The Territories: Predictions

[MolsonExport]

Growing up in the 70s, NWT had nearly double the population of the Yukon, whereas now, since Nunavut was carved out, the population is only slightly higher. The three territories are practically neck-in-neck in terms of population today. Who will win the population horse race in the territories, in the near future to medium term horizon?

Yukon population:


Nunavut population:


NWT population:


all images c/o wikipedia.

Yukon 42,248
Northwest Territories 45,230
Nunavut 39,841
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/...018005-eng.htm

[Innsertnamehere]

Nunavut will have the largest population. The natural increase is huge.

Yukon is the least remote however with the best climate and easiest access to the lower provinces and Alaska so long term I can see it having the most economic success.

[Airboy]

My bet is on Nunavut. Natural increase is more likely.
NWT and Yukon seam to fluctuate with the resource extraction. Also I base this on the number of schools being built in each territory over the last few years.

Also Nunavut's recourse economy is just starting to blossom and using local people is higher than in both other territories. NWTs mines are mostly fly in from the south. Yukon is stagnated. Nunavut fly ins are from the south and the communities.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by Airboy

Also Nunavut's recourse economy is just starting to blossom and using local people is higher than in both other territories.

I wonder if we will ever see the science fiction type dome cities in the far north. These are becoming more practical over time with advances like LED lighting (plus factory style indoor farming advances in general) and better nuclear power options. I think this is an area where some creativity and advances could suddenly make life dramatically better.

[JHikka]

Nunavut will eclipse 40K pop. in the next month or so which is a nice checkpoint for them. Yukon seems most well-placed for consistent economic growth but Nunavut has such raw potential that it's difficult not to think that it will be the leading territory in the years to come. Iqaluit will obviously be the leader but i'm curious how places like Arviat and Rankin Inlet fair in the coming years.

Although neither are technically territories I think that Nunavik and Labrador should be added to this discussion, too.

[MonctonRad]

I agree that the Yukon is the best connected territory, and thus will have an ongoing advantage in terms of transportation infrastructure and tourism. The climate is also better than in the other two territories. Yukon will likely be the next province, but that is still some time off, and will only happen if Quebec allows it (veto).

Nunavut will have the fastest growing population for some time (natural increase), but will remain hampered by the climate and the absolute isolation of all of its communities. It will grow rapidly for the next 20-30 years or so, but after that, the rate of natural increase will likely taper off.

The Northwest Territories will have the toughest slog, but if they develop a transportation corridor (road) up the MacKenzie River Valley to Tuk, and build a road to service Nahanni National Park, and make improvements to territorial highway #7 to better the connection between the Alaska Highway to the Mackenzie River Valley, I could see tourism taking off, leading to more service industry jobs and a lesser reliance on resource extraction. With proper infrastructure, the NWT also has a bright future.

[kool maudit]

Desert up to St. Louis, heavily armed American refugees fighting turf wars in the sweltering ruins of Montreal and Toronto.

Bombers flying patrols out of Fort Providence, orchards on the shores of Great Slave Lake, church spires over lively stone villages.

Tulita at 1,000,000; Anglo and Délı̨nę families in light weekend conversation on the commuter line to the Great Bear Lake cottage towns. Russians and Scandinavians at the well-furnished bar of the Grand Sahtu hotel on Whitehorse Avenue. A somewhat familiar flag flies over the mansard roof, two navy borders and an irregular red shape on a white background between them.

A seven-pointed sort of asterisk, is what it looks like.

A stylized vision of the North Star.

It is just another day in the bustling Dominion. Seaplanes land on the mighty Mackenzie, bringing French-speaking diplomats from Champlain, the imposing, many-domed capital of La République du Québec, way up there across Hudson Bay.

[ssiguy]

Yes, the Yukon has better road connections and benefits from being on the only road route to Alaska. It also enjoys the best climate and beautiful scenery. That said, I think there is more to it. The Yukon has a mystic, history, and character that NWT & Nunavut completely lack.

[suburbanite]

It's pretty crazy to think that somewhere the size of Nunavut has effectively grown by half the nightly attendance of an NHL arena in 20 years. Also would've been cool to walk around some of the towns in gold-rush era peak population NWT.

I agree that Nunavut has the biggest leaps yet to make in expanding resource extraction and attracting some permanent residents. Yukon is my favourite though.

[Airboy]

Originally Posted by JHikka

Nunavut will eclipse 40K pop. in the next month or so which is a nice checkpoint for them. Yukon seems most well-placed for consistent economic growth but Nunavut has such raw potential that it's difficult not to think that it will be the leading territory in the years to come. Iqaluit will obviously be the leader but i'm curious how places like Arviat and Rankin Inlet fair in the coming years.

Although neither are technically territories I think that Nunavik and Labrador should be added to this discussion, too.

Rankin is a business and government centre for the West Hudson Bay region. Plus it is the western air hub for Kivalik region. Arviat being more south may get road access though, which would change everything. Plus Rankin has a large mine near by.

If I had to live north of 60 it would be Whitehorse. But my love of the country is Nunavut. Wild spectacular scenery. not to spoiled by humans. Favorite place is Pond Inlet. its going to be about 5 ears since I last traveled north. Since I left Stantec chances are not going back ant time soon. Current employer does do work up north just not my division. (Yet).

Wife and I plan a driving trip to Tuk in the next few years. Before we cannot do it.

As for the road up the Valley. The road gets a bit more built out every year.