This accession consists of approximately 8.5 meters of textual records created by the Bureau of Northwest Territories and Yukon Affairs and its various predecessors between 1921 and 1948. Also included is a small amount of material generated by successor agencies from 1949 to 1953.
The information contained in these files relates chiefly to administration of services to individuals and organizations rather than policy. Most of the information in the files can be arranged under one of nine main headings: 1) Records of criminal investigations and prosecutions; 2) Records of accidents and missing persons; 3) Applications for naturalization (Pre 1931 only); 4) Relief for destitute natives; 5) Inuit census 1939-1942 conducted by Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) posts in the Arctic; 6) Licenses; 7) Administration of goods and property of inhabitants who died or were incapacitated; 8) Income Tax; 9) Personnel records relating to headquarters staff in Ottawa. The records have been organized in series, which follows a general, but not strict chronological order: Series 1 1921-1939; Series 2 1939-1947; Series 3 1947-1953; Series 4 1923-1949.
Very large gaps appear in the file numerical sequence. Losses and transfers caused some of the gaps, assigning old files new numbers in the system whenever they were "brought forward" likely caused others. The majority of the gaps likely occurred when general housekeeping destroyed files of little value. Moreover, files dealing exclusively with the Yukon were transferred to the Yukon Archives. This filing system established in 1922, was a strictly numerical one and by 1953 when a new system was established, over 23,000 files had been registered.
A small amount of material in this fonds (one folder) was received separately from the federal government transfer and was not included in the arrangement listed above. It consists of correspondence from the files of two successive directors, J. Lorne Turner (1936) and R.A. Gibson (1937-1943). Included in the correspondence are a few items pertaining to R.A. Gibson's role as Deputy Commissioner (a position he held through this period, in addition to becoming director of the Lands, Northwest Territories and Yukon Branch in 1937). Material from J. Lorne Turner's file documents includes, among other issues, a food shortage in Coppermine in September 1936.
Canada. Bureau of Northwest Territories and Yukon Affairs