Tourism Yukon is encouraging travel agents and visitors to adopt a new guide aimed at fostering respectful and meaningful engagement with the territory’s Indigenous communities. The publication, developed in collaboration with the Yukon First Nations Culture & Tourism Association and Elders representing all eight Yukon language regions, is intended to support visitors who want to learn from living cultures while honouring the land, waters and communities they pass through.
Honouring living cultures
The Yukon is home to 14 distinct First Nations, each with its own language, traditions and cultural identity. According to Tourism Yukon’s announcement, Indigenous presence in the region stretches back more than 12,000 years and continues to shape stewardship, stories and daily life in the territory. Eleven of those First Nations are self-governing and exercise authority over lands, resources and cultural preservation.
To help travellers engage thoughtfully, Tourism Yukon recommends the resource titled
“Walk With Us – Respectful Travel Guidelines.”The guide offers practical advice and cultural insight designed to deepen understanding of Indigenous experiences and to support respectful participation in cultural attractions, storytelling, artwork and community events.
What the guide offers visitors
The guidelines are positioned as a practical tool for visitors and travel professionals who want to ensure their interactions are respectful and informed. While the guide itself contains specific community guidance, Tourism Yukon emphasises a general approach that foregrounds curiosity, humility and acknowledgement that visitors are travelling through First Nations homelands.
- Learn about the communities you will visit — their histories, protocols and current priorities.
- Approach experiences with respect for cultural practices, Elders and knowledge keepers.
- Support authentic Indigenous enterprises and artists rather than unverified or exploitative offerings.
- Respect land and wildlife and follow guidance provided by local hosts.
Why this matters locally
Yukon’s tourism economy benefits from visitors seeking authentic cultural experiences, but that interest carries responsibilities. The guide aligns with ongoing efforts by First Nations to steward their lands and cultures, and by the tourism sector to promote sustainable, community-led experiences.
In recent years, there has been increasing awareness among travellers and industry professionals that respectful engagement with Indigenous communities requires more than curiosity; it requires preparation, permission and support for Indigenous-led initiatives. The Walk With Us guide seeks to make those expectations explicit and practical.
Quick facts
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| First Nations in Yukon | 14 |
| Self-governing First Nations | 11 |
| Language regions represented in guide | 8 |
Practical tips for travellers
For visitors planning a trip to the Yukon, a few practical steps will help ensure encounters are respectful and mutually rewarding:
- Consult community websites or official tourism channels before arrival to learn about local customs, opening hours and booking requirements.
- Ask before taking photos of people, ceremonial sites or cultural objects.
- Buy directly from Indigenous artists and businesses or from certified venues that support community artists.
- Attend events and experiences that are explicitly Indigenous-led rather than ones that merely use Indigenous themes.
Tourism Yukon’s endorsement of the Walk With Us guide is an invitation to travellers to shift from passive observation to considered participation. For tourism operators, the guide offers a framework to design experiences that respect community boundaries and centre Indigenous voices.
As Yukon continues to welcome visitors drawn by its landscapes and cultures, community-led resources like Walk With Us aim to ensure those visits contribute to cultural understanding and to the economic well-being of First Nations, while respecting the self-determination of the territory’s Indigenous peoples.
