Which territory was created and joined Canada in 1999?

Discover Canada records this in two complementary places. The expansion timeline includes the line: 1999 – Nunavut. The territory the test wants is therefore Nunavut, created in 1999.

The territory's profile is given in detail elsewhere in Discover Canada. The guide writes: Nunavut, meaning "our land" in Inuktitut, was established in 1999 from the eastern part of the Northwest Territories, including all of the former District of Keewatin. The capital is Iqaluit, formerly Frobisher Bay, named after the English explorer Martin Frobisher, who penetrated the uncharted Arctic for Queen Elizabeth I in 1576. So Nunavut was carved out of the eastern Northwest Territories — not formed from outside Canada.

Inuit majority is what gives Nunavut its character. Discover Canada writes: "The 19-member Legislative Assembly chooses a premier and ministers by consensus. The population is about 85% Inuit, and Inuktitut is an official language and the first language in schools." So Nunavut is the only Canadian territory or province where the majority of the population is Inuit, where their language is officially recognised, and where it is taught as the first language in schools. The 1999 creation of Nunavut is therefore central to the place of the Inuit in modern Canada.

Nunavut sits at the end of Discover Canada's expansion timeline — after Newfoundland and Labrador joined the country in 1949. So 1999 is the most recent date in the guide's territorial-creation list. The wider list runs from Manitoba and the Northwest Territories in 1870, through several decades of provinces and territories, all the way to Nunavut in 1999.

The question is testing whether new citizens know which territory was created and joined Canada at the close of the 20th century. Discover Canada's answer is unambiguous: Nunavut, in 1999.

The other answer choices each test a near-miss. Yukon became a territory in 1898. The Northwest Territories existed from 1870 — Nunavut was actually carved out of its eastern part in 1999. British Columbia joined Canada in 1871, and is a province, not a territory. None of those was created in 1999.