Legislation and Legislative Publications
Browse legislation, regulations, bills, legal requirements, and the Northwest Territories Gazette.
Legislation of the Northwest Territories
This page provides an alphabetical listing of consolidated territorial Acts and associated regulations. These materials can also be accessed via the legislation search service.
The Acts are the laws approved by the Legislative Assembly, and the regulations are laws that are authorized by an act relating to the application of the act and issued by the administering departments or public bodies.
Disclaimer
These consolidations are updated monthly and may not be the most current version available. Changes to regulations are published in the Northwest Territories Gazette.
Please note that not all Northwest Territories statutes, regulations and court rules are consolidated in this service. Statutes with a temporary or limited effect, such as appropriations acts, loan authorization acts and acts writing-off or forgiving assets or debts, are not included. Similarly, regulations with a temporary or limited effect, such as bylaw exemption orders and liquor plebiscite orders, are not included.
The consolidations have been prepared for convenience of reference only, and are not an official statement of the law. Users should note that the Government of the Northwest Territories assumes no responsibility for the accuracy or reliability of the contents of the consolidations. The authoritative text of statutes can be ascertained from the Revised Statutes of the Northwest Territories, 1988 and the Annual Volumes of the Statutes of the Northwest Territories. Any certified Bills not yet included in the Annual Volumes can be obtained through the Office of the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly. The authoritative text of regulations can be ascertained from the Revised Regulations of the Northwest Territories, 1990 and Part II of the Northwest Territories Gazette.
Copies of the rules of court application to courts in the Northwest Territories are available online.
Copyright Notice
The legislative material in the consolidations may be used for a non-commercial purpose without seeking permission, provided that it is accurately reproduced and includes an acknowledgment of the Government of the Northwest Territories as its source. Reproduction of the legislative material is permitted, in whole or in part, and by any means.
Annual Statutes
The Legislation Division of the Department of Justice prepares the Annual Statutes of the Northwest Territories, which includes the full text of all Statutes enacted by the Legislative Assembly, published in both English and French.
Printed copies of the Annual Statutes volumes pre-2019 can be purchased through the Territorial Printer.
Certified Bills of the Legislative Assembly
Bills are proposed laws introduced by the Legislative Assembly, and become Acts when enacted by the Legislative Assembly.
This page provides a listing of the certified bills of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories as they read and indicating their status as of the moment they receive Assent. After a bill receives Assent it becomes or it amends an Act and is part of the laws of the Northwest Territories.
Northwest Territories Gazette
The Legislation Division of the Department of Justice prepares the Northwest Territories Gazette, which includes the full text of all regulations and orders, notices of statutory appointments and revocations, and various governmental and non-governmental notices, all published in both English and French.
Part I of the Gazette contains various government and private notices, including notices of statutory appointments. Part II of the Gazette contains the full text of regulations, orders and statutory instruments.
Legislation divison responsibilies
Legislation Division is responsible for:
- Drafting all bills for the Government and the Legislative Assembly
- Preparing all French versions of bills and regulations
- Preparing all regulations made under the Act and a great majority of Government statutory appointments
- Preparing consolidations of statutes and regulations
- Preparing annual volumes of statutes enacted by the Legislative Assembly for publication
- Preparing the Northwest Territories Gazette, a publication including a full text of regulations and orders, notices of statutory appointments and revocations, and various government and non-governmental notices in both English and French
Consistency of laws with UNDRIP Implementation Act
The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Implementation Act (“UNDRIP Implementation Act”) came into force in November 2023.
The NWT’s UNDRIP Implementation Act establishes the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (Declaration) as the territory’s framework for reconciliation, as called for by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action.
The GNWT is, in collaboration and cooperation with Indigenous peoples, taking all reasonable measures to ensure that the laws of the Northwest Territories are consistent with the Declaration.
NWT Regulations
Regulations are a form of delegated legislation-making that has been authorized by the Legislative Assembly. The Statutory Instruments Act requires the Registrar of Regulations, in consultation with the Deputy Minister of Justice, to examine proposed regulations, to ensure that they are consistent with the Declaration and the rights recognized and affirmed under section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982. The results of the examination must be made publicly available on a website readily available to the public.
Below is a listing of the results of examination of proposed regulations: