Indigenous peoples of Yukon Indigenous peoples of Yukon The indigenous peoples of Yukon were the sole inhabitants of the Arctic coastal territories prior to arrival of Europeans. The indigenous people of Yukon are part of the Aboriginal people of Canada. Traditionally, the Yukon indigenous peoples are hunters and gatherers with close connections to the land, the rivers and the seasons. Their history is recorded and passed down generations in an oral tradition. European contact brought many changes to the indigenous people of Yukon including land loss and non-traditional governance and education. However, the Yukon indigenous peoples continue their connections with the land in seasonal
Melville Island (Northwest Territories and Nunavut) deposits. The island was believed to have deposits of coal and oil shale since the first half of the 20th century. The first Canadian Arctic island exploratory well was spudded in 1961 at Winter Harbour. It drilled Lower Paleozoic strata to a total depth of . In the 1970s, the northern portion of the island on the east side of the Sabine Peninsula proved to contain a major gas field, known as Drake Point. The lease was owned by Panarctic Oils, a joint operation with the Canadian Government. Melville Island (Northwest Territories and Nunavut) Melville Island is an uninhabited island