The flag was chosen from a territory-wide competition as part of Canada's Centennial celebrations of 1967.

The competition was sponsored by the Whitehorse branch of the Royal Canadian Legion.

[1] There were a total of 137 submissions with the winning design coming from Yukon College graduate Lynn Lambert.

An expert in Ottawa sent back an amended version of the submitted flag design.

[5] Below in the middle of the shield are two wavy lines representing Yukon's rivers on a blue background.