Northwest Territories, Canada: “Land For Pioneers” circa 1950 Intl Film Bureau 15min04:33

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Published on May 9, 2017

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Promotional film recruiting settlers by telling of the resources hidden away in Northern Canada.

Reupload of a previously uploaded film with improved video & sound.

Public domain film from the Library of Congress Prelinger Archives, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and one-pass brightness-contrast-color correction & mild video noise reduction applied.
The soundtrack was also processed with volume normalization, noise reduction, clipping reduction, and/or equalization (the resulting sound, though not perfect, is far less noisy than the original).

The Northwest Territories (NWT; French, les Territoires du Nord-Ouest, TNO) is one of three federal territories of Canada. The Northwest Territories entered the Canadian Confederation July 15, 1870, but the current borders were formed April 1, 1999, with the creation of Nunavut.

It had a population of 41,462 as of the 2011 census, showing little change from the 2006 census.

In 1967, as a result of recommendations by the Carrothers Commission, Yellowknife became the capital.

While neighbouring Nunavut is mostly Arctic tundra, the Northwest Territories has a slightly warmer climate and is mostly boreal forest (taiga), although about half of the territory is north of the tree line…

Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canada’s two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, and three provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, and Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south. It has a land area of 1,183,085 km2 (456,792 sq mi).

Geographical features include Great Bear Lake, the largest lake entirely within Canada, and Great Slave Lake, the deepest body of water in Canada at 614 m (2,014 ft), as well as the Mackenzie River and the canyons of the Nahanni National Park Reserve, a national park and UNESCO World Heritage Site. Territorial islands in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago include Banks Island, Borden Island, Prince Patrick Island, and parts of Victoria Island and Melville Island. Its highest point is Mount Nirvana near the border with Yukon at an elevation of 2,773 m (9,098 ft).

The Northwest Territories reaches for over 1,300,000 km2 (500,000 sq mi) so there is a large climate variant from south to north. The southern part of the territory (most of the mainland portion) has a subarctic climate while the islands and northern coast have a polar climate.

Summers in the north are short and cool, with daytime highs in the mid teens, and lows in the single degrees. Winters are long and harsh, daytime highs in the mid −20 °C (−4 °F) and lows around −40 °C (−40 °F). Extremes are common with summer highs in the south reaching 36 °C (97 °F) and lows reaching into the negatives. In winter in the south it is not uncommon for the temperatures to reach −40 °C (−40 °F), but can also reach the low teens during the day. In the north temperatures can reach highs of 30 °C (86 °F), and lows can reach into the low negatives.

In winter in the north it is not uncommon for the temperatures to reach −50 °C (−58 °F) but can also reach the single digits during the day. Thunderstorms are not rare in the south. In the north they are very rare, but do occur. Tornadoes are extremely rare but have happened with the most notable one happening just outside of Yellowknife that destroyed a communications tower. The Territory has a fairly dry climate due to the mountains in the west…

As of 2012 there are 34 official communities in the NWT. These range in size from Yellowknife with a population of 19,234 to Kakisa with 45 people. Governance of each community differs, some are run under various types of First Nations control, while others are designated as a city, town, village or hamlet, but most communities are municipal corporations. Yellowknife is the largest community and has the largest number of Aboriginal peoples, 4,105 (22.2%) people. However, Behchoko, with a population of 1,926, is the largest First Nations community, 1,730 (91.5%), and Inuvik with 3,463 people is the largest Inuvialuit community, 1,335 (38.9%). There is one Indian reserve in the NWT, Hay River Reserve, located on the south shore of the Hay River…

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