# Canadian Territories
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-territories/195564
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [August 16, 2003, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-territories/195564 "2003-08-16T09:32:13Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2003, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-territories/195564/1 "2003-08-16T09:32:13Z")
Pretty simple… why are the Yukon, Nunavut, and the Northwest Territories not full fledged Canadian provinces?
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### Author:  [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2003, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-territories/195564/2 "2003-08-16T10:48:07Z")
I found sites stating _what_, but not _why_. If it’s a similar case to Australia’s states and territoties, I’d wager it’s purely population-based.
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### Author:  [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2003, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-territories/195564/3 "2003-08-16T12:00:22Z")
I found a site regarding the Yukon Party, laying the reason down as part of a recent Constitution Act and the voting pattern of provinces, with Quebec acting possibly as a naysayer so that it isn’t swamped by the others plus new ones. The existing provinces need to vote another one in. The Yukon territory doesn’t look likely to become one.
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### Author:  [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2003, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-territories/195564/4 "2003-08-16T16:01:02Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Ice Wolf \*
> **. . . laying the reason down as part of a recent Constitution Act and the voting pattern of provinces, with Quebec acting possibly as a naysayer so that it isn’t swamped by the others plus new ones.**
Given that the territories (unlike American territories) already have voting representation in both houses of Parliament, is that a very realistic concern? What exactly **is** the difference between a province and a territory?
Concerning population, I see that the three territories have populations between 26,000 and 38,000, which are awfully small, but then Prince Edward Island isn’t a whole lot bigger with 135,000.
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### Author:  [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2003, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-territories/195564/5 "2003-08-16T17:07:54Z")
The difference is that provincial legislatures have more autonomy than territorial legislatures. Don’t know any of the details off the top of my head.
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### Author:  [@Trigonal\_Planar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trigonal_Planar)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2003, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-territories/195564/6 "2003-08-16T17:14:58Z")
I always thought territories were indeed the same thing as a province. The different name being due to historical reasons, more or less.
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### Author:  [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2003, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-territories/195564/7 "2003-08-16T17:27:49Z")
> [@](#):
>
> A province exists in its own right, a creation of the Constitution Acts, 1867 - 1982.
>
> A territory, however, is created through federal law. As a result, Crown lands in the territories are retained by the federal government in the Crown in right of Canada. This differs from the provinces, which own provincial lands in the Crown in right of the province. Secondly, in a territory, federal Parliament may enter into provincial-type affairs, such as school curriculum. Thirdly, territorial governments are not included in the Constitutional amending formula — the way we decide if we want to change something in the Canadian Constitution. Provinces get a vote when a change is proposed — territories don’t.
>
> [http://www.imagesoft.net/canada/nunavut.html](http://www.imagesoft.net/canada/nunavut.html)
Before 1975, the territories had no voting representation in the Federal Parliament. Since then they have held seats in both the House of Commons and the Senate.
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### Author:  [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2003, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-territories/195564/8 "2003-08-16T19:21:19Z")
An interesting article on Nunavit and some of its problems is: [http://princetonindependent.com/issue11.02/item5.html](http://princetonindependent.com/issue11.02/item5.html)