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                          The Yukon Coat of Arms

The Yukon coat of arms is composed of a red, blue, gold and white shield
surmounted by a malemute (husky) standing on a mound of snow.

Wavy vertical white and blue stripes represent the Yukon river and the
gold-bearing creeks of the Klondike.  Red spire-like forms represent the
territory's mountain and gold discs in them symbolize mineral resources. At
the top of the shield is a cross of St. George in recognition of the early
English explorers and a "roundel in vair" as a symbol of the fur trade.

The Yukon's Coat of Arms was commissioned by the Department of Northern
Affairs and designed by well-known heraldry expert Alan Beddoes in the
early 1950s.  It was approved officially by Queen Elizabeth II in February
1956.

                       The Floral Emblem: Fireweed

Fireweed, or "epilobium angustifolium," was chosen as the Yukon's floral
emblem in 1957.  The Legislative Council had selected the pasque flower
(crocus) in 1954 but changed the emblem when it discovered the crocus had
been adopted as Manitoba's flower some years earlier.

The hardy magenta fireweed is one of the most attractive plants in the north
and blooms in profusion along roadsides, river bars and clearings from
mid-July to September.  It is one of the first plants to appear in burned
over areas.

Stems of firweed grow to three metres in height, erect and unbranched.  The
plant has long narrow willow-like leaves (in fact, "angustifolium" means
narrow-leaved) and many four-petaled rose/purple flowers on a single stem.
The young sprouts of fireweed are often cooked and eaten as greens.  All
parts of the plant are edible.

                              The Yukon Flag

The Yukon flag is the product of a territory-wide design competition
sponsored by the Whitehorse branch of Royal Canadian Legion as part of
Canada's 1967 Centennial year celebrations.  The contest offered a $100
prize to the individual who submitted the design that best represented the
Yukon's diversity.

There were 137 submissions and one of the 10 designs submitted by 21 year
old Lynn Lambert of Destruction Bay was among the three final flags selected
by a judging committee.

Lambert had just graduated from the drafting program at the Yukon Vocational
and Technical Training Centre and was motivated by his keen intrest in art
and his knowledge of the Yukon.

Lambert had submitted several designs in hopes of winning the contest and he
received formal recognition of his efforts at the opening of the 1967 Trade
Show in Whitehorse.  However, his design was not officially accepted as the
territorial flag until 1968.

Selecting the new territorial flag soon became a hot issue within the
territorial council.  Members could not agree on one specific design.  Some
felt that models of the top three selections should be made up and presented
for a vote.  Others felt that selecting a design other than the one that won
the contest would be unfair.

After considerable debate, Lambert's winning design was agreed upon and
approved by the territorial councillors on March 1, 1968, almost a year
after it won the flag competition.

The Yukon flag consists of three vertical panels: a central panel of white
flanked by a green panel on the inner edge and a blue panel on the outer
edge.  The Yukon coat of arms appears on the central panel framed by two
stems of fireweed, the territory's floral emblem.  The blue represents the
Yukon's rivers and lakes, the green symbolizes the forests and the white
signifies snow.