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Yukon () is a territory of Canada, bordering British Columbia to the south, the Northwest Territories to the east, the Beaufort Sea to the north, and the U.S. state of Alaska to the west. It is Canada's westernmost and smallest territory by land area. As of the 2021 census, Yukon is the middle of the three territories in terms of population, but the most densely populated. Yukon has an estimated population of 47,126 as of 2025. Whitehorse, the territorial capital, is the largest settlement.
Yukon was split from the Northwest Territories by a federal statute in 1898 as the Yukon Territory. The current governing legislation is a new statute passed by the federal Parliament in 2002, the Yukon Act. That act established Yukon as the territory's official name, although Yukon Territory remains in popular usage. Canada Post uses 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.
Although officially bilingual (English and French), the Yukon government recognizes First Nations languages.
At , Yukon's Mount Logan, in Kluane National Park and Reserve, is the highest mountain in Canada and the second-highest on the North American continent (after Denali in the U.S. state of Alaska). Most of the Yukon has a subarctic climate, characterized by long, cold winters and brief, warm summers. The coastal area along the Arctic Ocean has a tundra climate.
Notable rivers include the Yukon River, Pelly River, Stewart, Peel, White, Liard River, and Tatshenshini.
Historically, the name of the Yukon Territory has been abbreviated to "The Yukon" in informal speech. In 2003, the territorial government announced that the territory should be referred to as "Yukon", but the change in name sparked discussion amongst Yukoners. In the 2021 election, the leader of the Yukon NDP, Kate White, campaigned on returning to using "The Yukon". Following the election, the Yukon Liberal Party government announced that "The Yukon" would again be used by the government.
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, Atlin Lake, Tagish Lake, Marsh Lake, Lake Laberge, Kusawa Lake and Kluane Lake. 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 River–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 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, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Other national parks include Ivvavik National Park and Vuntut National Park in the north. A second UNESCO World Heritage Site, Tr'ondëk-Klondike World Heritage Site, was designated in 2023.
Notable widespread tree species within the Yukon are the black spruce and white spruce. Many trees are stunted because of the short growing season and severe climate.Carl Duncan, " The Dempster: Highway to the Arctic " accessed 2009.10.22.
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 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, recorded a temperature of .
| +Average daily maximum and minimum temperatures for selected locations in Yukon |
The volcano eruption of Mount Churchill in approximately 800 AD in what is now the U.S. state of Alaska blanketed the southern Yukon with a layer of Volcanic ash which can still be seen along the Klondike Highway, 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, followed by Missionary. 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.
Unlike in other Canadian provinces and territories, Statistics Canada uses the entire territory as a single at-large census division.
As of the 2016 census, the top ten ancestries in the Yukon were:
| 1 | English | 9,680 | |
| 2 | Aboriginal | 8,665 | |
| 3 | Canadian | 8,640 | |
| 4 | Scottish | 8,295 | |
| 5 | Irish Canadians | 6,930 | |
| 6 | German Canadians | 5,575 | |
| 7 | French Canadians | 5,040 | |
| 8 | Ukrainian | 2,200 | |
| 9 | Dutch Canadians | 1,760 | |
| 10 | Norwegian | 1,380 |
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.
| 1. | English | 31,995 | 80.31% |
| 2. | French | 1,785 | 4.48% |
| 3. | Tagalog | 985 | 2.47% |
| 4. | German | 600 | 1.51% |
| 5. | Punjabi | 410 | 1.03% |
| 6. | Spanish | 235 | 0.59% |
| 7. | Cantonese (Yue) | 200 | 0.50% |
| 8. | Japanese | 135 | 0.34% |
| 9. | Madarin | 130 | 0.33% |
| 10. | Tuchone Languages | 115 | 0.29% |
Manufacturing, including furniture, clothing, and handicrafts, follows in importance, along with hydroelectricity. The traditional industries of Animal trapping 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" , May 1, 2015 gov.yk.ca: "O.I.C. 2015/06 Business Corporations Act" , May 1, 2015 gov.yk.ca: "O.I.C. 2015/07 Societies Act" , 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", 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", 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" , June 2, 2015 There is increased flexibility regarding the location of corporate records offices, including the ability to maintain a records office outside of the Yukon so long as it is accessible by electronic means.
The Yukon Government maintains a series of territorial parks, including parks such as Herschel Island Qikiqtaruk Territorial Park, Tombstone Territorial Park, Fishing Branch Ni'iinlii'njik Park, and Coal River Springs Territorial Park. Parks Canada, a federal agency of the Government of Canada, also maintains three national parks and reserves within the territory: Kluane National Park and Reserve, Ivvavik National Park, and Vuntut National Park. The Yukon is also home to twelve National Historic Sites of Canada. The sites are also administered by Parks Canada, with five of the twelve 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 in Whitehorse; as well as the Keno City Mining Museum in Keno City. 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.
With the Klondike Gold Rush, a number of folk music 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, Robert W. Service, and Jules Verne, and which continues to inspire films and games, such as Mae West's Klondike Annie and The Yukon Trail .
The Yukon has numerous political parties and candidates who stand for election to the 19 seats in the Yukon Legislative Assembly. Those elected to the legislature are known as members of the Legislative Assembly and may use the post nominal letters "MLA". The three parties presently represented are the centre-leaning Yukon Liberal Party (8 seats) – who currently form government, the centre-right leaning Yukon Party (8), and the centre-left leaning Yukon New Democratic Party (3).
The 10th and current premier of Yukon is Ranj Pillai, who represents the electoral district of Porter Creek South as its MLA. Pillai took office on January 14, 2023. After the 2021 Yukon general election, the Liberals were reduced to a minority government, though they were able to continue governing due to a formal agreement with the NDP.
For most individuals in the Yukon, though, local level governance is provided by municipalities. The Yukon's eight municipality 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 city and . Whitehorse 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, though unincorporated, also bears city in its name.
Prior to 1979, the territory was administered by the commissioner who was appointed by the federal Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development. 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 Devolution from the commissioner and the federal government to the territorial legislature which, in that year, adopted a party system of responsible government. This change was accomplished through a letter from Jake Epp, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, rather than through formal legislation.
In preparation for responsible government, political parties were organized and ran candidates to the Yukon Legislative Assembly for the first time in 1978. The Yukon Party won these elections and formed the first party government of the Yukon in January 1979. The Yukon New Democratic Party (NDP) formed the government from 1985 to 1992 under Tony Penikett and again from 1996 under Piers McDonald until being defeated in 2000. The conservatives returned to power in 1992 under John Ostashek after having renamed themselves the Yukon Party. The Liberal government of Pat Duncan was defeated in elections in November 2002, with Dennis Fentie of the Yukon Party forming the government as premier. In 2003, the old Yukon Act was repealed and replaced by a new Yukon Act, which continued the existing powers of the Yukon Government, and devolved additional powers to the territorial government such as control over land and natural resources.
The territory once had an Inuit settlement, located on Herschel Island off the Arctic Ocean 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.
The Alaska-Alberta Railway Development Corporation (A2A) is planning to construct a new railway line that would cross the Yukon, connecting Watson Lake and possibly Carmacks but not Whitehorse.
History
In the 19th century, the Yukon was a segment of North-Western Territory that was administered by the Hudson's Bay Company, 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.Coates and Morrison, p.74 In 1898, it was made a separate territory with its own commissioner and an appointed Territorial Council.Coates and Morrison, p.103
Federal representation
At the federal level, the Yukon is represented in the Parliament of Canada by one member of Parliament (MP) and one senator. 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, served as Deputy Prime Minister under Brian Mulroney, while another, Audrey McLaughlin, was the leader of the federal New Democratic Party (NDP) from 1989 to 1995.
First Nations
A substantial minority of the territory's population is First Nations. An umbrella land claim agreement representing 7,432 members of fourteen different First Nations was signed with the federal government in 1993. Eleven of the fourteen Yukon First Nations have negotiated and signed comprehensive land claim and self-government agreements. The fourteen First Nations speak eight different languages.
Khà Shâde Héni Andy Carvill Steve Smith Simon Mervyn Mathieya Alatini Doris Bill Daniel Morris Eric Fairclough Dylan Loblaw Kevin McGinty Kristina Kane Richard Sidney Roberta Joseph Dana Tizya-Tramm Angela Demit
Transportation
Before modern forms of transportation, the rivers and mountain passes were the main transportation routes for the coastal Tlingit people trading with the Athabascans of the Chilkoot Pass and Dalton Trail, as well as the first Europeans.
Air
Erik Nielsen Whitehorse International Airport serves as the air transport infrastructure hub, with scheduled direct flights to Calgary, Dawson City, Edmonton, Inuvik, Kelowna, Ottawa, Toronto–Pearson, Vancouver, Victoria, Watson Lake, and Yellowknife. It was formerly connected to Frankfurt by Condor before the airline temporarily suspended the route in 2023 until completion of runway reconstruction project when services are expected to resume.
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 and Skagway, Alaska.
Roads
Today, major land routes include the Alaska Highway, the Klondike Highway (between Skagway and Dawson City), the Haines Highway (between Haines, Alaska, and Haines Junction), and the Dempster Highway (linking Inuvik, Northwest Territories to the Klondike Highway, and the only road access route to the Arctic Ocean in Canada), all paved except for the Dempster. Other highways with less traffic include the Robert Campbell Highway linking Carmacks (on the Klondike Highway) to Watson Lake (Alaska Highway) via Faro and Ross River, and the Silver Trail linking the old silver mining communities of Mayo, Elsa, and Keno City to the Klondike Highway at the Stewart River bridge. Air travel is the only way to reach the far-north community of Old Crow.
Waterways
From the Gold Rush until the 1950s, riverboats plied the Yukon River, mostly between Whitehorse and Dawson City, with some making their way further to Alaska and over to the Bering Sea, and other tributaries of the Yukon River such as the Stewart River. Most of the riverboats were owned by the British-Yukon Navigation Company, an arm of the White Pass and Yukon Route, which also operated a narrow-gauge railway between Skagway, Alaska, and Whitehorse.
See also
Notes
Further reading
External links
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