The flag of the Northwest Territories, is the

subnational flag In vexillology, a state flag is either the flag of the government of a sovereign state, or the flag of an individual federated state (subnational administrative division). Government flag A state flag is a variant of a national flag (or occasi ...

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. ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. It was adopted in 1969 by 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 ...

Hudson's Bay Company flag

The NWT had no flag of its own during its early history, but the

flag of the Hudson's Bay Company The flag of the Hudson's Bay Company is used to represent the Hudson's Bay Company. The flag varied over time. From July 21, 1682, to 1965, the flag consists of the Red Ensign with the letters "HBC" in the lower field. In 1970 the company used the ...

continued to be used at that company's forts, stores and other establishments.The Flags of Canada - The Yukon and the Northwest Territories
/ref> The Legislative Assembly of the NWT was created in 1951.

Current flag

The Northwest Territories' first official flag was chosen by a special committee of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories in 1969. The committee reviewed entries from a Canada wide contest. The winner of the contest was Robert Bessant from Margaret,

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

.Official Symbols of the Northwest Territories
2017-07-30 Keith-Levit-Sailing Gimli012 (36285145115)

The flag features a blue field, on which is a

Canadian pale In heraldry and vexillology, a Canadian pale is a centre band of a vertical Triband (flag), triband flag (a pale (heraldry), pale in heraldry) that covers half the length of a flag, rather than a third as in most triband designs. This allows more s ...

(a white stripe taking up half the width of the flag), with at the centre, the shield from the

coat of arms of the Northwest Territories The original coat of arms of the Northwest Territories was granted by a Royal Warrant of Queen Elizabeth II on 24 February 1956. The shield is also featured on the territorial flag. The coat of arms was designed by well known Canadian heraldr ...

. The blue represents the abundant Northwest Territories waters, whereas the white represents snow and ice. Two blue panels represent the Northwest Territories' many rivers and lakes. The white section, representing ice and snow, is equal in area to the 2 blue panels combined. The territorial Shield is centred in the white section. The white section of the Shield, with a wavy blue line dividing it, represents the Arctic Ocean and the Northwest Passage. A diagonal line, representing the tree line, divides the lower portion into a green and red section with green symbolizing the trees and red symbolizing the tundra. The gold bars in the green section and the white fox in the red section represent the abundant minerals and furs upon which the history and prosperity of the Northwest Territories has been based.

References

External links

Symbols of Northwest Territories, Legislative Assembly of Northwest Territories

{{CanadaFlags Symbols of the Northwest Territories

Canadian pale flags

Hudson's Bay Company flag

Current flag

See also

References

External links