Approximately 80% of land in the Northwest Territories (NWT) is public land, under the administration and control of the GNWT. Since Devolution in 2014, the Department of Lands has held the responsibility to administer and manage all public land in the NWT. Public land includes both surface and sub-surface lands (e.g., land below bodies of water). When the PLA comes into force, it will apply to all public land. Under current legislation, public land includes Territorial Lands, Commissioner’s Land, public highways, and Territorial Protected Areas – these are shown in purple on the map. The PLA will not apply to municipal land, private lands selected under comprehensive land claim agreements (in the Inuvialuit, Gwich’in, Sahtu and Tłı̨chǫ settlement regions) – these are shown in orange on the map. The PLA also will not apply to federally-administered lands shown in green on the map, which includes contaminated waste sites, sites set aside for conservation purposes, and First Nation reserve lands. Jurisdiction of those lands was retained by the federal government after devolution.

The Department has reviewed the Northwest Territories Lands Act and the Commissioner’s Land Act to identify potential legislative amendments that will improve the overall effectiveness of land administration in the NWT. This document identifies issues and proposes recommended actions to address these issues. The document is intended to facilitate discussion for future action and is also available in an HTML format.