A total of 5,680 corporations, co-operatives, limited partnerships and partnerships are registered in the Northwest Territories. As of September 30, 1994, 2,290 of the corporations and cooperatives were registered as extraterritorial companies. The Companies Act requires the registration of corporations, the Co-operative Associations Act the registration of cooperatives and the Partnership Act the registration of partnerships. The Department of Justice registers corporations and cooperatives to allow for the creation of legal entities and the rules that govern those entities. The reason for registration of partnerships is to identify those who are partners carrying on business in a specific partnership. For the purposes of the legislation, it is not generally relevant where, in the Northwest Territories, corporations, partnerships and sole proprietorships carry on business, nor is the identify and ethnic origin of the owners and shareholders.
Because of the registration process and the purpose of registration, it is not possible to use business registration information to respond to the Member's question.
Staff in the Department of Public Works and Services who administer the business incentive policy have started to request and tabulate information on ethnicity of owners of businesses registering. At the current time, collection is not complete nor has the system been organized to issue reports on this basis.
The number of businesses in the western Arctic registered under the business incentive policy (BIP) is known. As of October 3, 1994, there were 1,406 businesses registered under
BIP in the communities of the western Arctic. The breakdown is as follows:
Deh Cho: Fort Liard, 10; Fort Simpson, 51; Jean Marie River, one; Trout Lake, two; Wrigley, three; total, 67.
North Slave: Lac La Martre, five; Lutsel K'e, three; Rae Lakes, three; Rae-Edzo, 25; Snare Lake, three; Yellowknife 676; total, 715.
South Slave: Enterprise, two; Fort Providence, 14; Fort Resolution, 12; Fort Smith, 129; Hay River, 177; Kakisa Lake, one; total, 335.
Inuvik: Aklavik, nine; Colville Lake, one; Deline, four; Fort Good Hope, 11, Fort McPherson, 11; Fort Norman, 12; Holman, three; Inuvik, 174; Norman Wells, 38; Paulatuk, two; Sachs Harbour, five; Tsiigehtchic, three; Tuktoyaktuk, 16; total, 289.