Yukon Territory First Nations

Casinos
Play the First Nations casinos, bingo halls, and gaming facilities.

Events
Visit Yukon powwows, festivals, concerts, rodeos, and other celebrations.

Places to Visit
Enjoy Yukon's cultural and heritage centers, museums, historical sites, archaeology sites, libraries, national parks and monuments.

First Nations
Contact information for the First Nations and Bands of Yukon.

"Yukon" was originally the name of the river and comes from a Loucheux word, LoYu-kun-ah, meaning "Great River."

The name Yukon was first used in 1846 by the Hudson's Bay Company trader, John Bell. He called it "Yucon," derived from the Loucheux word "Yuchoo," meaning the greatest river. The Yukon River is the fifth-longest in North America.

The Yukon was the first area in Canada to be settled by people. Anthropologists believe the ancestors of today's Aboriginal peoples may have inhabited the Yukon 10 000 to 25 000 years ago when they migrated from Asia across a Bering Sea land bridge.

As a territory, the Yukon does not have full provincial status

The Yukon's vast interior forests were occupied by the Athapaskans, whose cultural and linguistic traditions go back more than 1 000 years. Today, there are six distinct groups of Athapaskan Aboriginal peoples: Kutchin, Han, Tutchone, Inland Tlingit, Kaska and Tagish.

At present, approximately 30 700 people live in the Yukon; 21 percent of the population is Aboriginal. Over 70 percent of the population lives in Whitehorse, Yukon's capital city.