Territories of Canada
Canada, officially the Canadian Republic, is a federal parliamentary republic which, in addition to 13 provinces and a federal capital district, consists of five territories (French: territoires), autonomous administrative divisions each of which has its own government with devolved authority from the Parliament of Canada. Territories differ from provinces in that their autonomy, by nature of deriving from the process of devolution, is granted unilaterally by the federal government (namely the Parliament of Canada) and can thus be revoked at the unilateral instigation of Parliament; provinces, on the other hand, share sovereignty equally with the Canadian federal government and cannot be altered or abolished unilaterally according to Canadian constitutional law.
The capital district municipality of Ottawa could be considered a territory as well, as its municipal government has autonomous authority via the same process of devolution as the five territories; however, since the territories each consist of several counties and municipalities, Ottawa as a single municipal jurisdiction is normally not counted as a territory but rather a unique administrative zone of the Canadian Republic.
List[edit | edit source]
# | Flag | Territory | Postal abbrev. | Capital1 | Population (2020 EST) | Confederation2 | Official language(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1) | Yukon | YT | Whitehorse | 605,300 | 13 June 1898 | English, French | |
2) | Northwest Territories | NT | Yellowknife | 405,400 | 15 July 1870 | English, French | |
3) | Nunavut | NU | Iqaluit | 339,300 | 1 April 1999 | English, French | |
4) | Turks and Caicos Islands | TC | Providence | 288,300 | 1 August 1914 | English | |
5) | Greenland | GT | Nuuk | 167,700 | 1 May 1979 | Greenlandic, Danish, English |
- and most populous city
- date territory was established and admitted to the union