About the NWT

The Northwest Territories (NWT) is the second largest of Canada's three northern territories. 

The NWT's unique landscape offers filmmakers a vast array of mountains, plains and valleys; threaded in a spectacular mosaic of pristine lakes, scenic boreal forests, arctic coastline and northern tundra by picturesque and meandering rivers, breathtaking  water ways and the well-worn paths of free-roaming wildlife.

Northwest Territories Highlights:

• North of the Arctic Circle, our world-famous "Midnight Sun" comes up in May and doesn’t set until the third week in July.
• Virginia Falls in the Nahanni National Park is almost twice the height of Niagara Falls and is the highest and most dramatic cataract in all of Western Canada.
• The NWT is home to two of the largest freshwater lakes (Great Slave Lake and Great Bear) and river systems (Mackenzie River) in North America.
• Wood Buffalo National Park is Canada’s largest national park - and is among the largest in the world. 
• The Salt Plains, located 25 km west of Fort Smith, are a unique combination of geology, plants, wildlife and climateon covering 370 square kilometres of flat, salt-encrusted landscape. In some places you can find brilliant white salt mounds up to one metre in height.
• The Auroral Oval is a giant ribbon of energy 124 miles (200 km) in diameter and 124 to 186 miles (200 to 300 km) high. It encircles the magnetic north pole and creates a corona of light known as the Aurora Borealis.
• Directly under the Auroral Oval sits Yellowknife, the DIAMOND CAPITAL OF NORTH AMERICA™.  Between September and April, it is the best place in the world to film northern lights. 
• 1,400 pingos (unusual ice-cored hills) dot the coastline near Tuktoyaktuk.

Read more NWT Quick Facts.