Canada's Colonies

A History of the Yukon and Northwest Territories

Furs, gold, whales, oil--the reason for going north has always been to empty the treasure house. The northern territories are vast and sparsely populated, so southern Canadians have been content to consider the North a colony, not a true part of Canada.

Since the first British naval expeditions to the "Frozen North," the history of the region has been romanticised. This book presents that history as seen from the North itself. Ken Coates begins by describing the resilient pre-European cultures of the Dene and Inuit peoples. Chapters are devoted to each period of development--the fur trade, Arctic whaling, the Klondike Gold Rush, military projects like the Alaska Highway, Ottawa's "bureaucratisation" of the North, and the resource projects of recent years.

First published in 1985, this book shows that modern northern politics have deep roots in the true history of "Canada's colonies."