Community profile

Old Crow

Old Crow is situated on the Traditional Territory of the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation.

The most northern community in the Yukon, Old Crow, is also the only community that cannot be reached by road.

The community of Old Crow became a year-round settlement in the 1950s with the building of a school and store. Before this, the site was a gathering spot for hunting and for trade along the Porcupine River. Nowadays, Old Crow is a small close-knit village where ancient traditions blend with modern innovations like solar panels harnessing 24 hours of daylight in summer. 
Old Crow is 60 kilometres south of the extraordinary Vuntut National Park, one of Canada's most remote national parks. The park was established through the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation's Final Agreements in 1995, to protect the nation's traditional and current way of life, as well as the water, plants and animals essential to their culture. Vuntut National Park also helps protect a major northern ecosystem home to the Porcupine Caribou Herd, one of the largest caribou herds in North America – 100,000 caribou and 500,000 birds pass through the park each year. 

Quick facts

Population: 249

Distance to Whitehorse: 2 hour flight

Did you know? The area surrounding Old Crow is rich in ice-age fossils and has yielded evidence of Arctic camels, mammoths, Steppe bison and many other species.