She moved to Whitehorse three years ago to join her husband, who works in the city as an electrical engineer.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you immigrate you abandon everything you had. I came here, I start, make a house, make a friend,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She says she wants to stay \u2013 in the snow, in her house that looks out at Grey Mountain, among the people she\u2019s met. And she wants to again practice medicine.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She\u2019s tried to stay involved in health-care, working at a pharmacy in Whitehorse and volunteering at the hospital \u2013 even though it\u2019s hard for her, to be so close to what she loves but unable to really participate.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes I cannot recognize myself because now I\u2019m totally apart from what I used to be.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
2 pathways, but no options<\/p>\n
There are two ways to get a full medical licence in the Yukon. <\/p>\n
One is to apply directly to the territory. That route includes membership with either the College of Family Physicians of Canada or the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.\u00a0<\/p>\n
To get membership, applicants need to have practiced medicine in Canada for at least two years, says Felipe Santos, a consultant for internationally trained physicians who want to stay in Canada.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But to practice medicine in Canada, they need a licence. That’s the situation Rezaei is in.<\/p>\n
There are limited practice licences and other temporary measures that people use to fulfill the two-year requirement, Santos says. Those aren\u2019t available to Rezaei in the Yukon.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The other option for a full medical licence in the Yukon is arrive with a licence from one of the provinces.<\/p>\n
For Rezaei, the shortest pathway could be completing a three-month practice-ready assessment, says Santos. In every province, that comes with a return-of-service requirement. She\u2019d have to stay and practice in that province for three to five years.<\/p>\n
Another pathway is retraining, which Santos says is like redoing a medical residency. It takes two years, and likely also involves return-of-service. That option could see her spending up to seven years outside of the Yukon.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re from Iran, really it\u2019s not going to happen in less than three to five years,\u201d Santos says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1762095608_140_default.jpg\")
Filipe Santos is a consultant for internationally trained physicians who want to stay in Canada. (Submitted by Filipe Santos)<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not just the Yukon that\u2019s set up like this, says Santos \u2013 the same is true for N.W.T. and Nunavut.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The territories are making it hard on themselves, Santos says, by not being flexible in how they accept internationally trained physicians.<\/p>\n
Who\u2019s in charge?<\/p>\n
In the Yukon, medical licences are regulated by the Yukon Medical Council, under the territory’s Health Professions Act.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Derek Bryant, president of the Yukon Medical Association (YMA) which represents doctors in the territory, says \u201cthe problem needs to be addressed by the Yukon Medical Council and by Yukon government.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He says many Yukoners don’t have access to a doctor.<\/p>\n
“And we have a doctor living in our community with ties to the Yukon who wants to practice here but doesn\u2019t have a clear pathway to be able to do so,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
There are recruitment initiatives in the territory, including a new partnership<\/a> with the University of Alberta, and new recruitment incentives<\/a> as of this fall.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1762095608_658_default.jpg\")
The Whitehorse General Hospital (Isabel Ruitenbeek\/CBC)<\/p>\n