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Athabaskan ( / ˌ æ θ ə ˈ b æ s k ən / ATH -ə- BASK -ən ; also spelled Athabascan , Athapaskan or Athapascan , and also known as Dene ) is a large branch of the Na-Dene language family of North America , located in western North America in three areal language groups: Northern, Pacific Coast and Southern (or Apachean ). Kari and Potter (2010:10) place the total territory of the 53 Athabaskan languages at 4,022,000 square kilometres (1,553,000 sq mi).

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73-902: North Nahanni River is a river in the Northwest Territories of Canada . It is a major tributary of the Mackenzie River . The North Nahanni River originates in the Backbone Ranges of the Mackenzie Mountains , at an elevation of 2,000 meters (6,600 ft). It flows east, south of the Thundercloud Range, then turns north-east and east. It turns south around the Camsell Range of the Franklin Mountains , where it receives

146-584: A commercial monopoly over Rupert's Land . Present day Northwest Territories laid northwest of Rupert's Land, and was known as the North-Western Territory . Although not formally part of Rupert's Land, the HBC made regular use of the region as a part of its trading area. The Treaty of Utrecht saw the British become the only European power with practical access to the North-Western Territory , with

219-677: A history of violent conflict between the Dene and the Inuit , who have now taken recent steps towards reconciliation. Athabaskan languages Chipewyan is spoken over the largest area of any North American native language, while Navajo is spoken by the largest number of people of any native language north of Mexico. The word Athabaskan is an anglicized version of a Cree language name for Lake Athabasca ( Moose Cree : Āðapāskāw '[where] there are reeds one after another') in Canada . Cree

292-614: A large climate variance from south to north. The southern part of the territory (most of the mainland portion) has a subarctic climate , while the islands and northern coast have a polar climate . Summers in the north are short and cool, featuring daytime highs of 14–17 °C (57–63 °F) and lows of 1–5 °C (34–41 °F). Winters are long and harsh, with daytime highs of −20 to −25 °C (−4 to −13 °F) and lows of −30 to −35 °C (−22 to −31 °F). The coldest nights typically reach −40 to −45 °C (−40 to −49 °F) each year. Extremes are common, with summer highs in

365-803: A population of 1,874, is the largest First Nations community, 1,696 (90.9%), and Inuvik with 3,243 people is the largest Inuvialuit community, 1,315 (40.5%). There is one Indian reserve in the NWT, Hay River Reserve , located on the south shore of the Hay River . The gross domestic product of the Northwest Territories was C$ 4.856 billion in 2017. It has the highest per capita GDP of all provinces and territories in Canada, totalling C$ 76,000 in 2009. The Territories' geological resources include gold, diamonds, natural gas and petroleum . BP

438-481: A single MP represents an area that is almost 14 percent of the land area of all of Canada. The government of Northwest Territories comprises the following departments: The Northwest Territories is divided into five administrative regions (regional offices in parentheses): Aboriginal issues in the Northwest Territories include the fate of the Dene who, in the 1940s, were employed to carry radioactive uranium ore from

511-512: A slightly warmer climate and is both boreal forest (taiga) and tundra , and its most northern regions form part of the Arctic Archipelago . The Northwest Territories has the most interprovincial and inter-territorial land borders among all provinces and territories of Canada. It is bordered by the territories of Nunavut to the east and Yukon to the west, and by the provinces of British Columbia , Alberta , and Saskatchewan to

584-466: Is a federal territory of Canada . At a land area of approximately 1,127,711.92 km (435,412.01 sq mi) and a 2021 census population of 41,070, it is the second-largest and the most populous of the three territories in Northern Canada . Its estimated population as of the second quarter of 2024 is 44,920. Yellowknife is the capital, most populous community, and the only city in

657-569: Is also debated, since it may fall in either the Pacific Coast group – if that exists – or into the Northern group. The records of Nicola are so poor – Krauss describes them as "too few and too wretched" (Krauss 2005) – that it is difficult to make any reliable conclusions about it. Nicola may be intermediate between Kwalhioqua–Tlatskanai and Chilcotin . Similarly to Nicola, there is very limited documentation on Tsetsaut . Consequently, it

730-530: Is an outline of the classification according to Keren Rice , based on those published in Goddard (1996) and Mithun (1999). It represents what is generously called the "Rice–Goddard–Mithun" classification (Tuttle & Hargus 2004:73), although it is almost entirely due to Keren Rice. Branches 1–7 are the Northern Athabaskan (areal) grouping. Kwalhioqua–Clatskanai (#7) was normally placed inside

803-416: Is debatably part of the Pacific Coast subgroup, but has marginally more in common with the Northern Athabaskan languages than it does with the Pacific Coast languages (Leer 2005). It thus forms a notional sort of bridge between the Northern Athabaskan languages and the Pacific Coast languages, along with Nicola (Krauss 1979/2004). Using computational phylogenetic methods, Sicoli & Holton (2014) proposed

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876-537: Is difficult to place it in the family with much certainty. Athabaskanists have concluded that it is a Northern Athabaskan language consistent with its geographical occurrence, and that it might have some relation to its distant neighbor Tahltan. Tsetsaut, however, shares its primary hydronymic suffix ("river, stream") with Sekani, Beaver, and Tsuut'ina – PA *-ɢah – rather than with that of Tahltan, Tagish, Kaska, and North and South Tutchone – PA *-tuʼ (Kari 1996; Kari, Fall, & Pete 2003:39). The ambiguity surrounding Tsetsaut

949-615: Is distantly related to the Athabaskan–Eyak group to form the Na-Dene family , also known as Athabaskan–Eyak–Tlingit (AET). With Jeff Leer 's 2010 advances, the reconstructions of Na-Dene (or Athabascan–Eyak–Tlingit) consonants, this latter grouping is considered by Alaskan linguists to be a well-demonstrated family. Because both Tlingit and Eyak are fairly remote from the Athabaskan languages in terms of their sound systems, comparison

1022-402: Is located in neighbouring Alberta . Parks Canada also manages three park reserves: Nááts'ihch'oh , Nahanni National Park Reserve , and Thaidene Nëné National Park Reserve . As a territory, the NWT has fewer rights than the provinces. During his term, Premier Kakfwi pushed to have the federal government accord more rights to the territory, including having a greater share of the returns from

1095-466: Is one of the Algonquian languages and therefore not itself an Athabaskan language. The name was assigned by Albert Gallatin in his 1836 (written 1826) classification of the languages of North America. He acknowledged that it was his choice to use this name for the language family and the associated ethnic groups: "I have designated them by the arbitrary denomination of Athabascas, which derived from

1168-441: Is reasonable to expect it given the nature of the services requested. In practical terms, English language services are universally available, and there is no guarantee that other languages, including French, will be used by any particular government service, except for the courts. The 2016 census returns showed a population of 41,786. Of the 40,565 singular responses to the census question regarding each inhabitant's "mother tongue",

1241-520: Is the only oil company currently producing oil there. Its diamonds are promoted as an alternative to purchasing blood diamonds . Two of the biggest mineral resource companies in the world, BHP and Rio Tinto mine many of their diamonds there. In 2010, Territories' accounted for 28.5% of Rio Tinto's total diamond production (3.9 million carats, 17% more than in 2009, from the Diavik Diamond Mine ) and 100% of BHP's (3.05 million carats from

1314-503: Is usually done between them and the reconstructed Proto-Athabaskan language. This resembles both Tlingit and Eyak much more than most of the daughter languages in the Athabaskan family. Although Ethnologue still gives the Athabaskan family as a relative of Haida in their definition of the Na-Dene family, linguists who work actively on Athabaskan languages discount this position. The Alaska Native Language Center , for example, takes

1387-498: Is why it is placed in its own subgroup in the Rice–Goddard–Mithun classification. For detailed lists including languages, dialects, and subdialects, see the respective articles on the three major groups: Northern Athabaskan , Pacific Coast Athabaskan , Southern Athabaskan . For the remainder of this article, the conventional three-way geographic grouping will be followed except as noted. The Northern Athabaskan languages are

1460-586: The EKATI mine ). The Eldorado Mine produced uranium for the Manhattan Project , as well as radium , silver, and copper (for other uses). During the winter, many international visitors go to Yellowknife to watch the auroras . Five areas managed by Parks Canada are situated within the territory: Aulavik and Tuktut Nogait National Parks are in the northern part. Portions of Wood Buffalo National Park are located within it, although most of it

1533-717: The Inuvialuit Settlement Region and belongs to the greater Inuit Nunangat . Amongst the other Inuit, there are also the Copper Inuit who inhabit their traditional territory, Inuinnait Nunangat , between the Kitikmeot and Inuvik Regions . To the south are the Cree First Nations and Métis . In 1670, the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) was formed from a royal charter, and was granted

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1606-765: The Labrador coast, and the Arctic Islands (except the southern half of Baffin Island ). After the 1870 transfer, some of the North-West Territories was whittled away. The province of Manitoba was enlarged in 1881 to a rectangular region composing the modern province's south. By the time British Columbia joined Confederation on July 20, 1871, it had already (1866) been granted the portion of North-Western Territory south of 60 degrees north and west of 120 degrees west , an area that comprised most of

1679-685: The Mackenzie River and the canyons of the Nahanni National Park Reserve , a national park and UNESCO World Heritage Site . Territorial islands in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago include Banks Island , Borden Island , Prince Patrick Island , and parts of Victoria Island and Melville Island . Its highest point is Mount Nirvana near the border with Yukon at an elevation of 2,773 m (9,098 ft). The Northwest Territories extends for more than 1,300,000 km (500,000 sq mi) and has

1752-728: The Stickeen Territories (and a portion of the Peace River country). The North-West Territories Council was created in 1875 for more local government in the North-West Territories. At first wholly made up of appointed members, it got its first elected members in 1882 and became wholly elected in 1888 when the council was reorganized as the Legislative Assembly of the North-West Territories. Frederick Haultain , an Ontario lawyer who practised at Fort Macleod from 1884, became its chairman in 1891 and Premier when

1825-633: The T'satsąot'ınę (Ndé). Historically, Dene have lived across Denendeh and what is now the NWT since time immemorial and the era of Yamoria and Yamozha . Along the northern coast live one of the Inuit sudivisions: the Inuvialuit , a conglomerate of several Inuvialuit peoples, including the Uummarmiut , Kangiryuarmiut , and Siglit . Their country, variously called Inuvialuit Nunangit , Inuvialuit Nunungat , or Inuvialuit Nunangat corresponds to

1898-623: The Assembly was reorganized in 1897. The modern provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta were created in 1905. Contemporary records show Haultain recommended that the NWT become a single province, named Buffalo, but the Canadian government of Sir Wilfrid Laurier acted otherwise. In the meantime, the British Arctic Territories were transferred to Canada and added to the North-West Territories in 1880. The province of Ontario

1971-580: The Athabaskan family into three groups, based on geographic distribution: The 32 Northern Athabaskan languages are spoken throughout the interior of Alaska and the interior of northwestern Canada in the Yukon and Northwest Territories , as well as in the provinces of British Columbia , Alberta , Saskatchewan and Manitoba . Five Athabaskan languages are official languages in the Northwest Territories, including Chipewyan ( Dënesųłıné ), Dogrib or Tłı̨chǫ Yatıì , Gwich'in (Kutchin, Loucheux), and

2044-709: The French surrendering their claim to the Hudson Bay coast. Europeans have visited the region for the purposes of fur trading , and exploration for new trade routes, including the Northwest Passage . Arctic expeditions launched in the 19th century include the Coppermine expedition . In 1867, the first Canadian residential school opened in the region in Fort Resolution. The opening of the school

2117-520: The House." The NWT Legislative Assembly is composed of one member elected from each of the nineteen constituencies. After each general election , the new assembly elects the premier and the speaker by secret ballot. Seven MLAs are also chosen as cabinet ministers, with the remainder forming the opposition. The membership of the current legislative assembly was set by the 2023 Northwest Territories general election on November 14, 2023. R.J. Simpson

2190-455: The NWT. These range in size from Yellowknife with a population of 19,569 to Kakisa with 36 people. Governance of each community differs, some are run under various types of First Nations control, while others are designated as a city, town, village or hamlet, but most communities are municipal corporations . Yellowknife is the largest community and has the largest number of Aboriginal peoples, 4,520 (23.4%) people. However, Behchokǫ̀ , with

2263-740: The Northern and Southern variants of Slavey . The seven or more Pacific Coast Athabaskan languages are spoken in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. These include Applegate, Galice, several Rogue River area languages, Upper Coquille, Tolowa, and Upper Umpqua in Oregon ; Eel River, Hupa, Mattole–Bear River, and Tolowa in northern California ; and possibly Kwalhioqua-Clatskanie in Washington . The seven Southern Athabaskan languages are isolated by considerable distance from both

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2336-684: The Northern group – has been called a "cohesive complex" by Michael Krauss (1973, 1982). Therefore, the Stammbaumtheorie or family tree model of genetic classification may be inappropriate. The languages of the Southern branch are much more homogeneous and are the only clearly genealogical subgrouping. Debate continues as to whether the Pacific Coast languages form a valid genealogical grouping, or whether this group may instead have internal branches that are tied to different subgroups in Northern Athabaskan. The position of Kwalhioqua–Clatskanai

2409-460: The Pacific Coast grouping, but a recent consideration by Krauss (2005) does not find it very similar to these languages. A different classification by Jeff Leer is the following, usually called the "Leer classification" (Tuttle & Hargus 2004:72–74): Neither subgrouping has found any significant support among other Athabaskanists. Details of the Athabaskan family tree should be regarded as tentative. As Tuttle and Hargus put it, "we do not consider

2482-593: The Pacific Coast languages and the Northern languages. Reflecting an ancient migration of peoples, they are spoken by Native Americans in the American Southwest and the northwestern part of Mexico . This group comprises the six Southern Athabaskan languages and Navajo. The following list gives the Athabaskan languages organized by their geographic location in various North American states, provinces and territories (including some languages that are now extinct). Several languages, such as Navajo and Gwich'in, span

2555-452: The boundaries: these languages are repeated by location in this list. For alternative names for the languages, see the classifications given later in this article. Eyak and Athabaskan together form a genealogical linguistic grouping called Athabaskan–Eyak (AE) – well- demonstrated through consistent sound correspondences , extensive shared vocabulary, and cross-linguistically unique homologies in both verb and noun morphology . Tlingit

2628-419: The day. Thunderstorms are not rare in the south. In the north, they are very rare but do occur. Tornadoes are extremely rare but have happened with the most notable one happening just outside Yellowknife that destroyed a communications tower. The Territory has a fairly dry climate due to the mountains in the west. About half of the territory is above the tree line . There are not many trees in most of

2701-477: The debates and proceedings of the legislature. However, the laws are legally binding only in their French and English versions, and the NWT government only publishes laws and other documents in the territory's other official languages when the legislature asks it to. Furthermore, access to services in any language is limited to institutions and circumstances where there is a significant demand for that language or where it

2774-422: The devolution of more powers to the elected assembly since 1967, the position has become symbolic. The commissioner had full governmental powers until 1980 when the territories were given greater self-government. The legislative assembly then began electing a cabinet and government leader , later known as the premier . Since 1985 the commissioner no longer chairs meetings of the executive council (or cabinet), and

2847-407: The eastern areas of the territory, or in the north islands. There are multiple Indigenous territories overlapping the current borders of the Northwest Territories. These include Denendeh , Inuvialuit Settlement Region ( Inuvialuit Nunangit Sannaiqtuaq ), and both Métis and Nêhiyawak countries (Michif Piyii and ᓀᐦᐃᔮᓈᕁ nêhiýânâhk , respectively). Of these, Denendeh and the Dene nations are

2920-469: The election, all Members meet as a Caucus to set priorities for that Assembly. The Caucus remains active throughout their term as the forum where all Members meet as equals.[...] Compared to the party system, there is much more communication between Regular Members and Cabinet. All legislation, major policies, and proposed budgets pass through the Regular Members' standing committees before coming to

2993-530: The federal government has instructed commissioners to behave like a provincial lieutenant governor . Unlike lieutenant governors, the Commissioner of the Northwest Territories is not a formal representative of the King of Canada . Unlike provincial governments and the government of Yukon, the government of the Northwest Territories does not have political parties. It never has had political parties except for

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3066-402: The following classification for the Athabaskan languages based exclusively on typological (non-lexical) data. However, this phylogenetic study was criticized as methodologically flawed by Yanovich (2020), since it did not employ sufficient input data to generate a robust tree that does not depend on the initial choice of the "tree prior", i.e. the model for the tree generation. Proto-Athabaskan

3139-513: The largest group in the Athabaskan family, although this group varies internally about as much as do languages in the entire family. The urheimat of the Athabaskan family is most likely in the Tanana Valley of east-central Alaska. There are many homologies between Proto-Athabaskan vocabulary and patterns reflected in archaeological sites such as Upward Sun, Swan Point and Broken Mammoth (Kari 2010). The Northern Athabaskan group also contains

3212-482: The last addition to their modern landmass from the Northwest Territories in 1912. This left only the districts of Mackenzie , Franklin (which absorbed the remnants of Ungava in 1920) and Keewatin within what was then given the name Northwest Territories. In 1925, the boundaries of the Northwest Territories were extended all the way to the North Pole on the sector principle , vastly expanding its territory onto

3285-460: The mines on Great Bear Lake. Of the thirty plus miners who worked at the Port Radium site, at least fourteen have died due to various forms of cancer. A study was done in the community of Deline , called A Village of Widows by Cindy Kenny-Gilday , which indicated that the number of people involved were too small to be able to confirm or deny a link. There has been racial tension based on

3358-447: The most linguistically conservative languages, particularly Koyukon, Ahtna, Dena'ina, and Dakelh/Carrier (Leer 2008). Very little is known about Tsetsaut, and for this reason it is routinely placed in its own tentative subgroup. The Nicola language is so poorly attested that it is impossible to determine its position within the family. It has been proposed by some to be an isolated branch of Chilcotin. The Kwalhioqua–Clatskanie language

3431-505: The most prominent with the rest of the Dene country ("Dene-ndeh" or Deneland) covering much of what is now Alaska , British Columbia , and the northern regions of the prairie provinces . Some of its constituent territories include Tłı̨chǫ Country , Got'iné Néné , Dehchondéh , and Gwichʼin Nành, amongst others including those of the Dënë Sųłinë́ (Nëné, "land" ), Dane-z̲aa (Nanéʔ), and

3504-498: The most reported languages were the following (italics indicate an official language of the NWT): There were also 630 responses of both English and a "non-official language"; 35 of both French and a "non-official language"; 145 of both English and French, and about 400 people who either did not respond to the question, or reported multiple non-official languages, or else gave some other unenumerable response. (Figures shown are for

3577-612: The name the North-West Territories. This immense region comprised all of today's Canada except British Columbia, an early form of Manitoba (a small square area around Winnipeg ), early forms of present-day Ontario and Quebec (the coast of the Great Lakes , the Saint Lawrence River valley and the southern third of modern Quebec ), the Maritimes (Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick), Newfoundland ,

3650-422: The name, possibly to a term from an Indigenous language. One proposal was "Denendeh", as advocated by the former premier Stephen Kakfwi , among others. One of the most popular proposals for a new name—to name the territory "Bob"—began as a prank , but for a while it was at or near the top in the public-opinion polls . Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canada's two other territories, Yukon to

3723-437: The northern ice cap . Between 1925 and 1999, the Northwest Territories covered a land area of 3,439,296 km (1,327,920 sq mi)—larger than one-third of Canada in terms of area. On April 1, 1999, a separate Nunavut territory was formed from the eastern Northwest Territories to represent the Inuit. Visible minority and indigenous identity (2016): The NWT is one of two jurisdictions in Canada – Nunavut being

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3796-485: The number of single language responses and the percentage of total single-language responses.) In the 2021 Census, 55.2% of the population followed Christianity (primarily Roman Catholicism ); this is down from 67.6% in the 2001 Census. At the same time, the population reported having no religious affiliation has more than doubled, from 17.4% in 2001 to 39.8% in 2021 census. About 5.0% reported other religious affiliations. As of 2014, there are 33 official communities in

3869-549: The only language used in the assembly. After some conflict with the Confederation Government in Ottawa , and a decisive vote on January 19, 1892, the assembly members voted for an English-only territory. Currently, the Northwest Territories' Official Languages Act recognizes the following eleven official languages : NWT residents have a right to use any of the above languages in a territorial court, and in

3942-512: The original name of the lake." The four spellings— Athabaskan , Athabascan , Athapaskan , and Athapascan —are in approximately equal use. Particular communities may prefer one spelling over another (Krauss 1987). For example, the Tanana Chiefs Conference and Alaska Native Language Center prefer the spelling Athabascan . Ethnologue uses Athapaskan in naming the language family and individual languages. Although

4015-472: The other – where Indigenous peoples are in the majority, constituting 50.4% of the population. According to the 2016 Canadian census, the 10 major ethnic groups were: French was made an official language in 1877 by the then-territorial government. After a lengthy and bitter debate resulting from a speech from the throne in 1888 by Lieutenant Governor Joseph Royal , the members of the time voted on more than one occasion to nullify this and make English

4088-437: The period between 1898 and 1905. Its legislative assembly operates through the consensus government model. The website of the NWT government describes consensus government thusly: "The Northwest Territories is one of only two jurisdictions in Canada with a consensus system of government instead of one based on party politics. In our system, all Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) are elected as independents. Shortly after

4161-422: The points of difference between the two models ... to be decisively settled and in fact expect them to be debated for some time to come." (Tuttle & Hargus 2004:74) The Northern group is particularly problematic in its internal organization. Due to the failure of the usual criteria of shared innovation and systematic phonetic correspondences to provide well-defined subgroupings, the Athabaskan family – especially

4234-643: The position that recent improved data on Haida have served to conclusively disprove the Haida-inclusion hypothesis. Haida has been determined to be unrelated to Athabaskan languages. A symposium in Alaska in February 2008 included papers on the Yeniseian and Na-Dené families. Edward Vajda of Western Washington University summarized ten years of research, based on verbal morphology and reconstructions of

4307-527: The proto-languages, indicating that these languages might be related. The internal structure of the Athabaskan language family is complex, and its exact shape is still a hotly debated issue among experts. The conventional three-way split into Northern, Pacific Coast, and Southern is essentially based on geography and the physical distribution of Athabaskan peoples rather than sound linguistic comparisons. Despite this inadequacy, current comparative Athabaskan literature demonstrates that most Athabaskanists still use

4380-413: The rest of Rupert's Land . It has been shortened from North-Western Territory and then North-West Territories . In Inuktitut , the Northwest Territories are referred to as Nunatsiaq ( Inuktitut syllabics ᓄᓇᑦᓯᐊᖅ), "beautiful land". The northernmost region of the territory is home to the Inuvialuit , who primarily live in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region (Inuvialuit Nunangit Sannaiqtuaq), while

4453-492: The south reaching 36 °C (97 °F) and lows reaching below 0 °C (32 °F). In winter in the south, it is not uncommon for the temperatures to reach −40 °C (−40 °F), but they can also reach the low teens during the day. In the north, temperatures can reach highs of 30 °C (86 °F), and lows into the low negatives. In winter in the north, it is not uncommon for the temperatures to reach −50 °C (−58 °F) but they can also reach single digits during

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4526-484: The south; it also touches Manitoba to the southeast at a quadripoint that includes Nunavut and Saskatchewan. The land area of the Northwest Territories is roughly equal to that of France, Portugal and Spain combined, although its overall area is even larger because of its vast lakes. The name was originally descriptive, adopted by the British government during the colonial era to indicate where it lay in relation to

4599-569: The southern portion is called Denendeh (an Athabaskan word meaning "our land"). Denendeh is the vast Dene country, stretching from central Alaska to Hudson Bay , within which lie the homelands of the numerous Dene nations. Since the Yukon Territory was split from it in 1898, it is no longer the westernmost territory, and until Nunavut was split from it in 1999 it included territory extending as far east as Canada's Atlantic provinces . There has been some discussion of changing

4672-539: The term Athabaskan is prevalent in linguistics and anthropology, there is an increasing trend among scholars to use the terms Dené and Dené languages , which is how many of their native speakers identify it. They are applying these terms to the entire language family. For example, following a motion by attendees in 2012, the annual Athabaskan Languages Conference changed its name to the Dené Languages Conference. Linguists conventionally divide

4745-544: The territory has been divided four times to create new provinces and territories or enlarge existing ones. Its current borders date from April 1, 1999, when the territory's size was decreased again by the creation of a new territory of Nunavut to the east, through the Nunavut Act and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement . While Nunavut is mostly Arctic tundra , the Northwest Territories has

4818-564: The territory's natural resources go to the territory. Devolution of powers to the territory was an issue in the 20th general election in 2003, and has been ever since the territory began electing members in 1881. The Commissioner of the NWT is the chief executive and is appointed by the Governor-in-Council of Canada on the recommendation of the federal Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development . The position used to be more administrative and governmental, but with

4891-573: The territory; its population was 20,340 as of the 2021 census. It became the territorial capital in 1967, following recommendations by the Carrothers Commission . The Northwest Territories, a portion of the old North-Western Territory , entered the Canadian Confederation on July 15, 1870. At first, it was named the North-West Territories. The name was changed to the present Northwest Territories in 1906. Since 1870,

4964-461: The three-way geographic grouping rather than any of the proposed linguistic groupings given below, because none of them has been widely accepted. This situation will presumably change as both documentation and analysis of the languages improves. Besides the traditional geographic grouping described previously, there are a few comparatively based subgroupings of the Athabaskan languages. Below the two most current viewpoints are presented. The following

5037-647: The waters of Deceiver Creek and Battlement Creek. It turns east after receiving the Ram River and Tetcela River and flows between the Nahanni Range and the Camsell Range. It empties into the Mackenzie River at an elevation of 105 meters (344 ft), 110 kilometers (68 mi) downstream from Fort Simpson . From headwaters to mouth, the North nahanni River receives waters from the following tributaries: Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories

5110-539: The west and Nunavut to the east, as well as four provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south, and Manitoba (through a quadripoint ) to the extreme southeast. It has a land area of 1,183,085 km (456,792 sq mi). Geographical features include Great Bear Lake , the largest lake entirely within Canada, and Great Slave Lake , the deepest body of water in North America at 614 m (2,014 ft), as well as

5183-528: Was enlarged north-westward in 1882. Quebec was also extended northwards in 1898. Yukon was also made a separate territory that year and eventually gained additional territorial powers with the 2003 Yukon Act . One year after the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan were created in 1905, the Parliament of Canada renamed the "North-West Territories" as the Northwest Territories , dropping all hyphenated forms of it. Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec acquired

5256-632: Was followed by several others in regions across the territory, thus contributing to it reaching the highest percentage of students in residential schools compared to other area in Canada. The present-day territory came under the authority of the Government of Canada in July 1870, after the Hudson's Bay Company transferred Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory to the British Crown, which subsequently transferred them to Canada, giving it

5329-433: Was selected as the new premier by his fellow MLAs on December 7, 2023. The member of Parliament for the Northwest Territories is Michael McLeod ( Liberal Party ). The Commissioner of the Northwest Territories is Gerald Kisoun . In the Parliament of Canada , the NWT comprises a single Senate division and a single House of Commons electoral district , titled Northwest Territories ( Western Arctic until 2014). Thus

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