Why are Canada's far northern Yukon and Northwest Territories not yet provinces?

Answer 1

Money and power, it is all about money and power.

Some say they lack the population needed to become provinces but PEI have only 140,000 people and they have four seats in the house of Commons. That is 35, 000 per seat and NWT has more people than that and the Yukon and Nunavut both have more than 30,000.

So it isn't about the lack of population.

What might be lacking is a demand from the people to have the increased self determination that comes with being a province. But many people in the north often claim the right of self determination.

So it isn't about not wanting more self determination.

What is it about? Well it's complicated, as is most Canadian politics.

If we look at the paths other territories took to provincial status there was both a pull from the territories and a push from Ottawa. The pull from the territorties to get provincal status came from the elites in those areas. They wanted more power, control and some wanted more respect. The push from Ottawa was to have local authorities be responsible for collecting taxes and fees due to Ottawa.

In other words there was considerable money leaving those territories, now provinces, making the elite self funded, and leaving Canada open to criticism for taking so much.

Today's Canadian territories do not have a self funded elite. Yes there are wealthy elites in the territories but their wealth is based on Ottawa, on Federal programs and expenditures. Most of the population is not self supported, as they were in the other more southern territories. Most of the population in the Territories today are funded via government programs, and many of those are race based.

Race based funding is a larger percentage of the Territories economy than it was for any other territories. Up to 85% of Nunavut claims Inuit status and while they lack clear or ancient treaties with Canada they are given special racial status and rights.

Provincial status or even talking about getting provincial status could threaten that special racial status. How would it look, how does it look now, when 85% of the population demands special status and makes the other 15% pay more?

That is a discussion some would really like to avoid.

Then there is the relationship to Canada. In the case of Nunavut any move to provincial status would be resisted by Quebec, the most politically powerful province in Confederation. Quebec "administers" Nunavut and many of the elite in Quebec look at Nunavut as Quebec territory. Just as they took Ruperts Land they hope to take Nunavut, which was part of the reason the creation of Nunavut was done so quickly, easily, and yet still ignored ancient aboriginal claims.

We can see they ignored local concerns or a chance to address land claims in the borders of Nunavut. Take a look at the quadripoint that is the borders of Nunavut, NWT, SK and MB. Like most such 4 corner borders the traditional lands and local peoples have been excluded from the creation of that border. In an office far far away it is much easier to draw straight lines and then force the decision on locals. Canada has a history of doing just that with their colonies and so it was with Nunavut. Little open discussion and for most Canadians no discussion at all, just an announcement. It was a perfect time to address many issues around those borders but that wasn't the purpose, that didn't matter, Quebec wanted a territory separate from the NWT which was being "administered" from Edmonton, and they got it.

This is also a poor time for Ottawa to give up any control of the north. There is of course the increased revenue coming from the resources but with Canada's claim to the Arctic and NWP being questioned any move toward provincial status would weaken Canada's options should the people of the north decide to leave Confederation, leave with the resouces and the NWP.

Canada has used violent and bloody force in the past to override the will of the people of territories and force them to be Canadian. There is no doubt they would do so to keep a territory Canadian, but would they to so to keep a province in Confederation? If they did it would cease to be a Confederation and become a Federation like the CCCP, other provinces may not support such action.

Best to avoid all that and leave the status quo in place. After all no major push from the people, a little in the Yukon and NWT but that's about it, no pull at all from Ottawa or the other provinces.

You could also say the Elites of Canada do not want them to have provincial status, they are not demanding it and we do not want to talk about it.