William Wallace Cory

William Wallace Cory (June 16, 1865 – September 21, 1943) was Commissioner of the Northwest Territories from June 27, 1919 to February 17, 1931.

Cory was born in Ontario and moved with his farming family to Gladstone, Manitoba in 1871.^[1] He studied law and joined the Manitoba Attorney General's Office in 1889, then joined the federal department of Interior in 1901 rising to the post of Deputy Minister of the Interior from 1905 to 1930.^[1]

Only the second Commissioner of the Northwest Territories to take the post, Cory inherited a region that had barely been governed during the time of his predecessor.^[2]

Within months the new Commissioner had enacted a new ordinance (or law) regarding entry into the Northwest Territories, restricting access only to those pre-approved by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police at various outposts in Alberta or the Yukon. The ordinance was cancelled a year later having been deemed ultra vires however during his office Commissioner Cory pursued further administration of the Territories, overseeing the appointment of councillors for the first time and establishing operations to facilitate the expansion of oil and gas interests in the region including the opening of the Territories' administration offices at Fort Smith in 1921.

Aboriginal interests

Later in 1921, a memo from the Commissioner's office concerned the well-being of the 150 white settlers of the District of Mackenzie and including future white interests in the Territories. It did not make any reference to the interests of the approximately 3,500 aboriginal population of the District of Mackenzie at that time.^[2] However alternative evidence suggests Cory himself was sympathetic to the region's Inuit populace as highlighted in a letter to the Hudson's Bay Company secretary, Edward Fitzgerald accusing Hudson's Bay Company post managers of exploiting the Inuit, and casting doubt on whether the Company could reform its trading system to prevent such abuses.^[3]

Cory died in Montreal (St. Lambert) in 1943 and was buried in Ottawa.^[1]

See also

• History of Northwest Territories
• History of Northwest Territories capital cities
• Mount Cory (Alberta)

References

External links

• List of Canadian Leaders, births and deaths

Heads of State for the Northwest Territories
Commissioner 1905–present	White Cory Rowatt Camsell Keenleyside Young Robertson Sivertz Hodgson Parker Norris Maksagak Marion Hansen Whitford Tuccaro
Deputy Commissioner 1921–present	Gibson Cunningham Brown Hodgson Parker Pilot Semmler Hanson Maksagak Marion Mains Whitford Thom
Lieutenant Governor 1870–1905	McDougall Archibald Johnson Morris Laird Dewdney Royal Mackintosh Cameron Forget