According to an Oct. 15 news release, Yukon’s government has introduced the Electoral District Boundaries Act, which comes on the heels of recent recommendations made by the territory’s Electoral District Boundaries Commission.
The proposed changes would increase the number of electoral districts in the Yukon from 19 to 21; it would mean the adjustment of riding boundaries of several jurisdictions.
Boundary adjustments would include:
- Dividing the community of Whistle Bend into two different ridings.
- Merging Golden Horn with Mount Lorne and Marsh Lake.
- Combining Teslin with the Southern Lakes.
- Combining Watson Lake, Ross River and Faro; Vuntut Gwitchin would remain its own riding.
“The goal of the proposed changes to the electoral district boundaries is to represent the Yukon’s population effectively as the territory grows,” states the release.
The last time changes were made to the territory’s electoral boundaries was in 2008.
Yukon Premier Ranj Pillai called the introduction of the Act “an important step for our growing territory.”
“These amendments will help ensure that the voices of all Yukoners are heard, and their interests are represented,” said Pillai in a statement.
The Yukon Electoral District Boundaries Commission’s final report was tabled in the territory’s legislature earlier this month. The report states that the commission was established “to review the existing electoral districts … and to make recommendations … for changes to the boundaries, number and names of the electoral districts of the Yukon.”
It notes that, between 2008 and 2024, the territory experienced “significant population growth” — particularly in the capital of Whitehorse.
As of March 2024, Yukon’s population sat at 46,259 — a 3.5 per cent increase from that time the year before, according to the Yukon Bureau of Statistics. As of December 2022, it was 44, 535 — a 2.2 per cent increase from the year before that.
A similar increase was seen in 2021.
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