The Northwest Territories is an ideal environment to excel and develop your professional competencies. We support and encourage continued professional growth while providing opportunities of expanded scope inherent to Northern practice. When you work in the Northwest Territories you’ll be part of a competent, dedicated and collegial workforce that enjoys a lifestyle that is unmatched anywhere in Canada.

The practice of medicine in northern Canada is in some ways similar to the rest of Canada, but with important differences. A general practitioner in a remote travel clinic will be working as a consultant to the nurses in isolated community health centres. In larger centres, general practitioners are part of a team of primary care providers working within a hospital or clinic in either Yellowknife, Inuvik, Hay River, or Fort Smith. For example, emergency rooms within Northwest Territories hospitals are staffed by General Practitioners. 

Specially trained GP’s do anesthesia, surgery and obstetrics in our northern hospitals. General Practitioner training is fully used and often enhanced in our work environment. Specialists are in Yellowknife based out of the Stanton Territorial Health Hospital. The Northwest Territories employs Specialists in the following areas: General Surgery, ENT, Internal Medicine, Radiology, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Ophthalmology, Psychiatry, Orthopedic Surgery, Pediatrics, and Anesthesia.

All major surgery is done at Stanton Territorial Hospital with some emergency and minor surgery performed in Inuvik. Itinerant surgery is also done in Inuvik and Hay River by Stanton based surgeons. Mammograms are completed in Inuvik and Yellowknife, and ultrasounds occur in all hospitals across the Northwest Territories.

CT and more advanced DI are available in Yellowknife at Stanton Territorial Hospital while lab procedures are done regionally, territorially or referred to our contracted reference lab in Edmonton.

The Northwest Territories has an integrated system where patient focused care is provided in the local health centre or in the nearest facility where the necessary care can be carried out.

International Medical Graduates (IMG)

To practice in the NWT as an International Medical Graduate, you must either hold eligibility for an unrestricted license in a Canadian province or have passed the Royal College exam.

The Northwest Territories does not have its own College of Physicians and Surgeons. We do not offer programs such as Practice-Ready Assessment. Once licensed elsewhere in Canada, please contact the Professional Licensing Office.

For details on physician licensing pathways in Canada please reference the Medical Council of Canada Pathways for International Medical Graduate site. We look forward to hearing from you when you are ready to practice in the North!