As the Northwest Territories remembers the fallen on Remembrance Day 2023, we’ve spent time searching the NWT Archives for photos of past services and the military at work in the North.
Home to tens of thousands of photos, the Yellowknife-based NWT Archives contains many that document major military activities like the World War Two push to build the Canol Trail, a US Army project to build a pipeline carrying oil from Norman Wells to the Yukon. (You can still hike the trail today.)
There are also images from 1950s military exercises like Operation Bulldog, a Cold War-era test in which Canadian Rangers were tasked with defending Yellowknife against a mock enemy invasion.
And there are photos from past Remembrance Days, including 1950s workers putting together the cenotaph in Yellowknife.
On this page, you can explore our selections. You can also carry out a search of your own on the NWT Archives website.
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Lex Miller, who worked for the Mackenzie River Transport Company in the early 1940s, took this photo of US troops arriving to build the Canol Trail.
He captioned this image in part: “Because of war restrictions we had no idea thousands of men would arrive suddenly. Many died from cold and insects and drownings. MRT Dock, Fort Smith, Summer 1942.” NWT Archives/Lex Miller fonds/N-1986-014: 0017
A military marching band plays at a Canol camp in the early 1940s. NWT Archives/Sam Otto fonds/N-2004-026: 0030
Work on the Canol Road in 1943. NWT Archives/Sam Otto fonds/N-2004-026: 0066
In February 1955, during the Operation Bulldog military exercise, a Bombardier snow machine spent time on Yellowknife’s Back Bay alongside a Canadian military aircraft. NWT Archives/Henry Busse fonds/N-1979-052: 7851
Parachute troops and equipment above the ice outside Yellowknife in the 1950s, during training. NWT Archives/Henry Busse fonds/N-1979-052: 4736
An army cadet receives an award during a Yellowknife ceremony in June 1953. NWT Archives/Henry Busse fonds/N-1979-052: 7355
Aklavik’s Remembrance Day ceremony in 1956. NWT Archives/Bern Will Brown fonds/N-2001-002: 05900
The News of the North newspaper reported that at the 1957 cenotaph unveiling ceremony, Yellowknife’s then-mayor Fred Henne had “stressed the important role played by the Canadian Legion in the community.” NWT Archives/Henry Busse fonds/N-1979-052: 7460
Residents watch the 1957 unveiling. NWT Archives/Henry Busse fonds/N-1979-052: 7461
Soldiers stand at attention during the 1957 ceremony. NWT Archives/Henry Busse fonds/N-1979-052: 7459
A Remembrance Day ceremony in Fort Smith in the 1950s. NWT Archives/McCall family fonds/N-2002-022: 0184
A Remembrance Day service in a Hay River school gymnasium in the 1960s. NWT Archives/Ben Hall collection/N-2013-015: 0045
The Vincent Massey Branch memorial as it stood in Petitot Park (now Somba K’e Park), likely in the 1970s. NWT Archives/Northwest Territories. Department of Information fonds/G-1979-023: 2200
Cadets in Yellowknife on Remembrance Day 1976. Tessa Macintosh/NWT Archives/Native Communications Society fonds – Native Press photograph collection/N-2018-010: 03911
Spectators await Yellowknife’s 1976 Remembrance Day parade. Tessa Macintosh/NWT Archives/Native Communications Society fonds – Native Press photograph collection/N-2018-010: 03912
Bagpipers at a Remembrance Day parade in 1980. Harold Barnaby/NWT Archives/Native Communications Society fonds – Native Press photograph collection/N-2018-010: 07711
People gather at Yellowknife’s DND mess in December 1994. NWT Archives/YK Photo fonds/N-2019-001: 1456
