Dawson City residents will have an easier time finding a family doctor after a new physician started working at the Dawson City Community Hospital in April. The hire is part of a larger Yukon government push that has brought nine doctors to the territory since November 2025, with three more expected by September.
As of July 20, the territory-wide waitlist for a primary care provider had dropped to 2,445 people, down from 4,606 in late January. That is a decrease of nearly 47 percent, according to a July 23 update from the Yukon Department of Health and Social Services.
Seven of the 12 recruited doctors are providing community-based primary care in Whitehorse, Dawson City and Watson Lake. The new Dawson physician, who started seeing patients in April, works out of the local hospital and medical clinic, giving the town of roughly 2,300 better access to a regular family doctor.
The government made it easier to license doctors from certain countries by issuing a General Declaration of Need on July 22. The move lets the Yukon Medical Council grant licences to family physicians from the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia through a new Limited A pathway.
Health Minister Brad Cathers said the recruitment effort has been supported by a three-year agreement with the Yukon Medical Association. Under that deal, a new Longitudinal Family Medicine Program started on April 1, 2026. The program requires each of its 34 participating doctors to accept at least 10 patients from the waitlist every year.
The territory has been working to reverse a long-standing doctor shortage. The number of physicians per 100,000 residents fell from 209.7 in 2015 to 192.7 in 2024, while the average doctor age rose to 52, the highest in Canada, Canadian Institute for Health Information data shows. Meanwhile, Yukon’s population jumped more than 51 percent between 2005 and 2025, putting extra strain on clinics and hospitals.
