Four plebiscites have occurred territory wide in the history of the Northwest Territories, although legislation was passed to allow a fifth plebiscite.
In 1974 the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories passed a bill to authorize a plebiscite that would allow Northwest Territories communities the authority to control liquor.
The commissioner of the Northwest Territories at the time Stuart Milton Hodgson actively lobbied the Federal Government not to reject this step in Northwest Territories democracy.
However, the plebiscite never took place: Hodgson ended up using his reserve powers to give an executive decree to allow Inuvik to halt liquor sales.
In 1982 after considerable pressure from native groups and aboriginal Members, the Northwest Territories would try another plebiscite.