User:Mr Serjeant Buzfuz/North-West Territories (1870–1905)

The North-west Territories (1870–1905) were a federal territory in north-western Canada. Created in 1870, concurrently with the province of Manitoba, it originally covered much of Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory which Canada had acquired from the Hudson's Bay Company. The Yukon Territory was created from it in 1898, and the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan in 1905. The North-west Territories were continued as the Northwest Territories from 1905 onwards, composed of the land north of the 60th parallel. After 1905, other parts of the Northwest Territories were transferred to the provinces of Ontario and Quebec.

When the North-West Territories were created in 1870, they were administered as a federal territory from Ottawa. They did not have any representation in the federal Parliament, nor was there any elected representative government. The Lieutenant Governor of the North-West Territories governed the territories, assisted by an appointed Legislative Council. The federal government retained control over the natural resources, to allow it to regulate settlement in the Territories.

As time passed, the inhabitants of the Territories demanded greater local control, as well as representation in the federal Parliament. Local control progressed by means of an elected Legislative Assembly for the Territories, then the establishment of responsible government, and eventually the creation of the new provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Once those provinces were created, the Territories again fell under federal legislative and regulatory power, and the Legislative Assembly of the North-West Territories was abolished.