Geographical Names

Overview

There are over 4,000 official geographical place names in the Northwest Territories that appear on official government maps. To ensure that place names are made official and appear on maps, the Government of the Northwest Territories follows a process from the Geographical and Community Names Policy as well as the place names sections of modern land claims.

The Government of the Northwest Territories administers the process for changing, adopting, or restoring geographical place names in the Northwest Territories. Our mandate includes the naming of geographical features, such as rivers, lakes, hills, mountains, and communities, but it does not include the naming of public infrastructure, such as roads, bridges, and buildings.

We represent the Northwest Territories on the Geographical Names Board of Canada, a national advisory and coordinating body for all of Canada’s geographical naming authorities. The board secretariat maintains the Canadian Geographical Names Database, which is the authoritative database for all official place names in Canada.

Restoring Indigenous Place Names

One of the main reasons for place name proposals in the Northwest Territories is to officially recognize traditional Indigenous names for geographical features and communities. Traditional place names are important to the language, culture, and history of Indigenous peoples.

As the original occupants of the land known today as the Northwest Territories, Indigenous peoples named the geographical features around them. As Europeans settled in the Northwest Territories, they introduced place names that reflected their own culture and history. Most official names in the Northwest Territories were given by English or French-speaking travelers, missionaries, or government officials, even though the local Indigenous peoples had already named the features in their own languages.

The Geographical and Community Names Policy promotes the official recognition and preservation of traditional Indigenous names for geographical features and communities.