Collection: Northwest Territories

Mrs Janet Anderson Thomson first proposed the idea of a NWT tartan after attending an RCMP ball in Yellowknife in 1966 and seeing the official piper dressed rather drably. Mrs Thomson enlisted the help of MacPherson’s of Edinburgh. She chose the colours and they produced three draft designs from which this one was chosen by committee. The tartan was officially unveiled at the 48th Session of the Territorial Council in January of 1973.

Green represents the forests,
White the frozen Arctic Ocean,
Blue the Northwest Passage,
Gold the mineral wealth of the NWT and the
Red-orange, which she describes as “autumn colours”, represents the barren lands or “Arctic prairies.”
The tartan also contains a thin black line representing the northern treeline.

ITI 662 STR3158