ABSTRACT
When Canada acquired 'Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory' in 1870, she also inherited the problem of the creation of administrative units within this vast area of some three million square miles. As the Prime Minister of the day expressed it, the government had one great country before them to do with as they liked.1 Ultimately this 'unorganized' territory became 'organized' in a number of different ways. Parts of it were added to adjacent Provinces; parts of it were divided into Provinces; other sections were set apart as separate Territories; and still other sections were divided into Districts with limited jurisdiction over their own affairs but under the overall jurisdiction of a neighbouring Province or of the Federal government. The political map of Canada from 1920 to the present day has evolved from a combination of all of these devices. But it appears to have been the over-riding view of the Federal government in recent years that ultimately all of Canada should be organized into Provinces and a good deal of attention has been given to ways and means of accelerating this process in the present Northwest Territories of Canada. In this, consideration has been given to the application of many of the devices used earlier.
