FAQs

The Government of Nunavut covers all housing and travel expenses for locum physicians. Full-time physicians residing in-territory have the option to choose between GN subsidized staff housing, or a monthly housing allowance if living in private accommodations.

No. We have a variety of flexible locum contract options available that allow you to travel from your place of residence to work in Nunavut.

Relocation expenses are covered for physicians who sign full-time contracts.

We now offer an updated variety of contract options. Please see our Opportunities Available page for more information.

In the Qikiqtani region, physicians are based out of Qikiqtani General Hospital in Iqaluit and they will have an opportunity to travel to smaller communities to provide care.

In the Kivalliq and Kitikmeot regions, each community is based on a stand-alone health care centre model and physician need is determined by community population size.

Successful candidates will travel to Iqaluit to work a two- or three-week schedule. Upon completion, we will discuss the type and length of commitment the candidate would like to make.

If you have any other questions, please send them to us via the online form found in the Contact Us page.

Candidates who meet our requirements can apply for a full and unrestricted licence to practice medicine in Nunavut at physiciansapply.ca. For more information on the requirements to practice medicine in Nunavut, please see our Licensing and Registration page.

It takes roughly four weeks to process an application.

The licensing application fee is $200 annually.

All International Medical Graduates must have a license to practice medicine in Canada. For more information on the requirements to practice medicine in Nunavut, please see our Licensing and Registration page.

Visit our "Life" page for more information on Iqaluit, Rankin Inlet and Cambridge Bay.

Other websites:

• http://destinationnunavut.ca/
• http://www.explorenunavut.com/index.php
• https://www.gov.nu.ca/eia/information/about-nunavut

(If links on this page don’t work, go to the "About Nunavut" tab on the Government of Nunavut website, under Executive and Intergovernmental Services department to access them.)

In Iqaluit, Cambridge Bay and Rankin Inlet, children attend school from Kindergarten to Grade 12. In most cases, children can start at any time of the year that school is in session.

Iqaluit: https://www.daycareiq.com/cities/iqaluit
Rankin Inlet: https://www.makiliqta.ca/en/content/rankin-inlet-daycare-providers
Cambridge Bay: http://www.cambridgebay.ca/cambridge-bay-childcare-society

It depends on where you live.

In Iqaluit and Rankin Inlet, winter starts in earnest near the end of October and lasts until late April or the beginning of May. In Cambridge Bay, it starts a few weeks earlier and lasts a few weeks longer. In all three communities, the temperature will regularly dip below -30 C, so make sure you have a thick parka and warm boots.

In Cambridge Bay, the sun sets on November 30 and doesn’t rise again until January 11. But that doesn’t mean the town is shrouded in complete darkness—there is still twilight during the midday hours. The days are short in Iqaluit and Rankin Inlet during this time, but the sun is up for at least five hours.

Iqaluit, Rankin Inlet and Cambridge Bay experience short summers and their residents take full advantage, with many heading out to fishing camps for weeks on end. All three communities experience days without darkness, but only Cambridge Bay has true 24-hour days: the sun rises on May 19 and doesn’t set again until July 22.

Nunavut has four official languages: English, French, Inuinnaqtun and Inuktut. As many as 80 percent of Inuit in Nunavut speak Inuktut, with the Inuinnaqtun dialect spoken in Cambridge Bay and Kugluktuk and Inuktitut spoken in the rest of Nunavut’s communities. Roughly 3,000 Inuit self-identify as monolingual in Inuktut. English is in wide use across Nunavut and Iqaluit has a French-language school.

As a new physician in Nunavut, don’t worry about communication problems, because we have Inuktut translators at the health centres and hospital. However, we do encourage you to learn as much Inuktut as you can while you are here!

Yes, there are many Government of Nunavut positions open in Iqaluit and in communities across the territory. For more information, please refer to the Government of Nunavut’s Department of Human Resources jobs webpage: https://www.gov.nu.ca/public-jobs.