Canadian Territories Online Historical Newspapers Summary

The Ancestor Hunt regularly adds and updates new collection links, as well as searches for and fixes broken links.
(This page's most recent update is December 2024)

Although the three Canadian territories of Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Yukon make up almost 40% of the landmass, they total less than one-half of one percent of the country’s population. There are of course newspapers available, and online historical newspapers are sparse. But there are a few.

Below is a list of where the titles are stored and the link so that you can access them. 

So go for it – find your “Territorial” ancestors and all the interesting articles that capture the stories of their lives. 

Please note that I have not always entered the dates that are included in the collections, as I suspect they will change as more items are digitized. Also, I suspect that some of these links may change over time – so if there is a dead link – please use your favorite search engine to find their new location. 

Free Sites:

Territory-wide Collections:

Canadiana Online

​Other Free Sites:

For Obituary Indexes, transcriptions, and other death/obituary information from historical newspapers, please check out the Obituaries page.​​

Subscription or Pay Sites:

Ancestry.com:

There are currently 2 publications available at this site. It is the Canada Newspapers

Paper of Record:

There are currently 2 publications available at this site. See the titles at Paper of Record – Yukon

Newspapers,com:

There are currently 6 publications available for Yukon and 3 publications available for Northwest Territories

And Finally:

You might want to check out the Yukon Genealogy site occasionally to see what is available online or otherwise. 

Please note – even more may be available via a local library where a library card is required. And of course, there is always microfilm for those that have not been made available online as yet.

For more links for different states, provinces, and countries – please see the Newspaper Links page on this website.​​

Good Luck and Happy Hunting!

For all Free Canadian Territories Links, click on the category of interest:

Newspapers
Obituaries
BMD Records
Photos
Directories

Online Newspaper Research FAQs

Why is online newspaper research so challenging?

It’s challenging due to imperfect Optical Character Recognition (OCR), inconsistent indexing, variations in spelling and nicknames, differing journalistic styles over time, and the sheer volume of fragmented, often paywalled, collections. Finding what you need truly feels like a treasure hunt!

What can I do to overcome these OCR errors?

Many researchers utilizing online newspaper archives may not be aware that word searches are performed against a database generated by analyzing whether minute sections of the newspaper are black or white. It is the shape of the collected dots that may (or may not) look like a letter.

To improve search accuracy when encountering OCR errors, it is advisable to intentionally alter your search terms by substituting letters with similar shapes. For example, replacing a lowercase ‘b’ with an ‘h’, or a lowercase ‘e’ with a ‘c’.

What other techniques will produce better results?

In your search criteria, try entering abbreviations, nicknames, and portions of hyphenated words. Numerous other techniques can be found in The Ancestor Hunt’s “Newspaper Research Academy”, which can be accessed at https://theancestorhunt.com/academy.html

Are any Newspaper Databases Free?

Yes. Although some of the largest databases require a subscription, there are many that are free. The Ancestor Hunt has curated links to over 80,000 titles that can be searched for free in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. To use these links, go to its Newspaper Links Page,

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