The Yukon Tartan- Do you know the story?

seanchaidheangaeli
Mar 22
1 min read

The Yukon Tartan Act was passed in 1984 and this tartan, designed in 1965 by Janet Couture of Faro, was fully accredited as the official territorial tartan.

There are some interesting details of the process between 1965 and 1984. Originally Janet was advocating for the tartan to be recognized as a tartan for the 1967 Canadian Centennial. But that was not to be. Elyn Jones of CBC Radio interviewed Archivist Leslie Buchan on Tartan Day in 2024 and was able to explore the journey from design to recognition as an official tartan.

The tartan was recorded by the Court of the Lord Lyon in Edinburgh in October 1984. A Yukon Tartan Act was passed by the Yukon Legislature on November 29, 1984.

*See the attached Link below for the radio interview.

The symbolism of the colours has been lyrically described:

-The crystalline blue background represents Yukon's sparkling, glacier-fed waters and its clear mountain skies.

-Magenta reflects the colours of the Yukon's floral emblem, the fireweed.

-Green is symbolic of Yukon's great expanses of wilderness forest.

-Purple symbolises the majestic thrust of mountains into the northern sky.

-White represents the purity of the winter snow that crowns the peaks and blankets the alpine meadows.

-The yellow represents the long, soft evenings of the midnight sun and the Yukon's famous deposits of gold.

You can see it on The Scottish Register of Tartans here;