Northwest Territories: History
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 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 the T'satsąot'ınę (Ndé). Historically, Dene have lived across Denendeh and what is now the NWT since the era of Yamoria and Yamozha.
Along the northern coast live one of the subdivisions of Inuit: 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 the Inuvialuit Settlement Region and forms part of 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 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 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 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 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, the Labrador coast, and the Arctic Islands (except the southern half of Baffin Island). …