Northwest Territories

The Northwest Territories are 1 of 3 different federal territories in Canada, and is the largest! It has an area of over 1.144 million square kilometres and a population of roughly 44,000 people. It’s located in northern Canada and is between two other territories, the Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east. There are some geographic landmarks that are significant, including The Great Slave Lake which is the deepest body of water in all of North America and the Nahanni National Park which is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The climate is very different between the north half and the south half of the Northwest Territories, the south having a subarctic climate and the north having a polar climate. Summers here are short and cool, and winters are long and harsh with temperatures sometimes reaching -40 degrees Celsius.

The capital of the Northwest Territories is Yellowknife and is the only real city in the entire territory. Its population is around 20,000 residents, and it is a very diverse city with five different languages spoken consistently throughout; Dene Suline, Dogrib, South and North Slavey, English and French. The city was founded in 1934 after settlers found gold in this area and then quickly became the centre of economic activity. The economy there started shifting in the 80s away from mining and towards government services, however, in 1991 diamonds were discovered north of the city, so economy turned back to mining.

The Northwest Territories have a few geographical resources including gold, diamonds, natural gas and petroleum. Today, diamonds from the Northwest Territories are promoted as being a great alternative to blood diamonds for people to purchase and in 2010 they produced over 3.9 million carats of diamonds alone. The Northwest Territories generates the highest per capita GDP of any province or territory in all of Canada, and it was $109,122 in 2015 which the entire territories GDP being $4.828 million. The average home price in this territory is $423,000, and the average home price in Yellowknife specifically is $460,000.

Despite the area being less populated than other provinces in Canada, their culture and cultural activities are still essential. Each year they have the Great Northern Arts Festival, the Snowking Winter Festival, Folk on the Rocks Festival and Rockin’ the Rocks festival in Yellowknife. Tourism in the winter is mainly geared towards Yellowknife because people want to see the Auroras. Aulavik National Park is also located in the Northern area of the Northwest Territories.

PNP Skilled Migration

PNP Business Migration