People & History

The Northwest Territories is home to approximately 45,500 people as of the 2025 census, barely one-thousandth of the Canadian population. Half of the population is Indigenous, and have been here since time immemorial, while the other half have come from elsewhere. Among the Indigenous population, a wide range of cultures are represented. About nine percent are Métis, mostly concentrated on the south side of Great Slave Lake. Another 11 percent are Inuvialuit, the people of the far North. The Dene comprise about 30 percent of the territorial population. Among the approximately 13,000 Dene, there are five main groups:

Chipewyan, around Łutsel Kʼe on the East Arm of Great Slave Lake;

Tłı̨chǫ, in the North Slave region communities near Behchokǫ̀ and Whatì;

Yellowknives, residing north and northeast of Great Slave Lake, including the communities of N’dilo and Dettah;

Slavey, North Slavey live around the Dehcho Region, and South Slavey around the southwest of Great Slave Lake in communities like Fort Providence and Hay River;

Sahtu Dene, in the communities around Great Bear Lake, including Fort Good Hope, Colville Lake, Norman Wells, Tulít’a and Délı̨nę.

The Northwest Territories officially recognizes 11 languages: Chipewyan, Cree, Tłı̨chǫ, Gwich’in, North Slavey, South Slavey, Inuktitut, Inuvialuktun, Inuinnaqtun, English and French. The territory has also welcomed immigrants from around the world, meaning many other languages, from German to Tagalog, are spoken here. Almost everyone speaks English, but nearly half of the population speak a second or third language. All of this makes the NWT a place with many ways to say “welcome.”

Greetings in some of the official languages:

Chipewyan: Márcı ją nuwe ghą núhdël
Cree: Tawaw
English: Welcome
French: Bienvenue
Gwich’in: Shòh hàh aanàii
Inuinnaqtun: Quana qaigaffi
Inuktitut: Tunngasugit
Inuvialuktun: Quvianaqtusi qaigapsi
North Slavey: Máhsı hejǫ raxets’é ráwǝdǝ
South Slavey: Máhsı ejǫh nahxe tah anet’ı̨
Tłı̨chǫ: Sı̨nà, jǫ naxıghaèhda

Before 12,000 B.C., most of the Northwest Territories was covered by a vast sheet of ice. As the glaciers receded from west to east, the land opened to human settlement.

The first people here were the Dene, who have lived in the boreal forest for millennia. About 1,000 years ago, the Inuvialuit arrived in the Mackenzie Delta and along the Arctic coast and islands. The Métis followed fewer than 300 years ago as key figures in the fur trade.

Settlement by Euro-Canadians began a little over a century ago with Hudson’s Bay Company employees and missionaries. They were followed by whalers, the RCMP, oil drillers, miners and later government workers.

Many of the NWT’s communities, such as Fort Resolution and Fort Simpson, began as trading posts. Others, including Fort Smith, Hay River and Enterprise, developed as transportation hubs. Norman Wells and Yellowknife were founded on resource extraction, focused on oil and gold. Inuvik was established to provide northern communities with improved access to modern services and amenities. Other communities, like Colville Lake and Wekweètì, began with the opposite goal, founded by First Nations people seeking a return to traditional life.