Canada's Northern Territories — Yukon, NWT, Nunavut

# Canada's Northern Territories — Yukon, NWT, Nunavut

Canada's three territories cover a vast northern expanse — about 40% of the country's land area — yet are home to fewer than 120,000 people combined. Here is what you need to know for the citizenship test.

Yukon

• Capital: Whitehorse (also the largest city)
• Famous for the Klondike Gold Rush (1896–1899) — gold was discovered at Bonanza Creek near Dawson City, drawing tens of thousands of prospectors
• Home to Kluane National Park and Canada's highest peak, Mount Logan (5,959 m)
• Named after the Yukon River (from the Gwich'in word meaning "great river")

Northwest Territories (NWT)

• Capital: Yellowknife — originally a gold-mining town, now a government centre
• Rich in diamonds — NWT has some of the world's most productive diamond mines
• Great Slave Lake is the deepest lake in North America (614 m)
• Home to diverse Indigenous peoples — Dene, Inuvialuit, Métis, Cree

Nunavut

• Capital: Iqaluit (on Baffin Island)
• Canada's newest territory — created on April 1, 1999, carved from the eastern NWT
• "Nunavut" means "our land" in Inuktitut (the Inuit language)
• The largest territorial division by area in Canada — bigger than Western Europe
• Population is about 85% Inuit

This is a key distinction for the citizenship test:

In practice, territories govern themselves much like provinces — elected legislatures, Premiers, departments. But the legal basis is different, and the federal government has more direct authority over territorial affairs.

Indigenous peoples make up a large share of the northern population:

• Nunavut: ~85% Inuit
• NWT: ~50% Indigenous (Dene, Métis, Inuvialuit, Cree)
• Yukon: ~25% First Nations (14 self-governing First Nations with settled land claims)

Northern governance increasingly involves Indigenous self-government agreements and land-claim settlements, which are unique to Canadian constitutional law.

The North has Canada's most extreme climate:

• Winters: Temperatures can drop to −40°C or lower, with 24-hour darkness in December
• Summers: 24-hour daylight (the midnight sun), temperatures from 10°C to 25°C
• Northern Lights: The Aurora Borealis is visible across the northern sky, especially around Yellowknife
• Permafrost: Much of the ground is permanently frozen; buildings are often raised on stilts

Common citizenship-test questions:

• What are Canada's three territories? *(Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut)*
• When was Nunavut created? *(1999)*
• What is the difference between a province and a territory? *(Powers come from federal government, not the Constitution)*
• What is Canada's highest mountain? *(Mount Logan, in Yukon — 5,959 m)*

For more, see [The Five Regions of Canada](/blog/five-regions-canada-explained).

Try our [free practice test](/practice-test) — it covers northern territory questions in the same format you will see on test day.