Revised - The territorial government is moving ahead with plans to have its midwifery program running by July.

According to a news release issued Wednesday, the Yukon Midwifery Program has hired a second registered midwife. It anticipates being able to receive clients at the clinic as early as the first week in July.

Whitehorse residents who are in their first 20 weeks of pregnancy will be able to apply for midwifery care prior to the program launch.

The midwifery clinic will be located at 9010 Quartz Rd. Midwives will also have privileges at Yukon hospitals.

“We are proud to have integrated midwifery into our Yukon health care system,” said Tracy-Anne McPhee, the minister of Health and Social Services.

“It is important that expecting and new parents have additional options for pregnancy, birth and postpartum care.

“The midwifery clinic will start providing safe, regulated and publicly funded midwifery care early this July in Whitehorse. Expectant parents will be able to register online in late June.”

Clinic manager Elizabeth Morrison, who is also a registered midwife and the first hired for the program, spoke to the Star on Thursday afternoon.

She said the program will have a complement of three full-time dedicated midwives when it is fully staffed, plus herself. She will spend some time on midwife duties as well as managing the program.

She said the program will feature “highly-trained professionals” with hospital privileges who will be able to offer a full slate of services beyond simply attending births.

That includes ordering tests and most things expected of any health professional, Morrison said.

“It’s really new and exciting,” she said. “We will be primary care providers offering all stages of care and be fully integrated into the system for the first time.”

She said online applications for the program will open in early June.

The 20-week cap has been introduced because any women beyond that stage of pregnancy will already have arranged care, Morrison said.

The free program provides Yukoners with an additional option for safe, integrated care during pregnancy, birth and postpartum, the government said in the release.

Registered midwives are licensed, insured and fully integrated into the Yukon’s health care system.

Midwives will work closely with other health providers to ensure Yukoners receive high-quality care.

Brad Cathers of the Yukon Party said he was happy to hear the news the program will finally be introduced, but he repeated the frequent criticisms the party has had of the government.

“We do support regulated midwives but the government has handled this very badly,” he told the Star Thursday.

“It has missed its timelines repeatedly and there’s been a 15-month gap in services.”

Cathers said he believes the Liberal government rushed the regulations into place just days before the April 2021 Yukon election as a political ploy to attract voters.

He suggested the government should have allowed midwives to continue practising in the territory on an interim basis until the new program was ready to go.

Instead, he said no midwives have been working in the Yukon for more than a year.

Emily Tredger of the Yukon NDP said she is “really relieved families will have these services again.”

She was also critical of the government, saying its midwifery program is a “plan with no interim options.”

Tredger also said the program is inadequate because it will be available in Whitehorse only and doesn’t serve the outlying areas.

“The only choice is to come to Whitehorse,” she said.