Capital: Yellowknife Motto: Land of the Midnight Sun Flower: Mountain Avens Population, 2000: 42,154 The Land Canada's Northwest Territories (N.W.T.) are above Saskatchewan, Alberta, and eastern British Columbia and lie between the Yukon and Nunavut north of the 60th parallel.   Like the Yukon, the Northwest Territories can be divided into two broad geographical regions: the taiga, a boreal forest belt that circles the subarctic zone; and the tundra, a rocky Arctic region where the cold climate has stunted vegetation. Remarkable features include the Great Bear Lake, which at 31 328 km2 is the eighth largest in the world; the Great Slave Lake, the tenth largest in the world at 28 568 km2; and the Mackenzie River (Canada's longest), which flows 4 241 kilometres from the Great Slave Lake to the Beaufort Sea. The People The present population of the NWT is over 42 000. Dene, Inuvialuit and Métis peoples make up 48 percent, the non-Aboriginal population about 52 percent. Most live in small communities; Yellowknife, the capital, has a population of more than 15 000. Economy The economy relies heavily on resource industries subject to wide fluctuations in world markets. Mining is by far the largest private industrial sector of the NWT economy. Oil and gas exploration and development are also important.Recently, tourism has become increasingly important. The NWT offers a variety of landscapes of great natural beauty, conducive to fishing, wildlife observation and other outdoor activities.   *Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, Copyright (c) 2003.