The Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in: The Original People of the KlondikeLong before the first prospector set foot in the Klondike, the Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in lived at the confluence of the Yukon and Klondike rivers. Their story is inseparable from Dawson City's — and far older.
Displacement and Survival: How the Gold Rush Changed Yukon First NationsThe Klondike Gold Rush brought 30,000 newcomers to Indigenous lands. The consequences for First Nations communities were devastating — and the story of how they survived is one of the most important in the Yukon's history.
The Champagne and Aishihik First Nations: Guardians of the SouthwestThe Champagne and Aishihik First Nations have lived in southwest Yukon and northwest BC for thousands of years. Their territory encompasses Kluane, the St. Elias Mountains, and the Tatshenshini River system.
The Vuntut Gwitchin and the Porcupine Caribou: A Bond Spanning MillenniaThe Vuntut Gwitchin of Old Crow have lived alongside the Porcupine caribou herd for thousands of years. The herd is not simply a food source — it is woven into the fabric of Gwitchin identity, spirituality, and governance.
The Carcross/Tagish First Nation: People of the Southern LakesThe Carcross/Tagish First Nation are the original people of the southern Yukon lake country — a region of striking beauty where boreal forest meets mountain, and where one of the world's most endangered languages is being kept alive.
The First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun: Big River People of the StewartNa-Cho Nyäk Dun means 'big river people' in Northern Tutchone — a name that reflects a deep relationship with the Stewart River drainage, a landscape shaped by silver, caribou, and thousands of years of continuous habitation.
The Kluane First Nation: People of the Lake and the MountainsThe Kluane First Nation are the Southern Tutchone-speaking people of Kluane Lake and the southwestern Yukon — a people whose traditional territory encompasses some of the most dramatic mountain landscape on the continent.
Kwanlin Dün First Nation: People of the Fast-Running WaterKwanlin Dün — 'people of the fast-running water' — are the Southern Tutchone-speaking First Nation whose traditional territory includes the city of Whitehorse. Their presence at Miles Canyon and the Yukon River canyon predates the territorial capital by thousands of years.
The Liard First Nation: Kaska People of the SoutheastThe Liard First Nation are the Kaska Dena people of the Watson Lake area in southeastern Yukon — a people whose territory straddles the modern Yukon-BC border and whose language and culture tie them as closely to the Dene of the Northwest Territories as to their Yukon neighbours.
The Little Salmon/Carmacks First Nation: People of the MidpointThe Little Salmon/Carmacks First Nation are the Northern Tutchone-speaking people of the middle Yukon River — a community at the geographic midpoint of the Klondike Highway whose relationship with the river, the rapids, and the land long predates the road that now runs through their territory.
The Ross River Dena Council: Kaska People of the Upper PellyThe Ross River Dena Council are the Kaska-speaking Dene people of the upper Pelly River in central Yukon — a remote and resilient community whose territory was transformed by one of Canada's largest open-pit zinc mines and whose path to self-government remains unfinished.
The Selkirk First Nation: Keepers of Fort Selkirk and the Middle YukonThe Selkirk First Nation are the Northern Tutchone-speaking people of the middle Yukon River, centred at Pelly Crossing. They are the stewards of Fort Selkirk — the abandoned Hudson's Bay Company post that stands as one of the most evocative historic sites in the territory.
The Ta'an Kwäch'än Council: People of the Lake at LabergeTa'an Kwäch'än — 'people of the lake' — are the Northern Tutchone-speaking First Nation whose traditional territory includes Lake Laberge, immortalized in Robert Service's most famous poem. Their homeland encompasses the upper Yukon River and the outskirts of Whitehorse.
The White River First Nation: Upper Tanana People of the Western YukonThe White River First Nation are the Upper Tanana Athabascan people of the far western Yukon — one of the smallest and most remote First Nations in the territory, whose traditional territory straddles the Alaska-Yukon border and whose language connects them as much to Alaska as to the Yukon.