Better care, close to home: White’s plan to support Yukoners with mental health and substance use services
October 24, 2025
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 24, 2025
Territories of the Kwanlin Dün First Nation and Ta’an Kwäch’än Council, Whitehorse, Yukon – Today Kate White, Leader of the Yukon NDP, announced her commitment to support Yukoners with more wraparound mental health and substance use services. White’s plan will deliver care, treatment and prevention to Yukoners, closer to home.
“No matter who you are or where in the territory you live, we’ve all been impacted by the substance use emergency and gaps in mental health support,” said White. “Too many Yukoners are losing loved ones, and too many people are being left behind. Yukoners deserve better. We’re going to make sure care is there for people when they’re ready, right here in the Yukon.”
Despite declaring a Substance Use Health Emergency in 2022, the Liberal government has completed only 14 of the 43 recommended actions in its substance use health emergency strategy. This summer, the Liberals cancelled life-saving services, by refusing to fund 7 day a week service for the Yukon’s only supervised consumption site.
Under the Conservative Yukon Party, Yukoners struggling with mental health were completely ignored. At the time, the chief of medical staff for the Yukon Hospital Corporation said “psychiatry and care of the mentally ill patient is… the largest gap in service in the Yukon.”
When Currie Dixon, Brad Cathers, Scott Kent and Wade Istchenko were at the cabinet table, the Yukon was one of two jurisdictions in Canada with no mental health strategy. The Yukon had no psychiatric program – even Yukoners at the secure medical unit of Whitehorse General Hospital had no access to psychiatric care.
The Yukon NDP will get Yukoners the urgent support they deserve and put compassion, connection, and community at the heart of care by:
- Adding 5 new withdrawal management beds in Whitehorse, and expanding withdrawal management services in Watson Lake and Dawson, so people can start on the path to recovery close to home;
- Partnering with First Nations governments and community leaders to build long-term, culturally safe treatment options in Yukon communities;
- Saving more lives by funding the supervised consumption site to stay open 7 days a week, every week;
- Building a new outpatient trauma treatment program and expanding rapid access to psychiatric care, so Yukoners can get help without long waits or barriers;
- Working with local organizations to create supportive housing for people with complex mental health needs; and
- Expanding Car 867, with more mental health nurses paired with police officers, to help Yukoners in crisis.
“Yukoners look out for each other,” White added. “No one should have to face their hardest days alone. We’ll build a Yukon where people can reach out for help and get it – not be told to wait, travel far from home, or pay out-of-pocket for the care they need. When people take the first step, government should be there to support them. You can count on our team to do exactly that.”
The Yukon NDP’s commitment is clear: to make healthcare better by treating mental health and substance use as urgent priorities, and to make sure all Yukoners have care they can count on.
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