Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon)
is the smallest and westernmost of
Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as of March 2022.
Whitehorse
Whitehorse () is the capital of Yukon, and the largest city in Northern Canada. It was incorporated in 1950 and is located at kilometre 1426 (Historic Mile 918) on the Alaska Highway in southern Yukon. Whitehorse's downtown and Riverdale areas ...
, the territorial capital, is the largest settlement in any of the three territories.
Yukon was
split from the North-West Territories in 1898 as the Yukon Territory. The federal government's ''Yukon Act'', which received royal assent on March 27, 2002, established Yukon as the territory's official name,
though ''Yukon Territory'' is also still popular in usage and
Canada Post
Canada Post Corporation (french: Société canadienne des postes), trading as Canada Post (french: Postes Canada), is a Crown corporation that functions as the primary postal operator in Canada. Originally known as Royal Mail Canada (the opera ...
continues to use the territory's internationally approved postal abbreviation of ''YT''. In 2021, territorial government policy was changed so that “''The'' Yukon” would be recommended for use in official territorial government materials.
Though officially bilingual (English and French), the Yukon government also recognizes
First Nations
First Nations or first peoples may refer to:
* Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area.
Indigenous groups
*First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including:
**First Natio ...
languages.
At , Yukon's
Mount Logan
Mount Logan () is the highest mountain in Canada and the second-highest peak in North America after Denali. The mountain was named after Sir William Edmond Logan, a Canadian geologist and founder of the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC). Mount ...
, in
Kluane National Park and Reserve
Kluane National Park and Reserve (; french: Parc national et réserve de parc national de Kluane) are two protected areas in the southwest corner of the territory of Yukon. The National Park Reserve was set aside in 1972 to become a national pa ...
, is the highest mountain in Canada and the second-highest on the North American continent (after
Denali
Denali (; also known as Mount McKinley, its former official name) is the highest mountain peak in North America, with a summit elevation of above sea level. With a topographic prominence of and a topographic isolation of , Denali is the thir ...
in the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...
of
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...
). Most of the Yukon has a
subarctic climate
The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of an ocean, ge ...
, characterized by long, cold winters and brief, warm summers. The
Arctic Ocean
The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceans. It spans an area of approximately and is known as the coldest of all the oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, a ...
coast has a
tundra climate
The tundra climate is a polar climate sub-type located in high latitudes and high mountains. undra climate https://www.britannica.com/science/tundra-climateThe Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2019 It is classified as ET according to Köppen ...
.
Notable rivers include the
Yukon River
The Yukon River (Gwichʼin language, Gwich'in: ''Ųųg Han'' or ''Yuk Han'', Central Alaskan Yup'ik language, Yup'ik: ''Kuigpak'', Inupiaq language, Inupiaq: ''Kuukpak'', Deg Xinag language, Deg Xinag: ''Yeqin'', Hän language, Hän: ''Tth'echù' ...
as well as the
Pelly,
Stewart,
Peel,
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
,
Liard, and
Tatshenshini rivers.
Etymology
The territory is named after the
Yukon River
The Yukon River (Gwichʼin language, Gwich'in: ''Ųųg Han'' or ''Yuk Han'', Central Alaskan Yup'ik language, Yup'ik: ''Kuigpak'', Inupiaq language, Inupiaq: ''Kuukpak'', Deg Xinag language, Deg Xinag: ''Yeqin'', Hän language, Hän: ''Tth'echù' ...
, the longest river in Yukon. The name itself is from a
contraction
Contraction may refer to:
Linguistics
* Contraction (grammar), a shortened word
* Poetic contraction, omission of letters for poetic reasons
* Elision, omission of sounds
** Syncope (phonology), omission of sounds in a word
* Synalepha, merged ...
of the words in the
Gwich'in phrase ''chųų gąįį han'', which means ''white water river'' and refers to "the pale colour" of
glacial runoff in the Yukon River.
["Dear Sir, I have great pleasure in informing you that I have at length after much trouble and difficulties, succeed din reaching the 'Youcon', or white water River, so named by the ( Gwich'in) natives from the pale colour of its water. ..., I have the honour to Remain Your obt Servt, John Bell" ]Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business div ...
Correspondence to George Simpson from John Bell (August 1, 1845)
HBC Archives
D.5/14, fos. 212-215d, also quoted in, [In Gwich'in, adjectives, such as ''choo'' igand ''gąįį'' ]hite Hite or HITE may refer to:
*HiteJinro, a South Korean brewery
**Hite Brewery
*Hite (surname)
*Hite, California, former name of Hite Cove, California
*Hite, Utah, a ghost town
* HITE, an industrial estate in Pakistan
See also
*''Hite v. Fairfax
...
follow the nouns that they modify. Thus, ''white water'' is ''chųų gąįį'' ater white Ater (Hebrew אֲתַר) is an Old Testament male name.
#A descendant of Hezekiah, who returned from Babylon ;
#An Israelite, who subscribed to Nehemiah
Nehemiah is the central figure of the Book of Nehemiah, which describes his work in r ...
''White water river'' is ''chųų gąįį han'' ater white river Ater (Hebrew אֲתַר) is an Old Testament male name.
#A descendant of Hezekiah, who returned from Babylon ;
#An Israelite, who subscribed to Nehemiah
Nehemiah is the central figure of the Book of Nehemiah, which describes his work in reb ...
Geography
The territory is the approximate shape of a
right triangle
A right triangle (American English) or right-angled triangle (British), or more formally an orthogonal triangle, formerly called a rectangled triangle ( grc, ὀρθόσγωνία, lit=upright angle), is a triangle in which one angle is a right an ...
, bordering the U.S. state of Alaska to the west and northwest for mostly along
longitude 141° W, the
Northwest Territories
The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...
to the east and
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
to the south. Its northern coast is on the
Beaufort Sea
The Beaufort Sea (; french: Mer de Beaufort, Iñupiaq: ''Taġiuq'') is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located north of the Northwest Territories, the Yukon, and Alaska, and west of Canada's Arctic islands. The sea is named after Sir Fr ...
. Its ragged eastern boundary mostly follows the
divide between the Yukon Basin and the
Mackenzie River drainage basin
A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, t ...
to the east in the Mackenzie mountains.
Most of the territory is in the watershed of its namesake, the Yukon River. The southern Yukon is dotted with a large number of large, long and narrow glacier-fed alpine lakes, most of which flow into the Yukon River system. The larger lakes include
Teslin Lake
Teslin Lake is a large lake spanning the border between British Columbia and Yukon, Canada. It is one of a group of large lakes in the region of far northwestern BC, east of the upper Alaska Panhandle, which are the southern extremity of the bas ...
,
Atlin Lake
Atlin Lake ( Lingít: ''Áa Tlein'') is the largest natural lake in the Canadian province of British Columbia. The northern tip of the lake is in Yukon, as is Little Atlin Lake. However, most of the lake lies within the Atlin District of British ...
,
Tagish Lake
Tagish Lake is a lake in Yukon and northern British Columbia, Canada. The lake is more than long and about wide.
It has two arms, the Taku Arm in the east which is very long and mostly in British Columbia and Windy Arm in the west, mostly in ...
,
Marsh Lake
Marsh Lake (Mud Lake) is a widening of the Yukon River southeast of Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada. It is over 30 kilometres long and ranges from three to four kilometres wide.
The co-ordinates of the lake are , and is 2,147 feet above sea level. The ...
,
Lake Laberge
Lake Laberge is a widening of the Yukon River north of Whitehorse, Yukon in Canada. It is fifty kilometres long and ranges from two to five kilometres wide. Its water is always very cold, and its weather often harsh and suddenly variable.
Names ...
,
Kusawa Lake
Kusawa Lake is a lake in the southern Yukon, Canada. ''Kusawa'' means "long narrow lake" in the Tlingit language. The Kusawa Lake is a lake in Canada's Yukon Territory. It is located at an altitude of and is southwest of Whitehorse near the Briti ...
and
Kluane Lake
Kluane Lake is located in the southwest area of the Yukon. It is the largest lake contained entirely within Yukon at approximately , and long.
Kluane Lake is located approximately northwest of Haines Junction. The Alaska Highway follows most of ...
.
Bennett Lake on the
Klondike Gold Rush trail is a lake flowing into Nares Lake, with the greater part of its area within Yukon. Other watersheds in the territory include the Mackenzie River, the
Peel Watershed and the
Alsek–
Tatshenshini, and a number of rivers flowing directly into the Beaufort Sea. The two main Yukon rivers flowing into the Mackenzie in the Northwest Territories are the
Liard River
The Liard River of the North American boreal forest flows through Yukon, British Columbia and the Northwest Territories, Canada. Rising in the Saint Cyr Range of the Pelly Mountains in southeastern Yukon, it flows southeast through British Co ...
in the southeast and the
Peel River and its tributaries in the northeast.
Canada's highest point, Mount Logan (), is in the territory's southwest. Mount Logan and a large part of the Yukon's southwest are in
Kluane National Park and Reserve
Kluane National Park and Reserve (; french: Parc national et réserve de parc national de Kluane) are two protected areas in the southwest corner of the territory of Yukon. The National Park Reserve was set aside in 1972 to become a national pa ...
, a UNESCO
World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
. Other national parks include
Ivvavik National Park
Ivvavik National Park ( ) is a national park of Canada located in Yukon. Initially named "Northern Yukon National Park," the park was renamed Ivvavik in 1992 for the Inuvialuktun word meaning "nursery" or "birthplace," in reference to the import ...
and
Vuntut National Park in the north.
Notable widespread tree species within the Yukon are the
black spruce
''Picea mariana'', the black spruce, is a North American species of spruce tree in the pine family. It is widespread across Canada, found in all 10 provinces and all 3 territories. It is the official tree of the province of Newfoundland and Labra ...
and
white spruce White spruce is a common name for several species of spruce (''Picea'') and may refer to:
* ''Picea glauca'', native to most of Canada and Alaska with limited populations in the northeastern United States
* ''Picea engelmannii'', native to the Ro ...
. Many trees are stunted because of the short growing season and severe climate.
Climate
![Yukon Köppen](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/be/Yukon_K%C3%B6ppen.svg)
While the average winter temperature in the Yukon is mild by Canadian arctic standards, no other place in North America gets as cold as the Yukon during extreme cold snaps. The temperature has dropped down to three times, 1947, 1952, and 1968. The most extreme cold snap occurred in February 1947 when the abandoned town of
Snag dropped down to .
Unlike most of Canada where the most extreme heat waves occur in July, August, and even September, the Yukon's extreme heat tends to occur in June and even May. The Yukon has recorded three times. The first time was in June 1969 when
Mayo Mayo often refers to:
* Mayonnaise, often shortened to "mayo"
* Mayo Clinic, a medical center in Rochester, Minnesota, United States
Mayo may also refer to:
Places
Antarctica
* Mayo Peak, Marie Byrd Land
Australia
* Division of Mayo, an Aust ...
recorded a temperature of . 14 years later this record was almost beaten when
Forty Mile recorded in May 1983. The old record was finally broken 21 years later in June 2004 when the Mayo Road weather station, located just northwest of
Whitehorse
Whitehorse () is the capital of Yukon, and the largest city in Northern Canada. It was incorporated in 1950 and is located at kilometre 1426 (Historic Mile 918) on the Alaska Highway in southern Yukon. Whitehorse's downtown and Riverdale areas ...
, recorded a temperature of .
History
![Klondike mining, c](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/55/Klondike_mining%2C_c.1899.jpg)
Long before the arrival of Europeans, central and southern Yukon was populated by First Nations people, and the area escaped
glaciation
A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate betw ...
. Sites of
archeological
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscape ...
significance in the Yukon hold some of the earliest evidence of the presence of human habitation in North America.
[Services, Cultural. Archaeology Program. Department of Tourism and Culture. nlineMarch 8, 2011. ited: April 7, 2012.]
/ref> The sites safeguard the history of the first people and the earliest First Nations of the Yukon.
The volcanic
A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface.
On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates a ...
eruption of Mount Churchill
Mount Churchill is a volcano in the Saint Elias Mountains and the Wrangell Volcanic Field of eastern Alaska. Churchill and its higher neighbor Mount Bona about to the southwest are both large ice-covered stratovolcanoes, with Churchill being ...
in approximately 800 AD in what is now the U.S. state of Alaska blanketed the southern Yukon with a layer of ash
Ash or ashes are the solid remnants of fires. Specifically, ''ash'' refers to all non-aqueous, non- gaseous residues that remain after something burns. In analytical chemistry, to analyse the mineral and metal content of chemical samples, ash ...
which can still be seen along the Klondike Highway
The Klondike Highway is a highway that runs from the Alaska Panhandle through the province of British Columbia and the territory of Yukon in Canada, linking the coastal town of Skagway, Alaska, to Dawson City, Yukon. Its route somewhat par ...
, and which forms part of the oral tradition of First Nations peoples in the Yukon and further south in Canada.
Coastal and inland First Nations had extensive trading networks. European incursions into the area began early in the 19th century with the fur trade
The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the mos ...
, followed by missionaries
A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...
. By the 1870s and 1880s, gold miners began to arrive. This drove a population increase that justified the establishment of a police force, just in time for the start of the Klondike Gold Rush in 1897. The increased population coming with the gold rush led to the separation of the Yukon district from the Northwest Territories and the formation of the separate Yukon Territory in 1898.
Demographics
The 2016 census reported a Yukon population of 35,874, an increase of 5.8% from 2011. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2011, the highest among all the Canadian territories. Statistics Canada has estimated Yukon's 2022 Q4 population to be 43,964, an increase of 17.5% from the 2016 census. This is the largest percentage increase for any Canadian province or territory.
Unlike in other Canadian provinces and territories, Statistics Canada
Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and cultur ...
uses the entire territory as a single at-large census division.
Ethnicity
According to the 2016 Canada Census
The 2016 Canadian census was an enumeration of Canadian residents, which counted a population of 35,151,728, a change from its 2011 population of 33,476,688. The census, conducted by Statistics Canada, was Canada's seventh quinquennial census. ...
the majority of the territory's population was of European descent, although it has a significant population of First Nations
First Nations or first peoples may refer to:
* Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area.
Indigenous groups
*First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including:
**First Natio ...
communities across the territory. The 2011 National Household Survey examined the Yukon's ethnocultural diversity and immigration. At that time, 87.7% of residents were Canadian-born and 24.2% were of Indigenous origin. The most common countries of birth for immigrants were the United Kingdom (15.9%), the Philippines (15.0%), and the United States (13.2%). Among very recent immigrants (between 2006 and 2011) living in the Yukon, 63.5% were born in Asia.
As of the 2016 census, the top ten ancestries in the Yukon were:
Language
The most commonly reported mother tongue among the 33,145 single responses to the 2011 Canadian census was English at 28,065 (). The second-most common was 1,455 () for French. Among 510 multiple respondents, 140 of them () reported a mother tongue of both English and French, while 335 () reported English and a " language" and 20 () reported French and a " language".
The Yukon's ''Language Act'' "recognises the significance" of the territory's aboriginal languages in the Yukon, and permits their use in Legislative Assembly proceedings, although only English and French are available for laws and court proceedings.
Religion
The 2021 Canadian census
The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sl ...
reported that 59.7% of Yukoners reported having no religious affiliation, the highest percentage in Canada. The most frequently reported religious affiliation was Christianity, reported by 46.2% of residents, followed by Sikhism at 1.0%.
Economy
The Yukon's major industry is mining (lead, zinc
Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...
, silver, gold, asbestos
Asbestos () is a naturally occurring fibrous silicate mineral. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous crystals, each fibre being composed of many microscopic "fibrils" that can be released into the atmosphere b ...
and copper). The government acquired the land from the Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business div ...
in 1870 and split it from the Northwest Territories
The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...
in 1898 to fill the need for local government created by the population influx of the gold rush. Thousands of these prospectors moved to the territory, ushering a period of Yukon history recorded by authors such as Robert W. Service
Robert William Service (January 16, 1874 – September 11, 1958) was a British-Canadian poet and writer, often called "the Bard of the Yukon". The middle name 'William' was in honour of a rich uncle. When that uncle neglected to provide for hi ...
and Jack London
John Griffith Chaney (January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916), better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors to ...
. The memory of this period and the early days of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...
, as well as the territory's scenic wonders and outdoor recreation opportunities, makes tourism the second most important industry in the territory.
Manufacturing, including furniture, clothing, and handicrafts, follows in importance, along with hydroelectricity
Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other Renewabl ...
. The traditional industries of trapping
Animal trapping, or simply trapping or gin, is the use of a device to remotely catch an animal. Animals may be trapped for a variety of purposes, including food, the fur trade, hunting, pest control, and wildlife management.
History
Neolithic ...
and fishing have declined. As of 2012, the government sector directly employs approximately 6,300 out of a labour force of 20,800, on a population of 27,500.
On May 1, 2015, the Yukon modified its Business Corporations Act,[gov.yk.ca: "Business Corporations Act"](_blank)
, May 1, 2015[gov.yk.ca: "O.I.C. 2015/06 Business Corporations Act"](_blank)
, May 1, 2015[gov.yk.ca: "O.I.C. 2015/07 Societies Act"](_blank)
, May 1, 2015 in an effort to attract more benefits and participants to its economy. One amendment to the BCA lets a proxy be given for voting purposes. Another change will allow directors to pursue business opportunities declined by the corporation, a practice off-limits in most other jurisdictions due to the inherent potential for conflicts of interest.[cbc.ca: "Go north, not west: Yukon lures businesses with new company rules"](_blank)
May 1, 2015 One of the changes will allow a corporation to serve as a director of a subsidiary registered in Yukon.[theglobeandmail.com: "Yukon's move to draw corporations worries shareholders coalition"](_blank)
June 18, 2015 The legislation also allows companies to add provisions in their articles of incorporation giving directors blanket approval to sell off all of the company's assets without requiring a shareholder vote. If provided for by a unanimous shareholders agreement, a corporation is not required to have directors at all.[deallawwire.com: "Changes of note to the Yukon Business Corporations Act"](_blank)
, June 2, 2015 There is increased flexibility regarding the location of corporate records offices, including the ability to maintain a records office outside of Yukon so long as it is accessible by electronic means.
Tourism
The Yukon's tourism motto is "Larger than life". The Yukon's tourism relies heavily on its natural environment, and there are many organized outfitter
An outfitter is a shop or person that sells specialized clothes (an ''outfit'' is a set of clothing). More specifically, it is a company or individual who provides or deals in equipment and supplies for the pursuit of certain activities.
In North ...
s and guide
A guide is a person who leads travelers, sportspeople, or tourists through unknown or unfamiliar locations. The term can also be applied to a person who leads others to more abstract goals such as knowledge or wisdom.
Travel and recreation
Expl ...
s available for activities such as but not limited to hunting
Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...
, angling
Angling is a fishing technique that uses a fish hook or "angle" (from Old English ''angol'') attached to a fishing line to tether individual fish in the mouth. The fishing line is usually manipulated via a fishing rod, although rodless techniqu ...
, canoe
A canoe is a lightweight narrow water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using a single-bladed paddle.
In British English, the term ...
ing/kayak
A kayak is a small, narrow watercraft which is typically propelled by means of a double-bladed paddle. The word kayak originates from the Greenlandic word ''qajaq'' ().
The traditional kayak has a covered deck and one or more cockpits, each se ...
ing, hiking
Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histor ...
, skiing
Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow. Variations of purpose include basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IO ...
, snowboarding
Snowboarding is a recreational and competitive activity that involves descending a snow-covered surface while standing on a snowboard that is almost always attached to a rider's feet. It features in the Winter Olympic Games and Winter Paralympi ...
, ice climbing, and dog sled
A dog sled or dog sleigh is a sled pulled by one or more sled dogs used to travel over ice and through snow. Numerous types of sleds are used, depending on their function. They can be used for dog sled racing. Traditionally in Greenland and the e ...
ding. These activities are offered both in an organized setting or in the backcountry
In the United States, a backcountry or backwater is a geographical area that is remote, undeveloped, isolated, or difficult to access.
Terminology Backcountry and wilderness within United States national parks
The National Park Service (NPS) ...
, which is accessible by air or snowmobile
A snowmobile, also known as a Ski-Doo, snowmachine, sled, motor sled, motor sledge, skimobile, or snow scooter, is a motorized vehicle designed for winter travel and recreation on snow. It is designed to be operated on snow and ice and does not ...
. The Yukon's festivals and sporting events include the Adäka Cultural Festival The Adäka Cultural Festival ('Adäka' or 'Festival') is an annual multi-disciplinary arts and culture festival in Whitehorse, Yukon that celebrates First Nations arts and culture, with a specific focus on Yukon First Nations. 'Adäka', in the South ...
, Yukon International Storytelling Festival The Yukon International Storytelling Festival was held every Summer in Whitehorse, Yukon, generally in an outdoor setting. Cofounders of the storytelling festival were storytellers Louise Profeit-Leblanc and Anne Taylor. Profeit-Leblanc, from the N ...
, and the Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous The Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous Festival is an annual celebration that happens in Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada in February. In 2014, the festival
A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspe ...
. The Yukon's latitude enables the view of aurora borealis
An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of br ...
.
The Yukon Government maintains a series of territorial parks including, parks such as Herschel Island
Herschel Island (french: Île d'Herschel; Inuit languages: ''Qikiqtaruk'') is an island in the Beaufort Sea (part of the Arctic Ocean), which lies off the coast of Yukon in Canada, of which it is administratively a part. It is Yukon's only o ...
Qikiqtaruk Territorial Park, Tombstone Territorial Park, and Fishing Branch Ni'iinlii'njik Park. Coal River Springs Territorial Park) Parks Canada
Parks Canada (PC; french: Parcs Canada),Parks Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Parks Canada Agency (). is the agency of the Government of Canada which manages the country's 48 National Parks, th ...
, a federal agency of the Government of Canada
The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown ...
, also maintains three national parks and reserves within the territory, Kluane National Park and Reserve
Kluane National Park and Reserve (; french: Parc national et réserve de parc national de Kluane) are two protected areas in the southwest corner of the territory of Yukon. The National Park Reserve was set aside in 1972 to become a national pa ...
, Ivvavik National Park
Ivvavik National Park ( ) is a national park of Canada located in Yukon. Initially named "Northern Yukon National Park," the park was renamed Ivvavik in 1992 for the Inuvialuktun word meaning "nursery" or "birthplace," in reference to the import ...
, and Vuntut National Park.
The Yukon is also home to 12 National Historic Sites of Canada
National Historic Sites of Canada (french: Lieux historiques nationaux du Canada) are places that have been designated by the federal Minister of the Environment on the advice of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (HSMBC), as being ...
. The sites are also administered by Parks Canada
Parks Canada (PC; french: Parcs Canada),Parks Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Parks Canada Agency (). is the agency of the Government of Canada which manages the country's 48 National Parks, th ...
, with five of the 12 sites being located within national parks. The territory is host to a number of museums, including the Copperbelt Railway & Mining Museum, the SS ''Klondike'' boat museum, the Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre
The Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre is a research and exhibition facility located at km 1423 (Mile 886) on the Alaska Highway in Whitehorse, Yukon, which opened in 1997. The focus of the interpretive centre is the story of Beringia, the 3200&n ...
in Whitehorse; as well as the Keno City Mining Museum
Keno City Mining Museum is a history museum located in Keno City, Yukon, Canada. It was established around 1979 and has artifacts related to the area's gold and silver mining.http://www.tc.gov.yk.ca/publications/keno_wt.pdf
The museum occupies Ja ...
in Keno City
Keno City is a small community in Yukon, Canada at the end of the Silver Trail highway. Keno City was the site of a former silver-lead mining area proximal to Keno Hill. Keno City is 13 kilometres away from Elsa, Yukon, which is owned by Hecla m ...
. The territory also holds a number of enterprises that allows tourists to experience pre-colonial and modern cultures of Yukon's First Nations and Inuit.
Culture
The Yukon has a wide array of cultural and sporting events that attract artists, local residents, and tourists. Annual events include the Adäka Cultural Festival The Adäka Cultural Festival ('Adäka' or 'Festival') is an annual multi-disciplinary arts and culture festival in Whitehorse, Yukon that celebrates First Nations arts and culture, with a specific focus on Yukon First Nations. 'Adäka', in the South ...
, Dawson City Music Festival, Yukon International Storytelling Festival The Yukon International Storytelling Festival was held every Summer in Whitehorse, Yukon, generally in an outdoor setting. Cofounders of the storytelling festival were storytellers Louise Profeit-Leblanc and Anne Taylor. Profeit-Leblanc, from the N ...
, Yukon Quest
The Yukon Quest, formally the Yukon Quest 1,000-mile International Sled Dog Race is a sled dog race scheduled every February since 1984 between Fairbanks, Alaska, and Whitehorse, Yukon. Because of the harsh winter conditions, difficult trail, and ...
dog sled race, Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous The Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous Festival is an annual celebration that happens in Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada in February. In 2014, the festival
A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspe ...
, as well as Klondike Gold Rush memorials. and the Northern Lights Centre.
The Yukon's Aboriginal culture is also strongly reflected in such areas as winter sports, as in the Yukon Quest
The Yukon Quest, formally the Yukon Quest 1,000-mile International Sled Dog Race is a sled dog race scheduled every February since 1984 between Fairbanks, Alaska, and Whitehorse, Yukon. Because of the harsh winter conditions, difficult trail, and ...
sled dog race. The modern comic-book character Yukon Jack
Y'Garon
Y'Garon is a demon who has clashed with Marada the She-Wolf and Dracula.
Yandroth
Yandroth was the humanoid Scientist Supreme of the " otherdimensional" planet "Yann" and a would-be-conqueror who, with his robot Voltorg, has fought Doc ...
depicts a heroic aboriginal persona. Similarly, the territorial government also recognizes that First Nations and Inuit languages plays a part in cultural heritage of the territory; these languages include Tlingit
The Tlingit ( or ; also spelled Tlinkit) are indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. Their language is the Tlingit language (natively , pronounced ), , and the less common Tahltan
The Tahltan or Nahani are a First Nations people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group who live in northern British Columbia around Telegraph Creek, Dease Lake, and Iskut. The Tahltan constitute the fourth division of the ''Nahane' ...
, as well as seven Athapaskan languages, Upper Tanana
Upper Tanana (also known as Tabesna, Nabesna or Nee'aanèegn') is an endangered Athabaskan language spoken in eastern Interior Alaska, United States, mainly in the villages of Northway, Tetlin, and Tok, and adjacent areas of the Canadian ter ...
, Gwich'in, Hän
The Hän, Han or Hwëch'in / Han Hwech’in (meaning "People of the River, i.e. Yukon River", in English also Hankutchin) are a First Nations people of Canada and an Alaska Native Athabaskan people of the United States; they are part of the At ...
, Northern Tutchone
The Northern Tutchone are a First Nations people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group living mainly in the central Yukon in Canada.
Language and culture
The Northern Tutchone language, originally spoken by the Northern Tutchone p ...
, Southern Tutchone
The Southern Tutchone are a First Nations people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group living mainly in the southern Yukon in Canada. The Southern Tutchone language, traditionally spoken by the Southern Tutchone people, is a variety o ...
, Kaska
The Kaska or Kaska Dena are a First Nations people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group living mainly in northern British Columbia and the southeastern Yukon in Canada. The Kaska language, originally spoken by the Kaska, is an Athabas ...
, and Tagish
The Tagish or Tagish Khwáan ( Tagish: ; tli, Taagish ḵwáan) are a First Nations people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group that lived around Tagish Lake and Marsh Lake, in Yukon of Canada. The Tagish intermarried heavily with ...
, some of which are rare.
Arts
Notable Yukon artists include Jim Robb and Ted Harrison
Edward Hardy Harrison LL.D. (August 28, 1926 – January 16, 2015) was an English-Canadian artist who created many paintings of the Yukon.
Early life and education
Ted Harrison was born in Wingate, County Durham, England, in 1926. He star ...
, whose paintings have become iconic for their depictions of historic and contemporary life and culture in the Yukon.
With the Klondike Gold Rush, a number of folk
Folk or Folks may refer to:
Sociology
*Nation
*People
* Folklore
** Folk art
** Folk dance
** Folk hero
** Folk music
*** Folk metal
*** Folk punk
*** Folk rock
** Folk religion
* Folk taxonomy
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Folk Plus or Fol ...
songs from the Yukon became popular, including "Rush to the Klondike" (1897, written by W. T. Diefenbaker), "The Klondike Gold Rush", "I've Got the Klondike Fever" (1898) and "La Chanson du Klondyke".
A notable cultural and tourist feature is the legacy of the Klondike Gold Rush (1897–1899), which inspired contemporary writers of the time such as Jack London
John Griffith Chaney (January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916), better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors to ...
, Robert W. Service
Robert William Service (January 16, 1874 – September 11, 1958) was a British-Canadian poet and writer, often called "the Bard of the Yukon". The middle name 'William' was in honour of a rich uncle. When that uncle neglected to provide for hi ...
, and Jules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...
, and which continues to inspire films and games, such as Mae West's ''Klondike Annie
''Klondike Annie'' is a 1936 American Western film starring Mae West and Victor McLaglen. The film was co-written by West from her play ''Frisco Kate'', which she wrote in 1921 and a story written by the duo Marion Morgan and George Brendan Dowe ...
'' and ''The Yukon Trail
''The Yukon Trail'' is a 1994 educational computer game from the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium (MECC), similar to their previous ''Oregon Trail'' series but set during the Klondike Gold Rush of the late 19th century. Players sta ...
'' .
Government
Yukon Legislature
Executive power in the Yukon is formally vested in the Territorial Commissioner, who plays an analogous role to that of a provincial lieutenant governor
A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...
. As guarantor of responsible government
Responsible government is a conception of a system of government that embodies the principle of parliamentary accountability, the foundation of the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy. Governments (the equivalent of the executive bran ...
in the territory, the Commissioner generally acts on the advice of the Premier of Yukon
The premier of Yukon is the first minister and head of government for the Canadian territory of Yukon. The post is the territory's head of government, although its powers are considerably more limited than that of a provincial premier. The office ...
, who commands the confidence of the elected Legislative Assembly. Unlike lieutenant governors, commissioners are not direct representatives of the King
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king.
*In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
but are instead appointed by the federal government.
The Yukon has numerous political parties and candidates who stand for election to the 19 seats in the Yukon Legislative Assembly
The Yukon Legislative Assembly (french: Assemblée législative du Yukon) is the legislative assembly for Yukon, Canada. Unique among Canada's Provinces and territories of Canada, three territories, the Yukon Legislative Assembly is the only terri ...
. Those elected to the legislature are known as members of the Legislative Assembly
A member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to a legislative assembly. Most often, the term refers to a subnational assembly such as that of a state, province, or territory of a country. ...
and may use the post nominal letters "MLA". The three parties presently represented are the centre-leaning Yukon Liberal Party
The Yukon Liberal Party (french: Parti libéral du Yukon) is a political party in the territory of Yukon, Canada. The party is not organizationally linked to the federal Liberal Party of Canada in any official manner.
Sandy Silver, MLA for Klond ...
(8 seats) – who currently form government, the centre-right leaning Yukon Party
The Yukon Party (french: Parti du Yukon) is a conservative political party in Yukon, Canada. It is the successor to the Yukon Progressive Conservative Party.
Formation
With Prime Minister Brian Mulroney's Progressive Conservative federal go ...
(8), and the centre-left leaning Yukon New Democratic Party
The Yukon New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique du Yukon) is a Social democracy, social-democratic List of political parties in Yukon, political party in the Yukon territory of Canada.
The Yukon NDP first formed the gover ...
(3).
The 9th and current premier of Yukon
The premier of Yukon is the first minister and head of government for the Canadian territory of Yukon. The post is the territory's head of government, although its powers are considerably more limited than that of a provincial premier. The office ...
is Sandy Silver
Sidney Alexander "Sandy" Silver (born October 15, 1969) is a Canadians, Canadian politician, the ninth and current premier of Yukon since 2016. He was first elected to the Yukon Legislative Assembly in the 2011 Yukon general election, 2011 electio ...
, who represents the electoral district of Klondike as its MLA. Silver took office following the 2016 Yukon general election
The 2016 general election in Yukon, Canada, took place on November 7, 2016, to return members to the 34th Yukon legislative assembly.
The election was fought over issues relating to the economy, the environment, First Nations reconciliation, frack ...
, where his Liberals won a majority government
A majority government is a government by one or more governing parties that hold an absolute majority of seats in a legislature. This is as opposed to a minority government, where the largest party in a legislature only has a plurality of seats. ...
. After the 2021 Yukon general election
The 2021 Yukon general election was held on April 12, 2021 to return members of the 35th Yukon Legislative Assembly. The election resulted in a hung parliament where the incumbent governing Yukon Liberal Party and the opposition Yukon Party won 8 ...
, the Liberals were reduced to a minority government
A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and Cabinet (government), cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or Coalition government, coalition of parties do ...
, though they were able to continue governing due to a formal agreement with the NDP.
Local government
The vast majority of Yukon's land mass is unorganized, with no defined municipal or otherwise supralocal level of government like in other parts of Canada.
For most individuals in the Yukon though, local level governance is provided by municipalities
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
. The Yukon's eight municipalities
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
cover only of the territory's land mass but are home to of its population.
Municipal governments are created by the Yukon Government in accordance with the ''Municipal Act'' of 2001. Municipal governments provide "jurisdiction services, facilities, or things that a local government considers necessary or desirable for all or part of its community".[ Classifications of municipalities under the ''Municipal Act'' include ]cities
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
and town
A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world.
Origin and use
The word "town" shares an ori ...
s.[ ]Whitehorse
Whitehorse () is the capital of Yukon, and the largest city in Northern Canada. It was incorporated in 1950 and is located at kilometre 1426 (Historic Mile 918) on the Alaska Highway in southern Yukon. Whitehorse's downtown and Riverdale areas ...
is the capital of the Yukon and its only city. The remaining seven municipalities are towns, of which four were villages that were continued as towns upon adoption of the 2001 ''Municipal Act''.[
The usage is somewhat confusing: according to the Municipal Act of 2001 villages are legally given the status of towns, but may call themselves villages in English. In French they are called villages, and the French word ville, which means town is not used for them. Instead larger settlements are called ville and even bigger ones grande ville, apart from Dawson which is called a cité, and in English is also called a city. ]Keno City
Keno City is a small community in Yukon, Canada at the end of the Silver Trail highway. Keno City was the site of a former silver-lead mining area proximal to Keno Hill. Keno City is 13 kilometres away from Elsa, Yukon, which is owned by Hecla m ...
, though unincorporated, also bears city in its name.
History
In the 19th century, the Yukon was a segment of North-Western Territory
The North-Western Territory was a region of British North America extant until 1870 and named for where it lay in relation to Rupert's Land.
Due to the lack of development, exploration, and cartographic limits of the time, the exact boundarie ...
that was administered by the Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business div ...
, and then of the Northwest Territories administered by the federal Canadian government. It only obtained a recognizable local government in 1895 when it became a separate district of the Northwest Territories. In 1898, it was made a separate territory with its own commissioner and an appointed Territorial Council.
Prior to 1979, the territory was administered by the commissioner
A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something).
In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to in ...
who was appointed by the federal Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
Minister may refer to:
* Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric
** Minister (Catholic Church)
* Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department)
** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...
. The commissioner had a role in appointing the territory's ''Executive Council'', served as chair, and had a day-to-day role in governing the territory. The elected ''Territorial Council'' had a purely advisory role. In 1979, a significant degree of power was devolved
Devolution is the statutory delegation of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to govern at a subnational level, such as a regional or local level. It is a form of administrative decentralization. Devolved territories h ...
from the commissioner and the federal government to the territorial legislature which, in that year, adopted a party system of responsible government
Responsible government is a conception of a system of government that embodies the principle of parliamentary accountability, the foundation of the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy. Governments (the equivalent of the executive bran ...
. This change was accomplished through a letter from Jake Epp
Arthur Jacob "Jake" Epp, (born September 1, 1939) is a Canadian executive and former politician.
Life and career
Born into a Mennonite family in Manitoba, Epp was a high school history teacher in Steinbach, Manitoba before entering politics. J ...
, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, rather than through formal legislation.
In preparation for responsible government
Responsible government is a conception of a system of government that embodies the principle of parliamentary accountability, the foundation of the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy. Governments (the equivalent of the executive bran ...
, political parties were organized and ran candidates to the Yukon Legislative Assembly
The Yukon Legislative Assembly (french: Assemblée législative du Yukon) is the legislative assembly for Yukon, Canada. Unique among Canada's Provinces and territories of Canada, three territories, the Yukon Legislative Assembly is the only terri ...
for the first time in 1978. The Progressive Conservatives won these elections and formed the first party government of Yukon in January 1979. The Yukon New Democratic Party
The Yukon New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique du Yukon) is a Social democracy, social-democratic List of political parties in Yukon, political party in the Yukon territory of Canada.
The Yukon NDP first formed the gover ...
(NDP) formed the government from 1985 to 1992 under Tony Penikett
Antony David John "Tony" Penikett (born November 14, 1945) is a mediator and negotiator and former politician in Yukon, Canada, who served as the third premier of Yukon from 1985 to 1992.
Early life and political activity
Born in Sussex, Engla ...
and again from 1996 under Piers McDonald
Piers McDonald, OC (born August 4, 1955) is a Yukon politician and businessman.
Born in Kingston, Ontario, McDonald, originally a miner by profession, is a long-time MLA, Cabinet minister, and the fifth premier of Yukon. He was leader of the Y ...
until being defeated in 2000. The conservatives returned to power in 1992 under John Ostashek
John Ostashek (May 10, 1936 – June 10, 2007) was a Yukon politician. An entrepreneur, he was elected leader of the Yukon Party in June 1992 and led it to victory in the fall 1992 election in which he also won a seat in the legislature for the ...
after having renamed themselves the Yukon Party
The Yukon Party (french: Parti du Yukon) is a conservative political party in Yukon, Canada. It is the successor to the Yukon Progressive Conservative Party.
Formation
With Prime Minister Brian Mulroney's Progressive Conservative federal go ...
. The Liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
government of Pat Duncan
Pat Duncan (born April 8, 1960) is a Canadian politician from Yukon. Duncan served as leader of the Yukon Liberal Party from 1998 to 2005 and as the sixth premier of Yukon from 2000 until 2002. Duncan was the first Liberal premier of the Yukon ...
was defeated in elections in November 2002, with Dennis Fentie
Dennis G. Fentie (November 8, 1950 – August 30, 2019) was a Canadian politician. He was the seventh premier of Yukon and leader of the Yukon Party, serving from 2002 to 2011, as well as the MLA for Watson Lake.
Before entering politics, Fe ...
of the Yukon Party forming the government as premier
Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier.
A premier will normally be a head of governm ...
.
The ''Yukon Act'', passed on April 1, 2003, formalized the powers of the Yukon Government and devolved additional powers to the territorial government (e.g., control over land and natural resources). As of 2003, other than criminal prosecutions, the Yukon Government has much of the same powers as provincial governments, and the other two territories are looking to obtaining the same powers.
Federal representation
At the federal level, the Yukon is represented in the Parliament of Canada
The Parliament of Canada (french: Parlement du Canada) is the federal legislature of Canada, seated at Parliament Hill in Ottawa, and is composed of three parts: the King, the Senate, and the House of Commons. By constitutional convention, the ...
by one member of Parliament (MP) and one senator
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
. MPs from Canadian territories are full and equal voting representatives and residents of the territory enjoy the same rights as other Canadian citizens. One Yukon MP, Erik Nielsen
Erik Hersholt Nielsen (February 24, 1924 – September 4, 2008) was a Canadian lawyer and politician. He served as the longtime Progressive Conservative Member of Parliament for Yukon, and was Leader of the Opposition and the third deputy pr ...
, served as Deputy Prime Minister
A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, ...
under Brian Mulroney
Martin Brian Mulroney ( ; born March 20, 1939) is a Canadian lawyer, businessman, and politician who served as the 18th prime minister of Canada from 1984 to 1993.
Born in the eastern Quebec city of Baie-Comeau, Mulroney studied political sci ...
, while another, Audrey McLaughlin
Audrey Marlene McLaughlin (née Brown; born November 8, 1936) is a Canadian politician and former leader of the New Democratic Party from 1989 to 1995. She was the first female leader of a political party with representation in the House of Co ...
, was the leader of the federal New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic:
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
* t ...
(NDP) from 1989 to 1995.
First Nations
A substantial minority of the territory's population is First Nations
First Nations or first peoples may refer to:
* Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area.
Indigenous groups
*First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including:
**First Natio ...
. An umbrella land claim agreement representing 7,432 members of 14 different First Nations was signed with the federal government in 1993. Eleven of the 14 Yukon First Nations have negotiated and signed comprehensive land claim and self-government agreements. The 14 First Nations speak eight different languages.
The territory once had an Inuit
Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...
settlement, located on Herschel Island
Herschel Island (french: Île d'Herschel; Inuit languages: ''Qikiqtaruk'') is an island in the Beaufort Sea (part of the Arctic Ocean), which lies off the coast of Yukon in Canada, of which it is administratively a part. It is Yukon's only o ...
off the Arctic Ocean
The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceans. It spans an area of approximately and is known as the coldest of all the oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, a ...
coast. This settlement was dismantled in 1987 and its inhabitants relocated to the neighbouring Northwest Territories. As a result of the Inuvialuit Final Agreement, the island is now a territorial park and is known officially as Qikiqtaruk Territorial Park, Qikiqtaruk being the name of the island in Inuvialuktun
Inuvialuktun (part of ''Western Canadian Inuit/Inuktitut/Inuktut/Inuktun'') comprises several Inuit language varieties spoken in the northern Northwest Territories by Canadian Inuit who call themselves ''Inuvialuit''. Some dialects and sub-dialec ...
.
Transportation
Before modern forms of transportation, the rivers and mountain passes were the main transportation routes for the coastal Tlingit people
The Tlingit ( or ; also spelled Tlinkit) are indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. Their language is the Tlingit language (natively , pronounced ), trading with the Athabascans of which the Chilkoot Pass
Chilkoot Pass (el. ) is a high mountain pass through the Boundary Ranges of the Coast Mountains in the U.S. state of Alaska and British Columbia, Canada. It is the highest point along the Chilkoot Trail that leads from Dyea, Alaska to Bennett La ...
and Dalton Trail
The Dalton Trail is a trail that runs between Pyramid Harbor, west of Haines, Alaska in the United States, and Fort Selkirk, in the Yukon Territory of Canada, using the Chilkat Pass. It is 396 km (246 mi) long.
Originally, the Chil ...
, as well as the first Europeans.
Air
Erik Nielsen Whitehorse International Airport
Erik Nielsen Whitehorse International Airport is an airport of entry located in Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada. It is part of the National Airports System, and is owned and operated by the Government of Yukon. The airport was renamed in honour of lon ...
serves as the air transport infrastructure hub, with scheduled direct flights to Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
, Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
, Kelowna
Kelowna ( ) is a city on Okanagan Lake in the Okanagan Valley in the southern interior of British Columbia, Canada. It serves as the head office of the Regional District of Central Okanagan. The name Kelowna derives from the Okanagan word ''ki ...
, Calgary, Edmonton
Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...
, Yellowknife
Yellowknife (; Dogrib: ) is the capital, largest community, and only city in the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is on the northern shore of Great Slave Lake, about south of the Arctic Circle, on the west side of Yellowknife Bay near the ...
, Inuvik
Inuvik (''place of man'') is the only town in the Inuvik Region, and the third largest community in Canada's Northwest Territories. Located in what is sometimes called the Beaufort Delta Region, it serves as its administrative and service cen ...
, Ottawa, Dawson City
Dawson City, officially the City of Dawson, is a town in the Canadian territory of Yukon. It is inseparably linked to the Klondike Gold Rush (1896–99). Its population was 1,577 as of the 2021 census, making it the second-largest town in Yuko ...
, Old Crow
Old Crow is a low-priced brand of Kentucky-made straight bourbon whiskey distilled by Beam Suntory, which also produces Jim Beam and several other brands of whiskey. The current Old Crow product uses the same mash bill and yeast as Jim Beam, but ...
, Juneau
The City and Borough of Juneau, more commonly known simply as Juneau ( ; tli, Dzánti K'ihéeni ), is the capital city of the state of Alaska. Located in the Gastineau Channel and the Alaskan panhandle, it is a unified municipality and the se ...
and Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...
(pre-COVID). Whitehorse International Airport is also the headquarters and primary hub for Air North
Air North Charter and Training Ltd., operating as , is a Canadian airline based in Whitehorse, Yukon. It operates scheduled passenger and cargo flights throughout Yukon, as well as between Yukon and the Northwest Territories, British Columbia, ...
, Yukon's Airline. Every Yukon community is served by an airport or community aerodrome. The communities of Dawson City and Old Crow have regularly scheduled service through Air North
Air North Charter and Training Ltd., operating as , is a Canadian airline based in Whitehorse, Yukon. It operates scheduled passenger and cargo flights throughout Yukon, as well as between Yukon and the Northwest Territories, British Columbia, ...
. Air charter businesses exist primarily to serve the tourism and mining exploration industries.
Rail
The railway ceased operation in the 1980s with the first closure of the Faro mine. It is now run during the summer months for the tourism season, with operations between Carcross
Carcross, originally known as Caribou Crossing, ( tli, Nadashaa Héeni) is an unincorporated community in Yukon, Canada, on Bennett Lake and Nares Lake. It is home to the Carcross/Tagish First Nation.
It is south-southeast by the Alaska Highway ...
and Skagway, Alaska.
The Alaska-Alberta Railway Development Corporation
The Alaska-Alberta Railway Development Corporation (also known as A2A for Alaska to Alberta) was an entity created to build, own, and operate a proposed railroad between Delta Junction, Alaska, and Fort McMurray, Alberta. In 2021, the company was ...
(A2A) is planning to construct a new railway line that would cross the Yukon, connecting Watson Lake and possibly Carmacks but not Whitehorse.
Roads
Today, major land routes include the