SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - The Northwest Territories is one of the least generous jurisdictions in the country, according to a report from the Fraser Institute.

The NWT is ranked as one of the least generous territories and provinces according to a report from the Fraser Institute. - Ian Vaydik/NNSL photo illustration

The ranking comes from a report titled 'Generosity in Canada and the United States' released in December by the Vancouver-based think tank.

Two indicators - the percentage of tax filers who donated to charity and the percentage of added income donated in the 2008 tax year - determined the results.

In the first indicator the NWT was ranked second last in the country with 18.2 per cent of tax filers donating to charities. In first place was Prince Edward Island with 27 per cent and in last was Nunavut with 12.1 per cent.

Wayne Guy, chairperson of the board for the Yellowknife United Way, believes the main reason for the low ranking is the territory's demographic.

"What we have here is a rural population, so we have small communities and 50 to 60 per cent of the population lives outside of Yellowknife," said Guy. "In smaller communities, typically communities and families band together to support each other so there's not a lot of organized philanthrope within the community," he said, adding this situation can skew the numbers for the territory, like it did in Nunavut.

Guy said the United Way is currently looking at a better way to serve a very low density population over a huge region.

Wayne Balanoff, director of adult services with the Yellowknife Association for Community Living, was surprised to learn the results of the survey.

"I've seen studies that put the territories at the top in terms of per capita," said Balanoff.

"My impression is generally people in the North are generous."

He said during his five years with the association he has seen a steady amount of generous donations.

In regards to the second indicator, .36 percent of aggregate income was donated to charities for the NWT ranking the territory 11th.

"It's kind of hard to argue with that," said Maj. Dale Sobool at the Salvation Army. "Unless they're filing taxes elsewhere."

Sobool said compared to other Salvation Army's, Yellowknife is on par.

On the plus side, between 1998 to 2008, while most provinces saw a decrease in both indicators, the NWT was one of the few to see an increase.

The report also compared charitable donations between the U.S. and Canada with the provinces and territories falling behind almost every U.S. state.

The NWT ranked 59 out of 64 states, territories and provinces for percentage of tax filers donating to charity.

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.