On election day, make your voice count. #Vote4Arthritis
The general election in Yukon is scheduled for November 3, 2025. ACE is asking Yukon parties and candidates how, if elected, they will improve the timely access to arthritis treatment and care.
Yukon voters with arthritis demand action
Arthritis is Yukon’s most common chronic disease and affects more people than heart disease, cancer, diabetes, stroke and dementia combined. Out of the one in five voters living with arthritis in Yukon, two-thirds are under the age of 65. Arthritis is the leading cause of disability and drives most joint replacement and emergency visits in the Yukon. Rural residents, Indigenous Peoples, women, and racialized communities can face the highest burden but the least access to care.
Health care is one of the most important issues for Yukon voters leading up to the provincial election. The way people living with arthritis access and receive health care varies significantly across the territory, particularly in rural and remote communities. Another barrier is timely access to specialized care for residents living with osteoarthritis. Over 99 per cent of knee replacements and more than 70 per cent of hip replacements are caused by arthritis. In the Yukon in 2024, a majority of residents are not treated within the medically recommended guidelines for hip and knee replacement. This deeply impacts the lives of Yukon residents with osteoarthritis who require these surgeries.
The time to arthritis prevention, treatment, and care is now after years of being at the back of the line of health care planning and delivery in Yukon. That’s why it is important for you as a Yukon voter to make your voice heard.
To help you with your decision, Arthritis Consumer Experts is asking political parties and the candidates running for office to share their perspectives on how to meet the needs of Yukon residents living with arthritis:
- Reducing surgery wait times: Will your government ensure that hip and knee joint replacement patients in Yukon are treated within the CIHI guideline of 26 weeks?
- Modernizing Yukon Drug Programs: Will your government remove outdated barriers that delay patient access to biologic and tsDMARD therapies, and modernize the Yukon Pharmacare and Chronic Disease Program?
- Closing the gaps in Indigenous arthritis care: Will your government ensure Indigenous Peoples with arthritis have access to culturally safe, community-based care models to close existing gaps and improve outcomes?
- Reinvesting biosimilars savings: Will your government commit to reinvesting biosimilar savings to new medicines and expanding coverage for existing medicines for people with inflammatory arthritis?
- Reducing avoidable emergency department use: Will your government work with the arthritis community to reduce avoidable emergency department use by people living with arthritis?
- Expanding virtual care: Will your government ensure the continuation, improvement, and expansion of virtual care for Yukon residents – both patients and health care professionals – and ensure access is equitable to all?
Arthritis Consumer Experts looks forward to sharing responses as we receive them with Yukon voters and their families and employers affected by arthritis on ACE’s Yukon election homepage.
If you have comments, questions, or concerns about any of the answers provided, please plan to attend a public forum or debate to hear from the candidates.
On November 3, 2025, your vote can help change arthritis: #Vote4Arthritis.
For more information on how to vote, please visit Elections Yukon to find out your options, , including voting at a returning office, at an advance poll, on election day at your assigned polling location or by mail*.
* Please note, due to the current Canada Post strike:
- Special ballot kits of electors outside of the Yukon will be sent by courier.
- A return courier envelope will also be provided. This will be paid by Elections Yukon.