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In North America, caribou (Rangifer tarandus) experienced diversification in separate refugia before the last glacial maximum. Geographical isolation produced the barren‐ground caribou (Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus) with its distinctive migratory habits, and the woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou), which has sedentary behaviour and is now in danger of extinction. Herein we report on the phylogenetics, population structure, and migratory habits of caribou in the Canadian Rockies, utilizing molecular and spatial data for 223 individuals. Mitochondrial DNA analyses show the occurrence of two highly diverged lineages; the Beringian–Eurasian and North American lineages, while microsatellite data reveal that present‐day Rockies’ caribou populations have resulted from interbreeding between these diverged lineages. An ice‐free corridor at the end of the last glaciation likely allowed, for the first time …