominantly polar, rapid
heat wave A heat wave, or heatwave, is a period of excessively hot weather, which may be accompanied by high humidity, especially in oceanic climate countries. While definitions vary, a heat wave is usually measured relative to the usual climate in the ...
s emerge at the summit of summer due to the immense path south. The city averages less than of precipitation annually, as it lies in the
rain shadow A rain shadow is an area of significantly reduced rainfall behind a mountainous region, on the side facing away from prevailing winds, known as its leeward side. Evaporated moisture from water bodies (such as oceans and large lakes) is carrie ...
of mountain ranges to the west. Due to its location on Great Slave Lake, Yellowknife has a frost-free
growing season A season is a division of the year marked by changes in weather, ecology, and the amount of daylight. The growing season is that portion of the year in which local conditions (i.e. rainfall, temperature, daylight) permit normal plant growth. Whil ...
that averages slightly over 100 days. In an occasional year, the first fall frost does not come until October. Most of the limited precipitation falls between June and October, with April being the driest month of the year and August having the most rainfall. Snow that falls in winter accumulates on the ground until the spring thaw. Yellowknife experiences very cold winters and mild to warm summers. The average temperature in January is around and in July. According to
Environment and Climate Change Canada Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC; french: Environnement et Changement climatique Canada),Environment and Climate Change Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of the Environment ...
, Yellowknife has the sunniest summer in the country, averaging 1,034 hours from June to August. The lowest temperature ever recorded in Yellowknife was on 31 January 1947, and the highest was on 2 August 2021. Yellowknife averages 2256.5 hours of bright sunshine per year or 43.5% of possible daylight hours, ranging from a low of 15.4% in December to a high of 63.0% in June. Due to its warm summer temperatures, Yellowknife is well below the Arctic
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 snowp ...
in stark contrast to areas farther east in Canada on similar parallels. In 2014, Environment Canada ranked Yellowknife as having the coldest winter and longest snow cover season of any city in Canada, while also experiencing the sunniest spring and summer of any city in Canada.


Cityscape

Yellowknife, like most other urban centres, has distinct commercial, industrial, and residential areas. Frame Lake, Niven Lake, Range Lake, and Old Town are the residential sectors, with some of the population living in high-rises in the downtown core. Niven Lake is the only area under active development and expansion. Downtown Yellowknife is home to most of the city's commercial activity, though some retail does exist in Range Lake. Industrial activity is limited to the Kam Lake and airport subdivisions.


Houseboats

Jolliffe Island sits in Yellowknife Bay and is public land under the jurisdiction of the City of Yellowknife after a land purchase when
Imperial Oil Imperial Oil Limited (French: ''Compagnie Pétrolière Impériale Ltée'') is a Canadian petroleum company. It is Canada's second-biggest integrated oil company. It is majority owned by American oil company ExxonMobil with around 69.6 percent ...
vacated the site. The island is surrounded by a community of houseboats, where people have been living off the grid since 1978. Their relationship with the city is complex and often strained as the houseboats are popular with sightseers, but at the same time their residents live outside of the city's tax jurisdiction while still using city services, leading to lawsuits and tensions with the City of Yellowknife.


Government

Yellowknife has a
municipal government A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
system and is governed by the
Yellowknife City Council The Yellowknife City Council is the governing body of the city of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada. The council consists of a mayor and eight councillors A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in som ...
, which consists of an elected
mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...
and eight
councillors A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...
. The Government of the Northwest Territories delegates powers to the municipality through legislative acts and regulations. Council meetings are held in the Council Chambers at City Hall on the second and fourth Monday of each month, and are open to the public. Municipal elections are held every three years. The current mayor of Yellowknife is Rebecca Alty, who succeeded Mark Heyck in 2018.'It's exciting and very humbling': Rebecca Alty is the new mayor of Yellowknife
CBC North CBC North ( iu, ᓰᐲᓰ ᐅᑭᐅᖅᑕᖅᑐᒥ, lit=CBC Northwest, translit=, SiiPiiSii Ukiuqtaqtumi; cr, ᓰᐲᓰ ᒌᐌᑎᓅᑖᐦᒡ, label=cr, SiiPiiSii Chiiwetinuutaahch; french: Radio-Canada Nord) is the Canadian Broadcasting Corpora ...
, 15 October 2018.
Alty was elected 16 October 2018 and was sworn in 5 November.Dylan Short
Yellowknife mayor and city council sworn-in
''
Northern News Services NNSL Media (Northern News Services LTD) is a news and media company based in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. It is one of the few remaining independent newspaper companies in Canada, producing all-original content with little to no reliance ...
'', 5 November 2018.
Yellowknife is represented in the territorial government by seven of the 19 members of the
Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly, or Legislative Council of the Northwest Territories (with Northwest hyphenated as North-West until 1906), is the legislature and the seat of government of Northwest Territories in Canada. It is a uni ...
. These members, referred to as MLAs, are elected every four years and sit in the
Northwest Territories Legislative Building The Northwest Territories Legislative Building is the home of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories, in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. The territory's legislature has used many permanent and temporary facilities throughout ...
, located in Yellowknife. The MLAs elect the
Speaker of the House The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England. Usage The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hungerf ...
as well as six cabinet ministers and a
premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...
, which forms the
Executive Council of the Northwest Territories Executive ( exe., exec., execu.) may refer to: Role or title * Executive, a senior management role in an organization ** Chief executive officer (CEO), one of the highest-ranking corporate officers (executives) or administrators ** Executive dir ...
, also known as the
cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...
. In addition, a
Commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to in ...
is appointed by the Federal Government to fulfil a similar role to that of the
Lieutenant Governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...
. The Northwest Territories is one of only two federal, provincial or territorial jurisdictions in Canada that operate under a consensus system of government. The Northwest Territories is in the federal electoral riding of the
Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...
and has one
Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
, Michael McLeod, and one
Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
,
Margaret Dawn Anderson Margaret Dawn Anderson (born April 14, 1967) is a Canadian politician and former civil servant of Inuvialuit descent. She was appointed to the Senate of Canada on December 12, 2018. Biography Anderson was born in Tuktoyaktuk.< ...
. Yellowknife is home to seven of the 19 electoral districts in the Northwest Territories, the
Frame Lake Frame Lake is located in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada. It is an endorheic freshwater body located between the city's downtown section and a larger residential area. The Frame Lake Trail circles it, and city hall and the territoria ...
,
Great Slave Great Slave is a territorial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is one of seven districts that represent Yellowknife. The district has existed twice, the first incarnation existed from 1975 a ...
,
Kam Lake Kam Lake is a territorial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is one of seven districts that represent Yellowknife Yellowknife (; Dogrib: ) is the capital, largest community, and only ...
,
Range Lake Range Lake is a territorial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is one of seven districts that represent Yellowknife Yellowknife (; Dogrib: ) is the capital, largest community, and only c ...
,
Yellowknife Centre Yellowknife Centre is a territorial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is one of seven districts that represent Yellowknife Yellowknife (; Dogrib: ) is the capital, largest community, an ...
,
Yellowknife North Yellowknife North is a territorial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is one of seven districts that represent Yellowknife, the territorial capital. It encompasses Old Town, Niven Heights, some ...
and
Yellowknife South Yellowknife South is a territorial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is one of seven districts that represent Yellowknife Yellowknife (; Dogrib: ) is the capital, largest community, and ...
ridings.


Economy

As the largest city in the Northwest Territories, Yellowknife is the hub for mining, industry, transportation, communications, education, health, tourism, commerce, and government activity in the territory. Historically, Yellowknife's economic growth came from gold mining, and later government; however, because of falling gold prices and increased operating costs, the final gold mine closed in 2004, marking a turning point for Yellowknife's economy. After a downturn in the 1990s during the closure of the gold mines and the downsizing of the government workforce in 1999, Yellowknife's economy has recovered, largely because of the diamond boom; the
Ekati Diamond Mine The Ekati Diamond Mine ("Ekati") is Canada's first surface and underground diamond mine. It is located north-east of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, and about south of the Arctic Circle, near Lac de Gras. Until 2014 Ekati was a joint ventur ...
, owned and operated by
BHP Billiton BHP Group Limited (formerly known as BHP Billiton) is an Australian Multinational corporation, multinational mining, metals, natural gas petroleum public company that is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The Broken Hill Propri ...
(sold to
Dominion Diamond Corporation Arctic Canadian Diamond Company (formerly known as Dominion Diamond Mines, Dominion Diamond Corporation, Harry Winston, and Aber) is a Canadian specialist diamond mining company. Aside from its corporate office in Calgary, Arctic Canadian also ha ...
in 2013), opened in 1998. A second mine,
Diavik Diamond Mine The Diavik Diamond Mine is a diamond mine in the North Slave Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada, about northeast of Yellowknife. Description Diavik Diamond Mine is an industrial complex set in a remote, subarctic landscape. It consis ...
, began production in 2003. Production from the two operating mines in 2004 was , valued at over billion. This ranked Canada third in world diamond production by value, and sixth by weight. A third mine, the
De Beers De Beers Group is an international corporation that specializes in diamond mining, diamond exploitation, diamond retail, diamond trading and industrial diamond manufacturing sectors. The company is active in open-pit, large-scale alluvial and c ...
owned
Snap Lake Diamond Mine Snap Lake Mine was a remote fly-in/fly-out operation located about northeast of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, and, according to De Beers, was the first De Beers mine outside of Africa. It was also Canada's first completely underground dia ...
, received final approval and funding in 2005 and went into production in 2007. De Beers also applied in 2005 for a permit to open the Gahcho Kue Diamond Mine Project on the property formerly known as Kennady Lake. The mine was officially opened on 20 September 2016, and began commercial production in March 2017. As well, growth and expansion in natural gas development and exploration sectors has contributed to this growth. Economic growth in the Northwest Territories was 10.6% in 2003. The major employers in Yellowknife include the Territorial Government, the Federal Government, Diavik Diamond Mines, Dominion Diamonds, DeBeers Canada,
First Air Bradley Air Services Limited, operating as First Air, was an airline headquartered in Kanata, a suburb of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.NorthwesTel Northwestel Inc. (stylized as NorthwesTel) is a Canadian telecommunications company that is the incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) and long-distance carrier in the territories of Yukon, the Northwest Territories, and Nunavut. Originally est ...
, RTL Robinson Trucking, and the City of Yellowknife. Government employment accounts for 7,644 jobs, a large percentage of those in Yellowknife. During winter, the
Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road is an annual ice road first built in 1982 to service mines and exploration activities in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut in Northern Canada. Between long, the road is said to be the world's longest heavy hau ...
is opened for
semi-trailer truck A semi-trailer truck, also known as a semitruck, (or semi, eighteen-wheeler, big rig, tractor-trailer or, by synecdoche, a semitrailer) is the combination of a tractor unit and one or more semi-trailers to carry freight. A semi-trailer ...
traffic to take supplies from Yellowknife north to various mines located in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. This
ice road An ice road or ice bridge is a human-made structure that runs on a frozen water surface (a river, a lake or a sea water expanse).Masterson, D. and Løset, S., 2011, ISO 19906: Bearing capacity of ice and ice roads, Proceedings of the 21st Inte ...
is usually open from the end of January through late March or early April, and Yellowknife becomes the dispatch point for the large number of truck drivers that come north to drive on the ice roads. During the 2007 ice road season, several drivers were featured on the
History Channel History (formerly The History Channel from January 1, 1995 to February 15, 2008, stylized as HISTORY) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney ...
TV series ''
Ice Road Truckers ''Ice Road Truckers'' (commercially abbreviated ''IRT'') is a reality television series that premiered on History Channel, on June 17, 2007. It features the activities of drivers who operate trucks on seasonal routes crossing frozen lakes and ...
''. Tourism is the largest renewable industry in the NWT and Yellowknife is the main entry point for visitors. Many tourists come to experience the Northern climate and traditional lifestyle, as well as to see the
aurora An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of bri ...
. In 2004–2005, visitors to the territory spent million. The City of Yellowknife raises 50% of its operating revenue through
property tax A property tax or millage rate is an ad valorem tax on the value of a property.In the OECD classification scheme, tax on property includes "taxes on immovable property or net wealth, taxes on the change of ownership of property through inheri ...
ation. Both Yellowknife Education District No. 1 and
Yellowknife Catholic School Board The Yellowknife Catholic School Board is the school board responsible for École St. Joseph School, Weledeh Catholic School, École St. Patrick High School and the Kimberlite Career & Technical Centre in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Can ...
also raise a portion of their operating revenue through property taxation. Property taxes in Yellowknife are calculated through property assessment and the municipal and education mill rates. Mill rates in 2005 were 13.84 (residential) and 19.87 (commercial).
Canadian North Bradley Air Services, operating as Canadian North, is a wholly Inuit-owned airline headquartered in Kanata, Ontario, Canada. It operates scheduled passenger services to communities in the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and the Nunavik region o ...
, a regional airline, was headquartered in Yellowknife, in the Northwest Tower in downtown. The airline announced that when its lease was to expire in the end of August 2013, the airline will vacate the office and move it and 20 employees out of Yellowknife. The airline is now headquartered in
Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...
.


Former regional mines

Yellowknife was originally established as a supply centre for numerous gold mines operating in the region in the late 1930s and early 1940s. The following is a list of the major mines, all of which are now closed. There were also
tungsten Tungsten, or wolfram, is a chemical element with the symbol W and atomic number 74. Tungsten is a rare metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively as compounds with other elements. It was identified as a new element in 1781 and first isolat ...
,
tantalum Tantalum is a chemical element with the symbol Ta and atomic number 73. Previously known as ''tantalium'', it is named after Tantalus, a villain in Greek mythology. Tantalum is a very hard, ductile, lustrous, blue-gray transition metal that is ...
and
uranium Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weak ...
mines in the vicinity. Most mines in the Yellowknife area are within the Kam Group, a part of the
Yellowknife greenstone belt The Yellowknife greenstone belt, also called the Yellowknife Volcanic Belt, is an Archean greenstone belt in the southern Slave craton, Northwest Territories, Canada. It is mostly made of mafic volcanic rocks (basalt and andesite) and is bordered ...
.


Infrastructure


Emergency services

Policing in Yellowknife is provided by the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...
(RCMP); Yellowknife is the headquarters for G Division, and houses more than 30 officers. The City of Yellowknife Municipal Enforcement Division (MED) is responsible for municipal bylaw infractions and traffic infractions (within city limits). The Yellowknife Fire Department handles the city's fire, ambulance, rescue, and hazardous materials responses. A point of debate in recent years has been the implementation of 911 services in Yellowknife (currently one may now dial 911) through a partnership with five other Northwest Territories communities; the cost of installation is currently estimated at around $1 million a year. There have been a number of incidents where emergency services have been either misdirected, or improperly dispatched. Health services are provided through the local Stanton Territorial Hospital. The Yellowknife Primary Care Centre has a broad range of practitioners including physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses, counsellors, dietitians and more. Services provided at the Yellowknife Primary Care Centre include mental health, diabetes education, diagnostic imaging, psychiatry and some home care services.


Utilities and services


Communications

Yellowknife's telephone services were established in 1947 by the independent Yellowknife Telephone Company, owned by investors mostly within the community. The system was sold at the end of 1963 to Canadian National Telecommunications, now Northwestel. Northwestel also provides manual mobile telephone service on VHF frequencies, and by the 1990s also provided cellular services that were later transferred to
Bell Mobility Bell Mobility Inc. is a Canadian mobile network operator, wireless network operator and the division of Bell Canada which offers wireless services across Canada. It operates networks using LTE (telecommunication), LTE and Evolved HSPA, HSPA+ on i ...
. In 2008, northern-based company Ice Wireless entered the market in Yellowknife, providing digital cellular products and services. Yellowknife's television services, in addition to over-the-air transmission begun in 1967, included the Mackenzie Media cable television system placed in service 1 September 1972, which was sold to Northwestel in late 1995.


Electricity

Electricity is provided to Yellowknife by
Northland Utilities Northland Utilities Ltd. is a Canadian investor-owned electric utility that distributes electricity to customers in the Northwest Territories through two operating subsidiaries. The company is a joint venture between ATCO Electric and Denendeh Inve ...
, serving 6,350 residential and 800 commercial customers. Yellowknife operates almost entirely on
hydroelectricity Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other Renewabl ...
from the Snare-Bluefish systems, provided by the
Northwest Territories Power Corporation The Northwest Territories Power Corporation (NTPC) is an electric utility in the Northwest Territories of Canada. NTPC was formed in 1988 to acquire and operate the former assets of the Northern Canada Power Commission in the Northwest Territories ...
(NTPC). NTPC's local production capacity is 67.9 megawatts, 30.89 MW from 10 generators at the Jackfish Diesel Plant, 28.8 MW from Snare Lake, and 7.5 MW from Miramar Bluefish.


Solid waste services

Residential garbage removal is through a user pay system, in which residents are allowed three garbage bags per week; any additional bags must have a purchased tag. The City of Yellowknife Solid Waste Management Facility is located on the
Ingraham Trail Highway 4, known as the Ingraham Trail, extends from Yellowknife, Northwest Territories to Tibbitt Lake, approximately east of Yellowknife. It was built in the mid-1960s as the first leg of a 'road to resources' with the original intention of ...
(Highway 4) north of the city; salvaging is encouraged, and the dump is infamous for the number of still useful items often found in it.


Water and sewage treatment

The City of Yellowknife provides pressurized
potable water Drinking water is water that is used in drink or food preparation; potable water is water that is safe to be used as drinking water. The amount of drinking water required to maintain good health varies, and depends on physical activity level, ag ...
throughout the majority of the city, and has a network of gravity-fed sewage lines; trucked water and sewage is provided in areas not serviced by piped infrastructure.
Sewage Sewage (or domestic sewage, domestic wastewater, municipal wastewater) is a type of wastewater that is produced by a community of people. It is typically transported through a sewer system. Sewage consists of wastewater discharged from residenc ...
, with the aid of lift stations, is pumped to a series of lakes, referred to as Fiddler's Lake Lagoon, where it is held and allowed to naturally decompose. Water is obtained from the Yellowknife River and is disinfected with
chlorine Chlorine is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Cl and atomic number 17. The second-lightest of the halogens, it appears between fluorine and bromine in the periodic table and its properties are mostly intermediate betwee ...
and liquid
fluoride Fluoride (). According to this source, is a possible pronunciation in British English. is an inorganic, monatomic anion of fluorine, with the chemical formula (also written ), whose salts are typically white or colorless. Fluoride salts typ ...
is added, but is not otherwise filtered or treated.


Transportation

Yellowknife, while isolated geographically, has a modern transportation system. The
Yellowknife Airport Yellowknife Airport is located in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada. The airport is part of the National Airports System, and is operated by the Government of the Northwest Territories. The airport has regular scheduled passenger servic ...
is the busiest airport in
northern Canada Northern Canada, colloquially the North or the Territories, is the vast northernmost region of Canada variously defined by geography and politics. Politically, the term refers to the three Provinces_and_territories_of_Canada#Territories, territor ...
, having 70,699 aircraft movements in 2007 and handling over 400,000 passengers and 30,000 tonnes of cargo yearly. It has two asphalt runways, one strip and another of ; while the Yellowknife Airport is classified as an
airport of entry In general, a port of entry (POE) is a place where one may lawfully enter a country. It typically has border security staff and facilities to check passports and visas and to inspect luggage to assure that contraband is not imported. Internatio ...
by
Nav Canada Nav Canada (styled as NAV CANADA) is a privately run, not-for-profit corporation that owns and operates Canada's civil air navigation system (ANS). It was established in accordance with the ''Civil Air Navigation Services Commercialization Act' ...
and is staffed by the
Canada Border Services Agency The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA; french: Agence des services frontaliers du Canada, ''ASFC'') is a federal law enforcement agency that is responsible for border control (i.e. protection and surveillance), immigration enforcement, and cu ...
, it is certified for
general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...
aircraft only. The Yellowknife airport is designated by the
Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...
(RCAF) as a forward operating location for the
CF-18 Hornet The McDonnell Douglas CF-18 Hornet (official military designation CF-188) is a Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) variant of the American McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet fighter aircraft. In 1980, the F/A-18 was selected as the winner of the New ...
. Despite its shorter runways, the airport can still accommodate 747s and other
wide-body aircraft A wide-body aircraft, also known as a twin-aisle aircraft, is an airliner with a fuselage wide enough to accommodate two passenger aisles with seven or more seats abreast. The typical fuselage diameter is . In the typical wide-body economy cabin ...
for emergency landings.
Air traffic control Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airs ...
services,
Instrument landing system In aviation, the instrument landing system (ILS) is a precision radio navigation system that provides short-range guidance to aircraft to allow them to approach a runway at night or in bad weather. In its original form, it allows an aircraft to ...
(Category 1), and radar services are provided by Nav Canada. Yellowknife Transit is the
public transport Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typical ...
ation agency in the city, and is the only transit system in the Northwest Territories. Road construction in Yellowknife is often a challenge due to the presence of
permafrost Permafrost is ground that continuously remains below 0 °C (32 °F) for two or more years, located on land or under the ocean. Most common in the Northern Hemisphere, around 15% of the Northern Hemisphere or 11% of the global surface ...
which requires that roads generally be regraded and resurfaced every 10 to 20 years. Most roads in Yellowknife are paved and road width varies from . Winter snow removal is done on a regular schedule by the City of Yellowknife public works department. Speed limits are on most roads, in
school zone A school zone refers to an area on a street near a school or near a crosswalk leading to a school that has a likely presence of younger pedestrians. School zones generally have a reduced speed limit during certain hours. Fines Fines for speedin ...
s, and on highways. School zones and playground zones are in effect 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. The highway system in the NWT is maintained by the Government of the Northwest Territories. Highway 4 (Ingraham Trail) and
Highway 3 The following highways are numbered 3, H-3, PRI-3, AH3, E03 and R3. For roads numbered A3, see A3 roads. For roads numbered M3, see M3. For roads numbered N3, see N3. For roads numbered 3A, see 3A. International * Asian Highway 3 * Europea ...
(Yellowknife Highway) both run through Yellowknife and are all-weather roads. One well-known, almost infamous, road in Yellowknife is
Ragged Ass Road Ragged Ass Road may refer to: * ''Ragged Ass Road'' (album), a Tom Cochrane album * Ragged Ass Road (Yellowknife), a street in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada {{disambiguation ...
, after which
Tom Cochrane Thomas William Cochrane ( ; born May 14, 1953) is a Canadian musician best known as the frontman for the rock band Red Rider and for his work as a solo singer-songwriter. Cochrane has won eight Juno Awards. He is a member of the Canadian Music ...
named an album. Until 2012, Yellowknife did not have a permanent road connection to the rest of Canada's highway network, as the
Yellowknife Highway The Yellowknife Highway, officially Northwest Territories Highway 3 and also known as the Great Slave Highway, is a highway connecting Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, to the Mackenzie Highway, from a junction north of the Alberta border. F ...
relied, depending on the season, on
ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...
service or an
ice road An ice road or ice bridge is a human-made structure that runs on a frozen water surface (a river, a lake or a sea water expanse).Masterson, D. and Løset, S., 2011, ISO 19906: Bearing capacity of ice and ice roads, Proceedings of the 21st Inte ...
to cross the Mackenzie River. With the completion of the
Deh Cho Bridge The Deh Cho Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge across a span of the Mackenzie River on the Yellowknife Highway (Highway 3) near Fort Providence, Northwest Territories. Construction began in 2008 and was expected to be completed in 2010 but faced ...
, which officially opened on 30 November 2012, the city now has its first direct road connection to the rest of the country. One still-used ice road connects Yellowknife with the neighbouring community of
Dettah Dettah, sometimes, incorrectly, as ''Detah'', is a First Nations community in the North Slave Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. Located just southeast of the capital of Yellowknife, it is a drive from that city by ice road across the ...
, to the southeast across an arm of Great Slave Lake; or a drive via the
Ingraham Trail Highway 4, known as the Ingraham Trail, extends from Yellowknife, Northwest Territories to Tibbitt Lake, approximately east of Yellowknife. It was built in the mid-1960s as the first leg of a 'road to resources' with the original intention of ...
.


Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by
Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and cultur ...
, Yellowknife had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. As of the 2016 Census, there were 19,569 people and 7,130
household A household consists of two or more persons who live in the same dwelling. It may be of a single family or another type of person group. The household is the basic unit of analysis in many social, microeconomic and government models, and is im ...
s in the city. The population density was . The 2016 Census found that 22.7% of residents identified as
Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...
. In 2017, the Government of the Northwest Territories reported that the population was 20,834 with an average yearly growth rate of 0.6% from 2007.Yellowknife – Statistical Profile
at the GNWT
In Yellowknife, the population is slightly younger at 34.6 than the average age for the rest of the NWT which is 34.9. However, the population is slightly disproportionate in terms of age distribution compared to the national average of 41.0. As of the 2016 figures, 13.9% of residents were 9 or under, 6.0% were from 10 to 14 years old, 13.1% were from 15 to 24, 34.1.2% were from 25 to 44, 22.0% were from 45 to 59, and 10.9% were 60 or older. In 2016, the average household size was 2.7 and the majority of the population with children had either one or two. In 2015 the average
income Income is the consumption and saving opportunity gained by an entity within a specified timeframe, which is generally expressed in monetary terms. Income is difficult to define conceptually and the definition may be different across fields. For ...
in the city was and the average income for a family was with 7.9% of all families earning less than $30,000.
Minimum wage A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their employees—the price floor below which employees may not sell their labor. Most countries had introduced minimum wage legislation by the end of the 20th century. Bec ...
in Yellowknife and the NWT is (2018). Average household expenditures were in 2015. In 2016, the
unemployment rate Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work during the referen ...
was at 5.9%; the employment rate for males was 80.1%, for females it was 75.2%. The
crime rate Crime statistics refer to systematic, quantitative results about crime, as opposed to crime news or anecdotes. Notably, crime statistics can be the result of two rather different processes: * scientific research, such as criminological studies, vi ...
in Yellowknife for 2016 was 46.7 (per 1,000 persons) for
violent crime A violent crime, violent felony, crime of violence or crime of a violent nature is a crime in which an offender or perpetrator uses or threatens to use harmful force upon a victim. This entails both crimes in which the violence, violent act is t ...
s, and 167.2 (per 1,000 persons) for property crimes. There were 299 births and 62 deaths in 2014.


Immigration

The 2021 census reported that
immigrants Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...
(individuals born outside Canada) comprise 3,260 persons or 16.4% of the total population of Yellowknife. Of the total immigrant population, the top countries of origin were Philippines (965 persons or 29.6%), India (200 persons or 6.1%), United Kingdom (195 persons or 6.0%), Vietnam (160 persons or 4.9%), United States of America (110 persons or 3.4%), Germany (95 persons or 2.9%), Zimbabwe (75 persons or 2.3%), South Africa (75 persons or 2.3%), China (75 persons or 2.3%), Bangladesh (65 persons or 2.0%), Somalia (65 persons or 2.0%), and Pakistan (65 persons or 2.0%). Yellowknife is home to 695 recent immigrants (arriving between 2011 and 2016) who now make up 3.7% of the population. Of the recent immigrants 70.5% came from Asia; 15.1% from Africa and 7.2% from both the Americas and Europe. Of the recent immigrants 40.0% came from the Philippines, while 10.8% came from several African countries, 5.8% each from India, the United Kingdom and Vietnam, 4.3% from each of Japan and South Korea and 2.2% from Israel.


Ethnicity

Yellowknife is primarily populated by
European European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...
with a population of 11,680 (60.6% of total). The total
Indigenous peoples Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
population 4,375 representing 22.7% of the population (12.7%
First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...
, 7.0%
Métis The Métis ( ; Canadian ) are Indigenous peoples who inhabit Canada's three Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the Northern United States. They have a shared history and culture which derives ...
), and 3.0%
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 ...
. Other ethnic groups include
Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...
with 1,065 residents (5.5% of total),
Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...
with 610 residents (3.2% of total), and
South Asian South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geography, geographical and culture, ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, ...
with 510 residents (2.6% of total) with a total visible minority population of 3,230 (16.7% of total).


Language

English was the
mother tongue A first language, native tongue, native language, mother tongue or L1 is the first language or dialect that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongu ...
of 80.0% of residents and 3.2% spoke French. Of the nine
official language An official language is a language given supreme status in a particular country, state, or other jurisdiction. Typically the term "official language" does not refer to the language used by a people or country, but by its government (e.g. judiciary, ...
s of the Northwest Territories 0.4% spoke
Chipewyan The Chipewyan ( , also called ''Denésoliné'' or ''Dënesųłı̨né'' or ''Dënë Sųłınë́'', meaning "the original/real people") are a Dene Indigenous Canadian people of the Athabaskan language family, whose ancestors are identified ...
(Dene); 0.1% spoke a
Cree language Cree (also known as Cree– Montagnais–Naskapi) is a dialect continuum of Algonquian languages spoken by approximately 117,000 people across Canada, from the Northwest Territories to Alberta to Labrador. If considered one language, it is th ...
; 0.1% spoke Gwich’in; 0.4% spoke
Inuktitut Inuktitut (; , syllabics ; from , "person" + , "like", "in the manner of"), also Eastern Canadian Inuktitut, is one of the principal Inuit languages of Canada. It is spoken in all areas north of the tree line, including parts of the provinces o ...
; 0.1% spoke
Inuinnaqtun Inuinnaqtun (; natively meaning ''like the real human beings/peoples''), is an indigenous Inuit language. It is spoken in the central Canadian Arctic. It is related very closely to Inuktitut, and some scholars, such as Richard Condon, believe th ...
or
Inuvialuktun Inuvialuktun (part of ''Western Canadian Inuit/Inuktitut/Inuktut/Inuktun'') comprises several Inuit language varieties spoken in the northern Northwest Territories by Canadian Inuit who call themselves ''Inuvialuit''. Some dialects and sub-dialec ...
; 0.6% spoke North or South Slavey and 1.2% spoke
Tłı̨chǫ The Tłı̨chǫ (, ) people, sometimes spelled Tlicho and also known as the Dogrib, are a Dene First Nations in Canada, First Nations people of the Athabaskan languages, Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group living in the Northwest Territ ...
(Dogrib). In total 3.0% of the population said that an Indigenous language was their mother tongue.Northwest Territories Official Languages Act, 1988
(as amended 1988, 1991–1992, 2003)
Not including the 11 official languages there are over 70 different languages that Yellowknifers stated were their mother tongue. These include
Indo-European languages The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutc ...
(4.2%); Austronesian languages (3.9%);
Indo-Iranian languages The Indo-Iranian languages (also Indo-Iranic languages or Aryan languages) constitute the largest and southeasternmost extant branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family (with over 400 languages), predominantly spoken i ...
and
Germanic languages The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family spoken natively by a population of about 515 million people mainly in Europe, North America, Oceania and Southern Africa. The most widely spoken Germanic language, Engli ...
(1.1% each);
Sino-Tibetan languages Sino-Tibetan, also cited as Trans-Himalayan in a few sources, is a family of more than 400 languages, second only to Indo-European in number of native speakers. The vast majority of these are the 1.3 billion native speakers of Chinese languages. ...
and
Chinese languages The Sinitic languages (漢語族/汉语族), often synonymous with "Chinese languages", are a group of East Asian analytic languages that constitute the major branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. It is frequently proposed that there is ...
and
Indo-Aryan languages The Indo-Aryan languages (or sometimes Indic languages) are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. As of the early 21st century, they have more than 800 million speakers, primarily ...
(1.0% each). The five main individual languages are Tagalog (3.2%);
Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia ** A citizen of Vietnam. See Demographics of Vietnam. * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overse ...
(0.8%); German (0.6%);
Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding are ...
and Spanish (0.5% each).


Religion

According to the 2021 census, religious groups in Yellowknife included: *
Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
(9,705 persons or 48.7%) *
Irreligion Irreligion or nonreligion is the absence or rejection of religion, or indifference to it. Irreligion takes many forms, ranging from the casual and unaware to full-fledged philosophies such as atheism and agnosticism, secular humanism and a ...
(8,840 persons or 44.4%) *
Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
(610 persons or 3.1%) *
Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
(225 persons or 1.1%) *
Hinduism Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...
(130 persons or 0.7%) *
Sikhism Sikhism (), also known as Sikhi ( pa, ਸਿੱਖੀ ', , from pa, ਸਿੱਖ, lit=disciple', 'seeker', or 'learner, translit=Sikh, label=none),''Sikhism'' (commonly known as ''Sikhī'') originated from the word ''Sikh'', which comes fro ...
(105 persons or 0.5%) * Indigenous Spirituality (100 persons or 0.5%) *
Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the ...
(35 persons or 0.2%) *Other (165 persons or 0.8%) In the 2001 Census almost 73% of residents identified as
Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
while 24% said they had no religious affiliation.. For specific denominations
Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and cultur ...
found that 36% of residents identified as
Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
, 11% as
Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...
, 10% for the
United Church A united church, also called a uniting church, is a church formed from the merger or other form of church union of two or more different Protestant Christian denominations. Historically, unions of Protestant churches were enforced by the state ...
, about 2% each as
Baptists Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compe ...
,
Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...
, and
Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement
, and more than 1% for
The Salvation Army The Salvation Army (TSA) is a Protestant church and an international charitable organisation headquartered in London, England. The organisation reports a worldwide membership of over 1.7million, comprising soldiers, officers and adherents col ...
. There were also 135
Buddhists Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
, 125 Muslims, and 15 Jews.


Culture


Events

*
Folk on the Rocks Yellowknife (; Dogrib: ) is the capital, largest community, and only city in the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is on the northern shore of Great Slave Lake, about south of the Arctic Circle, on the west side of Yellowknife Bay near the o ...
is a local music festival that has been an annual occurrence since 1980. The event features a wide variety of musical acts; it is not limited to only Folk. In the past, it has drawn acts such as
Buffy Sainte-Marie Buffy Sainte-Marie, (born Beverly Sainte-Marie, February 20, 1941) is an Indigenous Canadian-American (Piapot Cree Nation) singer-songwriter, musician, composer, visual artist, educator, pacifist, and social activist. While working in these are ...
, the
Trailer Park Boys ''Trailer Park Boys'' is a Canadian mockumentary sitcom television series created by Mike Clattenburg that began airing in 2001 as a continuation of his 1999 film bearing the same name. The show follows the misadventures of a group of trailer pa ...
,
The Weakerthans The Weakerthans are an award-winning and Juno-nominated Canadian indie rock band from Winnipeg. The band, led by John K. Samson, has released four studio albums and is currently inactive. History The band was formed in 1997 in Winnipeg, Manit ...
,
African Guitar Summit African Guitar Summit is a group of nine Canadian musicians, all of African origin, who perform traditional songs from their native countries. History The African Guitar Summit was organized in Toronto as part of a performance project for CBC Rad ...
,
Corb Lund Corb Lund is a Canadian country and western singer-songwriter from Taber, Alberta, Canada. He has released eleven albums, three of which are certified gold. Lund tours regularly in Canada, the United States and Australia, and has received several ...
,
Fred Penner Frederick Ralph Cornelius Penner (born November 6, 1946) is a Canadian children's entertainer and musician known for the song "The Cat Came Back" and his television series, '' Fred Penner's Place'', which aired on CBC in Canada from 1985 to 199 ...
,
Stan Rogers Stanley Allison Rogers (November 29, 1949 – June 2, 1983) was a Canadian folk musician and songwriter. Rogers was noted for his rich, baritone voice and his traditional-sounding songs which were frequently inspired by Canadian history and th ...
,
Gord Downie Gordon Edgar Downie (February 6, 1964 – October 17, 2017) was a Canadian rock singer-songwriter, musician, writer and activist. He was the singer and lyricist for the Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip, which he fronted from its forma ...
,
Tanya Tagaq Tanya may refer to: * Tanya (Judaism),an early work of Hasidic philosophy by Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi. * Tanya (name), a given name and list of people with the name * Tanya or Lara Saint Paul (born 1946) * List of Mortal Kombat characters#Tany ...
,
Dan Mangan Daniel Mangan (born April 28, 1983) is a Canadian musician. He has won two Juno awards and has toured extensively throughout North America, Europe and Australia, having released 5 studio LPs and numerous EPs and singles. He has scored for feature ...
,
Sam Roberts Band Sam Roberts (born October 2, 1974) is a Canadian rock singer-songwriter who has released seven albums. His debut EP ''The Inhuman Condition'', reached the Canadian charts in 2002. He and his bandmates have released three albums as Sam Roberts an ...
, Sloan,
The Strumbellas The Strumbellas are a rock band from Lindsay, Ontario, whose music has been described as alternative country, indie rock, farm emo, and gothic folk.
,
Joel Plaskett William Joel MacDonald Plaskett (born April 18, 1975) is a Canadian rock musician and songwriter based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He was a member of Halifax alternative rock band Thrush Hermit in the 1990s. Plaskett performs in a number of genres ...
,
Ron Sexsmith Ronald Eldon Sexsmith (born January 8, 1964) is a Canadian singer-songwriter from St. Catharines, Ontario. He was the songwriter of the year at the 2005 Juno Awards. He began releasing recordings of his own material in 1985 at age 21, and has ...
and
Hawksley Workman Hawksley Workman (Born Ryan Corrigan, March 4, 1975) is a Canadian rock singer-songwriter who has garnered critical acclaim for his blend of cabaret pop and glam rock. Workman has released eleven full-length albums throughout his career. A mul ...
. * The Midnight Sun Golf Tournament, with games played through the city's well-lit summer nights, is also a significant cultural event. * During the winter, there is the
Snowking Winter Festival The Snowking Winter Festival is an annual festival held each March in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada since 1996. The festival is held in a snow castle, built from snow with window panes and other features made of ice. Each winter the ...
, featuring a snow castle on Great Slave Lake which hosts a month of cultural activities * The Long John Jamboree, a new winter festival, took place 23–25 March 2012 on the frozen Yellowknife Bay next to the Snowking castle, in Yellowknife's Old Town neighbourhood. Events include an ice sculpture contest sponsored by De Beers Canada, cultural events like Dene hand games, games, live music, a beer garden, food vendors, skating rink, artist's market, and much more. * Yellowknife hosted the inaugural 1970
Arctic Winter Games The Arctic Winter Games is a biennial multi-sport and indigenous cultural event involving circumpolar peoples residing in communities or countries bordering the Arctic Ocean. Background The Arctic Winter Games were founded in 1969 under the lea ...
, and has since hosted athletes and artists from circumpolar regions at the biennial multi-sport and multi-cultural event in 1984, 1990, 1998, and
2008 Arctic Winter Games Approximately 2,000 athletes, coaches, team staff and officials participated in the 2008 Arctic Winter Games in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories in Canada, celebrating the 20th event. The 2008 games took place from March 9 through March 15. Eve ...
. * The Old Town Ramble & Ride Festival started in 2006 and happens every summer for three days on the August long weekend. This free outdoor festival promotes local art, culture, music, artisans, dance, storytelling, workshops, tours, children's area and more. * The
Yellowknife International Film Festival The Yellowknife International Film Festival is an annual film festival, which takes place in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada. The festival presents a lineup of Canadian and international films, with a special but not exclusive focus on fi ...
is an annual film festival held in the city. The Dead North Film Festival, a genre film festival for horror, fantasy and science fiction films, was also staged from 2012 to 2020, but is currently on hiatus."Yellowknife's Dead North Film Festival dead ... for now"
CBC North CBC North ( iu, ᓰᐲᓰ ᐅᑭᐅᖅᑕᖅᑐᒥ, lit=CBC Northwest, translit=, SiiPiiSii Ukiuqtaqtumi; cr, ᓰᐲᓰ ᒌᐌᑎᓅᑖᐦᒡ, label=cr, SiiPiiSii Chiiwetinuutaahch; french: Radio-Canada Nord) is the Canadian Broadcasting Corpora ...
, 14 September 2020.
* Yellowknife Farmers Market is a seasonal farmers market in Yellowknife, held every Tuesday from June to September at Somba K'e Civic Plaza.


Attractions

Some notable places to visit in Yellowknife include: *
The Wildcat Cafe The Wildcat Cafe is a vintage log cabin structure in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada and represents the mining camp style of early Yellowknife. The structure, which houses a summer restaurant, is located in what was then the central busi ...
, which first opened in 1937. The popular restaurant still operates in its original building during the summer, which was moved to its current location after being saved from demolition in the late 1970s. The Wildcat Cafe was renovated from 2011 to 2013. The City hosted a grand opening of the new Wildcat Cafe on 16 June 2013. * The Gold Range Bar, (also known as The Strange Range and listed in the circa 1989 phonebook as such) one of the oldest and most colourful drinking establishments in the Northwest Territories and featured in Elizabeth Hay's novel "Late Nights On Air" and
Mordecai Richler Mordecai Richler (January 27, 1931 – July 3, 2001) was a Canadian writer. His best known works are ''The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (novel), The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz'' (1959) and ''Barney's Version (novel), Barney's Versi ...
's novel ''
Solomon Gursky Was Here ''Solomon Gursky Was Here'' is a novel by Canadians, Canadian author Mordecai Richler first published by Viking Canada in 1989 in literature, 1989. Summary The novel tells of several generations of the fictional Gursky family, who are connected t ...
.'' * Downtown contains the Capital Area Park, a short but pleasant stroll by City Hall, the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, the Legislature. * The
Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre The Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre (PWNHC) (''Centre du patrimoine septentrional Prince-de-Galles'' in French) is the Government of the Northwest Territories' museum and archives. Located in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada, the ...
is a museum containing exhibits of the history and culture of
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 ...
,
Inuvialuit The Inuvialuit (sing. Inuvialuk; ''the real people'') or Western Canadian Inuit are Inuit who live in the western Canadian Arctic region. They, like all other Inuit, are descendants of the Thule who migrated eastward from Alaska Alask ...
, Dene,
Métis The Métis ( ; Canadian ) are Indigenous peoples who inhabit Canada's three Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the Northern United States. They have a shared history and culture which derives ...
and non-aboriginal peoples of the NWT. It is found just north of downtown on an attractive location overlooking Frame Lake. * Near the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, the
Northwest Territories Legislative Building The Northwest Territories Legislative Building is the home of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories, in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. The territory's legislature has used many permanent and temporary facilities throughout ...
houses the territory's legislative assembly. * The
Northern Arts and Cultural Centre The Northern Arts and Cultural Centre is located in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada. It is the only performing arts centre in the NWT. The 313 seat Centre opened May 3, 1984. Created by Yellowknife residents with major support from The ...
, which is located in
Sir John Franklin High School École Sir John Franklin High School is a high school in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada, operated by Yellowknife Education District No. 1. The school is named for the explorer Sir John Franklin. Sir John Franklin (SJFHS) offers the Fr ...
and is the city's largest indoor stage for theatre and musical presentations. * ''Elon the Muskox'' (Elon Muskox), a mosaiculture horticultural living sculpture of a
muskox The muskox (''Ovibos moschatus'', in Latin "musky sheep-ox"), also spelled musk ox and musk-ox, plural muskoxen or musk oxen (in iu, ᐅᒥᖕᒪᒃ, umingmak; in Woods Cree: ), is a hoofed mammal of the family Bovidae. Native to the Arctic, i ...
exhibited in front of City Hall. *
Centre Square Mall Centre Square Mall is an enclosed shopping mall in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada. The mall is noteworthy for being the largest shopping centre in the territory and the tallest building in Northern Canada. The first phase of the mall w ...
: Northewest Territories' largest shopping mall and the tallest building in
Northern Canada Northern Canada, colloquially the North or the Territories, is the vast northernmost region of Canada variously defined by geography and politics. Politically, the term refers to the three Provinces_and_territories_of_Canada#Territories, territor ...
. Centre Square Mall contains many shops, the
Yellowknife Public Library Yellowknife (; Dogrib: ) is the capital, largest community, and only city in the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is on the northern shore of Great Slave Lake, about south of the Arctic Circle, on the west side of Yellowknife Bay near the o ...
, and the Yellowknife Visitor Centre. Other notable attractions include the
Ingraham Trail Highway 4, known as the Ingraham Trail, extends from Yellowknife, Northwest Territories to Tibbitt Lake, approximately east of Yellowknife. It was built in the mid-1960s as the first leg of a 'road to resources' with the original intention of ...
, local fishing lodges,
bush plane A bush airplane is a general aviation aircraft used to provide both scheduled and unscheduled passenger and flight services to remote, undeveloped areas, such as the Canadian north or bush, Alaskan tundra, the African bush, or savanna, Amazon ra ...
tours, the unique architecture of Old Town with the
Bush Pilots Bush flying refers to aircraft operations carried out in the bush. Bush flying involves operations in rough terrain where there are often no prepared landing strips or runways, frequently necessitating that bush planes be equipped with abnormally ...
monument, and any of the numerous lakes surrounding Yellowknife, many of which include beaches.


Historical sites

*
Back Bay Cemetery Back Bay Cemetery, the original cemetery in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada, is located on Back Bay, a section of Yellowknife Bay on Great Slave Lake Great Slave Lake (french: Grand lac des Esclaves), known traditionally as T ...
– pioneer graveyard, 1938 *
Bank of Toronto The Bank of Toronto was a Canadian bank that was founded in 1855 by a group of grain dealers and flour millers. On February 1, 1955, it merged with The Dominion Bank to form the Toronto-Dominion Bank, which is now known as the present-day TD Bank ...
– log cabin bank, 1944 *
Canadian Pacific Airlines floatbase Canadian Pacific Airlines built this modern float base on the waterfront of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada in 1946 to serve as an office, staff housing, and mooring for its fleet of bush planes. Yell ...
– Old Town float plane base, 1946 * Fireweed Studio – Giant Mine log cabin, 1939 *
Hudson's Bay Warehouse The Hudson's Bay Company began a trading post in Yellowknife Yellowknife (; Dogrib: ) is the capital, largest community, and only city in the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is on the northern shore of Great Slave Lake, about south of t ...
– Hudson's Bay Company trading post, 1945 * Log School House – Yellowknife's first school, 1939 *
Old Fort Providence Old Fort Providence, located near the mouth of Yellowknife Bay, Northwest Territories, Canada, was one of the first fur trading outposts on Great Slave Lake. Peter Pond of the North West Company first proposed trading with the Dene around Great Sla ...
– first trading post in the region, 1789 * Weaver & Devore Trading – in operation since 1936 *
The Wildcat Cafe The Wildcat Cafe is a vintage log cabin structure in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada and represents the mining camp style of early Yellowknife. The structure, which houses a summer restaurant, is located in what was then the central busi ...
– longest serving restaurant *
Post Office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...
– community post office since 1956


Media


Print

The ''
Yellowknifer The ''Yellowknifer'' is a newspaper based in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories and owned by Northern News Services. It was first published on March 22, 1972 by J.W. (Sig) Sigvaldson, who remains the current publisher. Both a Wednesday and a Frid ...
'', published by
Northern News Services NNSL Media (Northern News Services LTD) is a news and media company based in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. It is one of the few remaining independent newspaper companies in Canada, producing all-original content with little to no reliance ...
, is the major newspaper serving Yellowknife, published twice weekly on Wednesday and Friday. Northern News Services also publishes '' Northwest Territories News/North'' every Monday, which serves the entire NWT. As well, there is ''
L'Aquilon ''L'Aquilon'' is a Canadian weekly community newspaper, which serves the Franco-Ténois community in the Northwest Territories. The newspaper, which publishes 1,000 copies every Friday, operates from offices in Yellowknife Yellowknife (; ...
'', a French language newspaper published weekly. Edge Magazine is also based in Yellowknife where it began it 2011 and covers arts, events, people, culture and economy around the city. Two magazines are based in Yellowknife: '' Above&Beyond'' and '' Up Here'', both offering northern-related news and lifestyle articles.


Radio


Television

No part of the Northwest Territories is designated as a mandatory market for digital television conversion; only CFYK-DT converted its main transmitter in Yellowknife to digital. On 10 August 2012,
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
announced that the section of
Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...
where the
Curiosity Curiosity (from Latin '' cūriōsitās'', from ''cūriōsus'' "careful, diligent, curious", akin to ''cura'' "care") is a quality related to inquisitive thinking such as exploration, investigation, and learning, evident by observation in humans ...
of the
Mars Science Laboratory Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) is a robotic spacecraft, robotic space probe mission to Mars launched by NASA on November 26, 2011, which successfully landed ''Curiosity (rover), Curiosity'', a Mars rover, in Gale (crater), Gale Crater on August ...
mission landed would be renamed Yellowknife, in recognition of the city of Yellowknife. Yellowknife is usually where scientists start geological mapping expeditions when researching the oldest known rocks in North America.


Notable people

*
Deena Hinshaw Deena Hinshaw is a Canadian doctor who served as Chief Medical Officer of Health for the province of Alberta from January 28, 2019 to November 14, 2022 after being removed by Danielle Smith. She provided daily updates on the COVID-19 pandemic in ...
, Chief Medical Officer of Alberta *
Margot Kidder Margaret Ruth Kidder (October 17, 1948 – May 13, 2018), known professionally as Margot Kidder, was a Canadian-American actress whose career spanned five decades. Her accolades include three Canadian Screen Awards and one Daytime Emmy Awa ...
, film and television actress best known for playing
Lois Lane Lois Lane is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, she first appeared in ''Action Comics'' #1 (June 1938). Lois is an award-winning journalist for ...
in the
Superman Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book ''Action Comics'' #1 (cover-dated June 1938 and publi ...
movies of the 1970s and 1980s, was born in Yellowknife *
Kevin Koe Kevin Koe ( ; born January 11, 1975) is a Canadian curler. Koe is a two-time World champion and four-time Canadian champion. He was the skip of the Canadian men's team at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang. Originally from Yellowknife, N ...
, World Champion Curler. *
Shane Koyczan Shane L. Koyczan , born 22 May 1976, is a Canadian spoken word poet, writer, and member of the group Tons of Fun University. He is known for writing about issues like bullying, cancer, death, and eating disorders. He is most famous for the an ...
, poet of anti-bullying poem " To This Day" among others *
Tobias Mehler Tobias Mehler (born April 1, 1976) is a Canadian actor who has appeared in film and television productions. Career Mehler is known for playing d'Artagnan on ''Young Blades'', Zak Adama on '' Battlestar Galactica'' and Lieutenant Graham Simmons ...
, film and television actor best known for his roles on ''
Battlestar Galactica ''Battlestar Galactica'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Glen A. Larson. The franchise began with the Battlestar Galactica (1978 TV series), original television series in 1978, and was followed by a short-run sequel se ...
'' and ''
Stargate SG-1 ''Stargate SG-1'' (often stylized in all caps, or abbreviated ''SG-1'') is a military science fiction Adventure fiction, adventure television series within Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's Stargate, ''Stargate'' franchise. The show, created by Brad Wrigh ...
'' *
Vic Mercredi Victor Dennis Mercredi (born March 31, 1953) is a Canadian of Métis heritage and retired professional ice hockey player. Mercredi played in the National Hockey League (NHL) and World Hockey Association (WHA) as a left winger. Hockey career and a ...
,
Métis The Métis ( ; Canadian ) are Indigenous peoples who inhabit Canada's three Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the Northern United States. They have a shared history and culture which derives ...
hockey player, first person born in the NWT to be drafted into the
National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...
*
Dustin Milligan Dustin Wallace Milligan (born July 28, 1985) is a Canadian actor, known for his role as Ethan Ward on the teen drama television series '' 90210'' from 2008 until 2009, Tom Cummings in the Canadian spy thriller television series ''X Company'' from ...
, film and television actor; lead actor in the first season of the ''
Beverly Hills, 90210 ''Beverly Hills, 90210'' (often referred to by its short title, ''90210'') is an American teen drama television series created by Darren Star and produced by Aaron Spelling under his production company Spelling Television. The series ran fo ...
'' spinoff and regular on ''
Schitt's Creek ''Schitt's Creek'' (stylized as ''Schitt$ Creek'') is a Canadian television sitcom created by Dan Levy and his father, Eugene Levy, that aired on CBC Television from 2015 to 2020. It consists of 80 episodes spread over six seasons. Produced by ...
''. *
John Sissons John "Jack" Howard Sissons (July 14, 1892 – November 11, 1969) was a Canadian barrister, author, judge and federal politician. Early life Sissons was born in Orillia, Ontario and, at the age of four, contracted polio, which injured his leg ...
, politician and the first judge of the
Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories The Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories is the name of two different superior courts for the Canadian territory of the Northwest Territories, which have existed at different times. The first Supreme Court of the North-West Territories was c ...
* Greg Vaydik, National Hockey League player * Max Ward, pioneering
bush pilot Bush flying refers to aircraft operations carried out in the bush. Bush flying involves operations in rough terrain where there are often no prepared landing strips or runways, frequently necessitating that bush planes be equipped with abnormally ...
and founder of
Wardair Wardair Canada was a privately run Canadian airline, founded by Max Ward in 1952 under the name Wardair Ltd, before formally changing its name to "Wardair Canada" in 1976. The airline was acquired by and folded into Canadian Airlines in 1989. ...
, later sold to
Canadian Airlines Canadian Airlines International Ltd. (stylized as Canadi›n Airlines or Canadi‹n Airlines, or simply Canadian) was a Canadian airline that operated from 1987 until 2001. The airline was Canada's second largest airline after Air Canada, carr ...


See also

* ''
Arctic Air ''Arctic Air'' is a Canadian drama television series that began airing on CBC Television on January 10, 2012. The series was canceled on March 17, 2014, due to government budgetary cuts. Synopsis ''Arctic Air'' is about a Yellowknife-based mav ...
'' *
CFNA HQ Yellowknife Canadian Forces Northern Area Headquarters (CFNA HQ) Yellowknife is a Canadian Armed Forces, Canadian Forces unit located in the city of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. Situated in Evans Building of the city of Yellowknife, it is the headquar ...
* Fred Henne Territorial Park *
History of Northwest Territories capital cities The history of Northwest Territories capital cities begins with the purchase of the Territories by Canada from the Hudson's Bay Company in 1869, and includes a varied and often difficult evolution. Northwest Territories is unique amongst the othe ...
*
List of mayors of Yellowknife This is a list of mayors of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada List * John McNiven 1953–1954 *Gordon A. Allen 1954–1955 * Fred W. Henne 1956–1957 *Ted Horton 1958–1963 * John Parker 1964 – February 1967 *C. M. ...
*
List of municipalities in the Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories is the most populous of Canada's three territories with 41,070 residents as of 2021 and is the second-largest territory in land area at . The Northwest Territories' 24 municipalities cover only of the territo ...
*
List of tallest buildings in Yellowknife This list of tallest buildings in Yellowknife ranks skyscrapers over tall in the city of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada. Yellowknife is the capital of and largest city in the Northwest Territories and the second largest in Northern ...
* Stanton Territorial Hospital *
Yellowknife Water Aerodrome Yellowknife Water Aerodrome is an aerodrome adjacent to the "old town" section of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada on both Back Bay and East Bay of Great Slave Lake. It is open from the middle of June until October and may be used by sk ...


References


Further reading

* * *


External links

* {{Authority control 1936 establishments in the Northwest Territories Cities in the Northwest Territories Hudson's Bay Company trading posts Mining communities in the Northwest Territories Populated places established in 1936