Demographics of Northwest Territories

The Northwest Territories is a territory of Canada. It has an area of 1,171,918 square kilometres and a population of 41,464 as of July 1, 2006.

Population of Northwest Territories since 1871 1
Ten largest population centres 2
Languages 3
Migration 4
- Immigration 4.1
- Internal migration 4.2
Visible minorities and Aboriginals 5
See also 6
References 7

Population of Northwest Territories since 1871

Year	Population	five-year % change	ten-year % change	Rank among provinces and territories
1871	48,000	n/a	n/a	6
1881	56,446	n/a	17.6	7
1891	98,967	n/a	75.3	7
1901	20,129*	n/a	-79.7	11
1911	6,507**	n/a	-67.7	11
1921	8,143	n/a	25.1	10
1931	9,316	n/a	14.4	10
1941	12,028	n/a	29.1	10
1951	16,004	n/a	33.1	11
1956	19,313	20.7	n/a	11
1961	22,998	19.1	43.7	11
1966	28,738	25.0	48.8	11
1971	34,805	21.1	51.3	11
1976	42,610	22.4	48.3	11
1981	45,740	7.3	31.4	11
1986	52,235	14.2	22.6	11
1991	57,649	10.3	26.0	11
1996	64,402	11.7	23.2	11
2001	37,360***	-42.0	-35.2	11
2006	41,464	11.0	-35.6	11
2011	41,462	0.0	10.9	11

*Note: Yukon Territory was ceded from Northwest Territories in 1898.

**Note: Alberta and Saskatchewan were created from parts of Northwest Territories in 1905.

***Note: Data through 1996 includes Nunavut. 2001 data does not include Nunavut.

Source: Statistics Canada ^[1]^[2]^[3]

Ten largest population centres

Ten largest municipalities by population
Municipality	2011	2006	2001	1996
Yellowknife	19,234	18,700	16,541	17,275
Hay River	3,606	3,648	3,510	3,611
Inuvik	3,463	3,484	2,894	3,296
Fort Smith	2,093	2,364	2,185	2,441
Behchoko	1,926	1,894	1,552	1,662
Fort Simpson	1,238	1,216	1,163	1,257
Tuktoyaktuk	854	870	930	943
Fort McPherson	792	776	761	878
Fort Providence	734	727	753	748
Norman Wells	727	761	666	798

Languages

French was made an official language in 1877 by the appointed government, after lengthy and bitter debate resulting from a speech from the throne in 1888 by Lt. Governor Joseph Royal. The members voted on more than one occasion to nullify and make English the only language used in the assembly. After some conflict with Ottawa and a decisive vote on January 19, 1892, the issue was put to rest as an English-only territory.

In the early 1980s, the government of Northwest Territories was again under pressure by the federal government to reintroduce French as an official language. Some native members walked out of the assembly, protesting that they would not be permitted to speak their own language. The executive council appointed a special committee of MLAs to study the matter. They decided that if French was to be an official language, then so must the other languages in the territories.

The Northwest Territories's Official Languages Act recognizes the following eleven official languages, which is more than any other political division in Canada:^[4]

NWT residents have a right to use any of the above languages in a territorial court and in debates and proceedings of the legislature. However, laws are legally binding only in their French and English versions, and the 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 significant demand for that language or where it is reasonable to expect it given the nature of the services requested. In reality, this means that 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 2006 Canadian census showed a population of 41,464.
Of the 40,680 singular responses to the census question concerning 'mother tongue' the most commonly reported languages were:


1.	English	31,545	77.54%
2.	Athapaskan languages	4,710	11.58%
	Dogrib	1,950	4.79%
	South Slavey	1,285	3.16%
	North Slavey	835	2.05%
	Chipewyan	390	0.96%
	Gwich'in	190	0.47%
	Dene	50	0.12%
3.	French	975	2.40%
4.	Inuktitut	695	1.71%
5.	Malayo-Polynesian languages	530	1.30%
	Tagalog	505	1.24%
6.	Vietnamese	305	0.75%
7.	Chinese	260	0.64%
	Cantonese	120	0.29%
8.	Algonquian languages	250	0.61%
	Cree	190	0.47%
	Ojibway	35	0.09%
9.	German	190	0.47%
10=	Arabic	105	0.26%
10=	Creole	105	0.26%
12.	Dutch	95	0.23%
13.	Spanish	90	0.22%
14.	Niger-Congo languages	80	0.20%
	Bantu languages	55	0.14%
15.	Yugoslavian languages	60	0.15%
16=	Innuinaqtun	55	0.14%
16=	Italian	55	0.14%

There were also about 40 single-language responses for Ukrainian; 35 for the Scandinavian languages, Slovak and Urdu; and 30 for Hungarian, the Iranian languages and Polish. In addition, there were also 320 responses of both English and a 'non-official language'; 15 of both French and a 'non-official language; 45 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 unenumerated response. The Northwest Territories' official languages are shown in bold. Figures shown are for the number of single language responses and the percentage of total single-language responses.)^[5]

Migration

Immigration

The 2006 Canadian census counted a total of 2,815 immigrants living in the Northwest Territories.
The most commonly reported origins for these immigrants were:

^[6]


1.	Philippines	555
2.	United Kingdom	345
3.	Vietnam	245
4.	United States	235
5.	Germany	130
6=	China	100
6=	Ghana	100
8=	Hong Kong	65
8=	Netherlands	65
10=	former Yugoslavia	45
10=	Italy	45
12=	Australia	40
12=	France	40
12=	South Africa	40

There were also about thirty-five immigrants from Pakistan; and about thirty each from India, Lebanon, Nigeria and Slovakia.

Internal migration

A total of 12,100 people moved to the Northwest Territories from other parts of Canada between 1996 and 2006 while 15,955 people moved in the opposite direction. These movements resulted in a net influx of 825 from Newfoundland and Labrador, 295 from Nunavut, 235 from Quebec and 195 from Nova Scotia; and a net outmigration of 3,955 to Alberta, 705 to British Columbia, 260 to Manitoba, 245 to Ontario and 230 to the Yukon. (All inter-provincial movements and official minority movements of more than 100 persons are given.)^[7]^[8]

Visible minorities and Aboriginals

Visible minority and Aboriginal population (Canada 2006 Census)
Population group		Population	% of total population
White		18,160	7001442000000000000♠44.2%
Visible minority group Source:^[9]	South Asian	210	6999500000000000000♠0.5%
	Chinese	315	6999800000000000000♠0.8%
	Black	375	6999900000000000000♠0.9%
	Filipino	695	7000170000000000000♠1.7%
	Latin American	85	6999200000000000000♠0.2%
	Arab	85	6999200000000000000♠0.2%
	Southeast Asian	355	6999900000000000000♠0.9%
	West Asian	40	6999100000000000000♠0.1%
	Korean	15	5000000000000000000♠0%
	Japanese	15	5000000000000000000♠0%
	Visible minority, n.i.e.	30	6999100000000000000♠0.1%
	Multiple visible minority	40	6999100000000000000♠0.1%
Total visible minority population		2,265	7000550000000000000♠5.5%
Aboriginal group Source:^[10]	First Nations	12,640	7001308000000000000♠30.8%
	Métis	3,585	7000870000000000000♠8.7%
	Inuit	4,165	7001101000000000000♠10.1%
	Aboriginal, n.i.e.	145	6999400000000000000♠0.4%
	Multiple Aboriginal identity	105	6999300000000000000♠0.3%
Total Aboriginal population		20,635	7001503000000000000♠50.3%
Total population		41,060	100%

References

-- Module:Hatnote -- -- -- -- This module produces hatnote links and links to related articles. It -- -- implements the and meta-templates and includes -- -- helper functions for other Lua hatnote modules. --

local libraryUtil = require('libraryUtil') local checkType = libraryUtil.checkType local mArguments -- lazily initialise Module:Arguments local yesno -- lazily initialise Module:Yesno

local p = {}

-- Helper functions

local function getArgs(frame) -- Fetches the arguments from the parent frame. Whitespace is trimmed and -- blanks are removed. mArguments = require('Module:Arguments') return mArguments.getArgs(frame, {parentOnly = true}) end

local function removeInitialColon(s) -- Removes the initial colon from a string, if present. return s:match('^:?(.*)') end

function p.findNamespaceId(link, removeColon) -- Finds the namespace id (namespace number) of a link or a pagename. This -- function will not work if the link is enclosed in double brackets. Colons -- are trimmed from the start of the link by default. To skip colon -- trimming, set the removeColon parameter to true. checkType('findNamespaceId', 1, link, 'string') checkType('findNamespaceId', 2, removeColon, 'boolean', true) if removeColon ~= false then link = removeInitialColon(link) end local namespace = link:match('^(.-):') if namespace then local nsTable = mw.site.namespaces[namespace] if nsTable then return nsTable.id end end return 0 end

function p.formatPages(...) -- Formats a list of pages using formatLink and returns it as an array. Nil -- values are not allowed. local pages = {...} local ret = {} for i, page in ipairs(pages) do ret[i] = p._formatLink(page) end return ret end

function p.formatPageTables(...) -- Takes a list of page/display tables and returns it as a list of -- formatted links. Nil values are not allowed. local pages = {...} local links = {} for i, t in ipairs(pages) do checkType('formatPageTables', i, t, 'table') local link = t[1] local display = t[2] links[i] = p._formatLink(link, display) end return links end

function p.makeWikitextError(msg, helpLink, addTrackingCategory) -- Formats an error message to be returned to wikitext. If -- addTrackingCategory is not false after being returned from -- Module:Yesno, and if we are not on a talk page, a tracking category -- is added. checkType('makeWikitextError', 1, msg, 'string') checkType('makeWikitextError', 2, helpLink, 'string', true) yesno = require('Module:Yesno') local title = mw.title.getCurrentTitle() -- Make the help link text. local helpText if helpLink then helpText = ' (help)' else helpText = end -- Make the category text. local category if not title.isTalkPage and yesno(addTrackingCategory) ~= false then category = 'Hatnote templates with errors' category = string.format( '%s:%s', mw.site.namespaces[14].name, category ) else category = end return string.format( '%s', msg, helpText, category ) end

-- Format link -- -- Makes a wikilink from the given link and display values. Links are escaped -- with colons if necessary, and links to sections are detected and displayed -- with " § " as a separator rather than the standard MediaWiki "#". Used in -- the template.

function p.formatLink(frame) local args = getArgs(frame) local link = args[1] local display = args[2] if not link then return p.makeWikitextError( 'no link specified', 'Template:Format hatnote link#Errors', args.category ) end return p._formatLink(link, display) end

function p._formatLink(link, display) -- Find whether we need to use the colon trick or not. We need to use the -- colon trick for categories and files, as otherwise category links -- categorise the page and file links display the file. checkType('_formatLink', 1, link, 'string') checkType('_formatLink', 2, display, 'string', true) link = removeInitialColon(link) local namespace = p.findNamespaceId(link, false) local colon if namespace == 6 or namespace == 14 then colon = ':' else colon = end -- Find whether a faux display value has been added with the | magic -- word. if not display then local prePipe, postPipe = link:match('^(.-)|(.*)$') link = prePipe or link display = postPipe end -- Find the display value. if not display then local page, section = link:match('^(.-)#(.*)$') if page then display = page .. ' § ' .. section end end -- Assemble the link. if display then return string.format('%s', colon, link, display) else return string.format('%s%s', colon, link) end end

-- Hatnote -- -- Produces standard hatnote text. Implements the template.

function p.hatnote(frame) local args = getArgs(frame) local s = args[1] local options = {} if not s then return p.makeWikitextError( 'no text specified', 'Template:Hatnote#Errors', args.category ) end options.extraclasses = args.extraclasses options.selfref = args.selfref return p._hatnote(s, options) end

function p._hatnote(s, options) checkType('_hatnote', 1, s, 'string') checkType('_hatnote', 2, options, 'table', true) local classes = {'hatnote'} local extraclasses = options.extraclasses local selfref = options.selfref if type(extraclasses) == 'string' then classes[#classes + 1] = extraclasses end if selfref then classes[#classes + 1] = 'selfref' end return string.format( '

', table.concat(classes, ' '), s )

end

return p-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- Module:Hatnote -- -- -- -- This module produces hatnote links and links to related articles. It -- -- implements the and meta-templates and includes -- -- helper functions for other Lua hatnote modules. --

local libraryUtil = require('libraryUtil') local checkType = libraryUtil.checkType local mArguments -- lazily initialise Module:Arguments local yesno -- lazily initialise Module:Yesno

local p = {}

-- Helper functions

local function removeInitialColon(s) -- Removes the initial colon from a string, if present. return s:match('^:?(.*)') end

-- Hatnote -- -- Produces standard hatnote text. Implements the template.

', table.concat(classes, ' '), s )

end

return p

^ Population urban and rural, by province and territory (Northwest Territories). Statistics Canada, 2005.
^ Canada's population. Statistics Canada. Last accessed September 28, 2006.
^
^ Northwest Territories Official Languages Act, 1988 (as amended 1988, 1991-1992, 2003)
^ Detailed Mother Tongue (186), Knowledge of Official Languages (5), Age Groups (17A) and Sex (3) (2006 Census)
^ Immigrant Status and Period of Immigration (8) and Place of Birth (261) (2006 Census)
^ Province or Territory of Residence 5 Years Ago (14), Mother Tongue (8), Age Groups (16) and Sex (3) (2006 Census)
^ Province or Territory of Residence 5 Years Ago (14), Mother Tongue (8), Age Groups (16) and Sex (3) (2001 census)
^ Territories&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=01&B1=All&Custom=, Community Profiles from the 2006 Census, Statistics Canada - Province/Territory
^ Territories&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=01&B1=All&Custom=, Aboriginal Population Profile from the 2006 Census, Statistics Canada - Province/Territory

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