The Canadian North - West Territories were formed in 1870 by the merger of
two British territories, which had been transferred to Canadian sovereignty
the same year :
- the North - West Territory established in 1859 to include all unorganized
territories between British Columbia, the Arctic Ocean, Alaska and Rupert's
Land, claimed by Great Britain.
- Rupert's Land - encompassing at its largest extent large parts of present-
day Canada (Southern Alberta, Manitoba (which didn't become part of the
North - West Territories), Northern Ontario, Northern Quebec, parts of the
Northwest Territories and most of Saskatchewan) - founded in 1670, when
the Hudson's Bay Company was granted a charter to exploite and administer
all lands lying within the Hudson strait. (1)Chronology of the North - West Territories 1870 - 1905
1873 : Métis Revolt
1876 : the Keewatin District was established
1880 : Great Britain transferred the Arctic Islands to Canada
1882 : the southern parts of the Territories, which by now had an important
white population, were divided into four districts :
- Alberta - Athabaska
- Assiniboia - Saskatchewan
1885 : Métis Revolt
1895 : the northern regions of the Territories were divided into four
districts :
- Franklin (incorporating the Arctic Islands, which had formally
been a canadian possession since 1880)
- Mackenzie
- Ungava
- Yukon
1897 : Yukon District was detached to become a Territory of its own.
The North - West Territories were granted internal selfgovernment.
Métis Revolts
The Métis - a people of mixed First Nation-white origin - had been living in
the Northwest since the 17th century.
At the time of the Hudson's Bay Company, while being the major fur providers
of the Company, they had lived a semi-independent live in accordance to their
own laws, for instance electing their own leaders (the "heads of the buffalo
hunt")
The measures of the Canadian government to suppress this way of living after
the take over of 1870, together with the arrival of groups of white settlers
taking parts of the lands, resulted in the revolts of 1870 (in Manitoba, to
be added), 1873 and 1885.
Revolt of 1873
In 1873 the Métis of Saint Laurent (Saskatchewan region) set up a Government
intended to govern the Métis Nation according to its own laws.
President of the Métis Government
1873 - 1875 Gabriel Dumont, permanent head
of the buffalo hunt since 1863 1837 - 1906
In 1875 after an incident with employees of the Hudson's Bay Company the NWMP
intervened and actually terminated the government.
Revolt of 1885
In 1884 - 1885 new frictions with the Canadian government led to a new revolt
and the proclamation of a Provisional Government of the North-West at Batoche
(Saskatchewan District).
Political and Spiritual Leader of the Revolt
1885 Louis "David" Riel "Prophet of
the New World" 1844 - 1885
(Riel had already been the
leader of the revolt of 1870.
As the Roman Catholic Church
didn't support his new revolt
he tried to found a new church,
adopting the name David and
styling himself "Prophet")
President of the Provisional Government
1885 Pierre Parenteau
Commander of the Métis Armed Forces
1885 Gabriel Dumont s.a.
After some initial successes the forces of the Provisional government were
defeated by the NWMP.
Arctic Islands
British claims on the Arctic islands were based on the journeys made by the
explorer Martin Frobisher (ca 1535 - 1594) in the 70ties of the 16th century
They were confirmed by other British explorers, but no formal annexation or
occupation was ever made and by the second part of the 19th century they had
become a major whaling ground for whalers of different countries.
In 1880, Canada didn't immediately proclaim its sovereignity over the islands
This only happened in 1895 when the district of Franklin was established.
But even then no real administration was set up and foreign presence remained
important. It was only after the NWMP had established its first post in the
region at Fullerton Harbour in 1903 and had started imposing customs on the
foreign whalers, that actual Canadian rule was gradually extended over the
islands, Northern Arctic only being included after the establishment of a
RNWMP post at Pond Inlet in 1921.
(1) In 1870 the company - which had already been deprived of its trade
monopoly in 1859 - relinquished not only all its administrative tasks
but also all its land holdings in the new North - West Territories
in exchange of 300,000 £.
It remained however present in the region, maintaining not only its
leading position as fur trader, but soon also becoming the largest
department store retailer, first of Western Canada and later of the
whole country.
Governors of the Hudson's Bay Company
1869 - 1874 Sir Stafford Henry Northcote 1818 - 1887
1874 - 1880 George Joachim Goschen 1831 - 1907
1880 - 1889 Eden Colvile 1819 - 1893
1889 - 1914 Donald Alexander Smith, Baron (1897)
Strathcona and Mount Royal 1820 - 1914
1914 - 1915 Sir Thomas Skinner
1915 - 1925 Sir Robert Molesworth Kindersley 1871 - 1954
1925 - 1931 Charles Vincent Sale
1931 - 1952 Patrick Ashley Cooper
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CHIEF ADMINISTRATORS
Lieutenant Governors
1870 - 1876 The Lieutenant Governors of Manitoba(2)
1876 - 1881 David Laird 1833 - 1914
1881 - 1888 Edgar Dewdney 1835 - 1916
1888 - 1893 Joseph Royal 1837 - 1902
1893 - 1898 Charles Herbert Mackintosh 1843 - 1931
1898 - 1898 Malcolm Colin Cameron 1832 - 1898
1898 - 1905 Amédée Emmanuel Forget 1847 - 1923
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MINISTER
Premier
1897 - 1905 Frederick William Aplin Gordon Haultain 1857 - 1942
(2) This arrangement was largely formal and in practice the embryonic
administration which was set up, was carried out by local residents
such as missionaries, fur traders or police officers of the Quebec
Battalion of Rifles.
These local administrators were however unable to handle the growing
influx of settlers and adventurers of all kind and the unrest among
the Indian nations, which resulted from it.
It was therefore that, in 1873, the North - West Mounted Police -
renamed Royal North - West Mounted Police in 1904 - was formed to
restore law and order in the territories.
In the course of the following years the unit would in fact become
the actual administrator of the territories, establishing effective
Canadian authority in Yukon (1895) and in the Arctic (1903), making
peace with the First Nations, administring the Northwest (1905 -
1918) and quelling the Métis Revolts.
Commissioners of the NWMP/RNWMP/RCMP (until 1923 only)
1873 W. Osborne Smith*
1873 - 1876 George Arthur French 1841 - 1921
1876 - 1880 James Farquharson Macleod 1836 - 1894
1880 - 1886 Acheson Gosford Irvine 1837 - 1916
1886 - 1900 Lawrence William Herchmer 1840 - 1915
1900 - 1923 Aylesworth Bowen Perry 1860 - 1956
In 1920 the RNWMP incorporated the police forces of other Canadian
provinces becoming the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and in this way
partly losing its traditional link to the North West.
CANADIAN NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
In 1905, after its most populated regions had been detached to become the new
Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan, the remaining parts of the
North - West Territories - renamed Northwest Territories since 1906 - became
again directly dependent of the central government, like before 1897. (3)(3) Major changes :
1905 : Keewatin District was returned to the Northwest Territories
1912 : southern parts of Keewatin divided between Manitoba and Ontario.
Ungava District was transferred to Quebec.
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CHIEF ADMINISTRATORS
Commissioners
1905 - 1918 Lt. Col. Frederick "Fred"D. White,
comptroller of the NWMP/RNWMP 1... - 1918
1919 - 1931 William Wallace Cory (4) 1865 - 19..
1931 - 1934 Hugh Howard Gibson
1934 - 1936 none
1936 - 1946 Charles Camsell 1876 - 1958
(4) Up to 1936 the Deputy Ministers of the Department of Home Affairs
were ex officio (non resident) Commissioners for the Northwest
Territories.
From 1936 onwards the Deputy Ministers of the Department of Mines
were also ex officio (non resident) Commissioners.
In 1876 the region west of the Hudson Bay, which had attracted many settlers
searching for gold or working in the lumber industry and was claimed by both
Manitoba and Ontario was made a separate district pending a final solution.
In 1905 it was returned to the Northwest Territories.
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