Yellowknife
Community Name: Yellowknife
Traditional Name: Sombak'e (money place)
Member of Parliament: Dennis Bevington
Senator: Nick G. Sibbeston
Mayor:
His Worship Mayor Mark Heyck
Yellowknife City Hall
P.O. Box 580
Yellowknife, NT X1A 2N4
Phone: 867-920-5600
Email: rlong@yellowknife.ca
Location: The capital city of the Northwest Territories is located at 62'276'N latitude and 114'226'W longitude and sits on the west shore of Yellowknife Bay on the North Arm of Great Slave Lake.
Population: 19,711 (NWT Bureau of Statistics, 2010)
Languages: Chipewyan, Tlicho, South and North Slavey, Michif, English, French
Access: Yellowknife is accessible by air year round with regular daily service from many communities in the Northwest Territories and other points in Canada and also several flights daily from Edmonton, Alberta. The community is also accessible by road year-round with the exception of break-up and freeze-up of the Mackenzie River near Fort Providence.
History: The name Yellowknife originated from the copper-wielding Chipewyan tribe who fought the Dene for many years. Organized gold mining began in the area in the mid-1930s when Consolidated Mining and Smelting began its operations at the mine site currently known as Miramar Con Mine. The boom took place in what is now commonly known by Yellowknifers as "Old Town" with the construction of plywood shacks and shanties littering Latham Island, Peace River and Willows flats before the start of the Second World War. By 1942 the population of 1000 was dwindling and two of the six mines closing the boom days were all but gone. Gold was deemed a non-strategic metal during the war and by 1944 all six mines were closed. The ending of the war marked the start of a revival. Giant Mine re-opened and things began to move again. The construction of the Snare River power station alleviated the pressure on the now densely-packed town and people started to move up the hill to the "New Town." Gold mines hit their productive stride and the town kept growing becoming a municipal district in 1953 and in 1967 the territorial capital was moved to Yellowknife and the economy diversified.
Yellowknife became the first city in the NWT in 1970 and remains the only city. Today the federal, territorial and municipal governments remain the largest employer with mining and exploration work remaining key. Ekati Diamond Mine and Diavik Diamond Mine are the only producing diamond mine's in North America, and Snap Lake Diamond Mine is scheduled to open within the next few years. Transportation is also a focal point of the economy. Local tourism operators have aggressively marketed the Aurora Borealis in recent years and when coupled with the other tourist attractions and outdoor adventures tourism is beginning to pick up.