The Canadian

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

of the Northwest Territories is subdivided into administrative regions in different ways for various purposes.

Administrative regions

The Government of the Northwest Territory's Department of Municipal and Community Affairs divides the territory into five regions. Other services have adopted similar divisions for administrative purposes, making these the de facto regions of the territory. These divisions have no government of their own, but the Northwest Territories' government services are decentralized on a regional basis. Some government departments make slight changes to this arrangement. For example, the Health and Social Services Authority groups

Fort Resolution Fort Resolution (''Denı́nu Kų́ę́'' (pronounced "deh-nih-noo-kwenh") "moose island place") is a hamlet in the South Slave Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. The community is situated at the mouth of the Slave River, on the shores ...

with the North Slave Region, and divides South Slave Region into two regions: Hay River and Fort Smith. The Department of Natural Resources uses the same borders, but calls the Inuvik Region "Beaufort Delta".

Land rights

Land and self-government treaties with

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 ...

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. Their homelan ...

(

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 ...

), and Métis groups give their governments a significant amount of authority to manage land use within agreed-upon areas. These areas are each much larger than the area fully owned by the indigenous government. Within each of these areas, the indigenous nation has jurisdiction over several areas of law, and land use is effectively co-governed by the territorial government and indigenous government. A treaty also exists with the

Salt River First Nation The Salt River First Nation is a Dene First Nations band government in the Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-Wes ...

, but it establishes reserves rather than a joint land use area.

Census divisions

Statistics Canada divides the territory into six

census divisions Census divisions, in Canada and the United States, are areas delineated for the purposes of statistical analysis and presentation; they have no government in and of themselves. The census divisions of Canada are second-level census geographic unit ...

. These areas exist solely for the purposes of statistical analysis and presentation; they have no government of their own. They are listed below with their most populous municipality on the right: * Region 1 – Inuvik * Region 2 –

Norman Wells Norman Wells (Slavey language: ''Tłegǫ́hłı̨'' "where there is oil") is a town located in the Sahtu Region, Northwest Territories, Canada, settled about 140 km (87 mi) south of the Arctic Circle. The town, which hosts the Sahtu Regional o ...

* Region 3 –

Behchokǫ̀ Behchokǫ̀ ( ɛ́ht͡ʃʰókʰõ̀or ɛ́ht͡sʰókʰõ̀ ) (from the Tłı̨chǫ meaning "Behcho's place"), officially the ''Tłı̨chǫ Community Government of Behchokǫ̀,'' is a community in the North Slave Region of the Northwest Territo ...

* Region 4 –

Fort Simpson Fort Simpson (Slavey language: ''Łı́ı́dlı̨ı̨ Kų́ę́'' "place where rivers come together") is a village, the only one in the entire territory, in the Dehcho Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. The community is located on an ...

* Region 5 – Fort Smith * Region 6 –

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 the Arctic Circle, on the west side of Yellowknife Bay near the ...

Former census divisions

1999-2011

Prior to the 2011 census, there were two census divisions. The former census division of Inuvik was considerably larger than the administrative region of the same name. * Fort Smith Region – Fort Smith *

Inuvik Region The Inuvik Region or ''Beaufort Delta Region'' is one of five administrative regions in the Northwest Territories of Canada. According to Municipal and Community Affairs the region consists of eight communities with the regional office situate ...

– Inuvik

Before 1999

Prior to the division of the NWT and the creation of Nunavut in 1999, there were five census divisions. Their boundaries were altered somewhat as part of the adjustment. * Baffin Region * Fort Smith Region *

* Keewatin Region * Kitikmeot Region These regions are not to be confused with the former

districts of the Northwest Territories The vastness of Canada's Northwest Territories (spelled 'North-West Territories' from 1870 to 1906) meant that for much of its history it was divided into several districts for ease of administration. The number and size of these territorial distr ...

References

{{Canada topic, List of regions of Regions of the Northwest Territories Census divisions of the Canadian territories