| Haines Junction | |
| Settlement Type: | Village |
| Official Name: | Village of Haines Junction |
| Image Alt: | Photo of a large sign topped by a silhouette of a brown bear. The sign reads "Welcome to Haines Junction". |
| Pushpin Map: | Canada Yukon#Canada |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | Canada |
| Subdivision Type1: | Territory |
| Subdivision Name1: | Yukon |
| Government Footnotes: | [1] |
| Leader Title: | Village Mayor |
| Leader Name: | Michael Riseborough |
| Leader Title1: | Governing body |
| Leader Name1: | Village of Haines Junction Council |
| Established Title: | Founded |
| Established Date: | 1942 |
| Established Title2: | Incorporated |
| Established Date2: | 1984 |
| Area Footnotes: | (2021) |
| Area Land Km2: | 34.3 |
| Population As Of: | 2021 |
| Population Total: | 688 |
| Population Density Km2: | 20.1 |
| Population Blank1 Title: | Change 2016-2021 |
| Population Blank1: | 11.2% |
| Coordinates: | 60.7536°N -137.5108°W |
| Timezone: | MST |
| Utc Offset: | −07:00 |
| Postal Code Type: | Postal code |
| Postal Code: | Y0B 1L0 |
| Area Code Type: | Area code |
| Area Code: | +1-867 |
| Blank Name: | Climate |
| Blank Info: | Dfc / Dsc |
Haines Junction is a village in Yukon, Canada. It is at Kilometre 1,632 (historical mile 1016) of the Alaska Highway at its junction with the Haines Highway, hence the name of the community. According to the 2021 census, the population was 688. However, the Yukon Bureau of Statistics lists the population count for 2022 as 1,018.[2]
Haines Junction lies east of Kluane National Park and Reserve. It is a major administrative centre for the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations.
For around two thousand years, the Southern Tutchone people had seasonal hunting and fishing camps in the area of present-day Haines Junction. The original name of the area was "Dakwakada", a Southern Tutchone word meaning "high cache". It was common for Tutchone people to use raised log caches to store food year-round or temporarily while they hunted and fished in an area.
The Haines Junction area was also important for trade between the coastal and interior peoples. It lies at the interior end of the Chilkat Pass, one of only three passes that allowed travel between the coast and the interior, which was used extensively for trade between the coastal Tlingit and Southern Tutchone people.
The current town of Haines Junction was established in 1942 and 1943 during the construction of the Alaska Highway (ALCAN). In 1943, a second highway, the Haines Highway, was built to connect the Alaska Highway with the coastal town of Haines, Alaska, over the Chilkat Pass. Situated at the junction of these two highways, Haines Junction was a construction camp and a supply and service centre for the United States Army Corps of Engineers building the highway. The Haines-Fairbanks Pipeline, a petroleum pipeline from Haines, Alaska to Fairbanks, Alaska that was constructed in 1953–55, with a pumping station was built just north of Haines Junction.[3]
Haines Junction has a subarctic climate (Dfc / Dsc) with mild summers and long, cold and snowy winters, with annual snowfall averaging .
In the 2021 Canadian census conducted by Statistics Canada, Haines Junction had a population of 688 living in 311 of its 380 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 613. With a land area of, it had a population density of in 2021.[4]
| 2021[5] | 2016[6] | 2011[7] | 2006[8] | 2001[9] | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| European | 370 | 335 | 330 | 320 | 305 | ||||||
| Indigenous | 290 | 255 | 270 | 245 | 215 | ||||||
| Southeast Asian | 15 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | ||||||
| East Asian | 0 | 10 | 10 | 20 | 10 | ||||||
| South Asian | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| Latin American | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | ||||||
| Middle Eastern | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| African | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| Other/multiracial | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| Total responses | 685 | 605 | 620 | 585 | 530 | ||||||
| Total population | 688 | 613 | 593 | 589 | 531 | ||||||
By road, Haines Junction is served by the Alaska Highway and the Haines Highway (Yukon Highway 3). By air, it is served by the Haines Junction Airport.
Fibre connections to most homes and businesses are becoming available in late 2022 / early 2023. Bell Mobility operates a cellular network tower in the area.