English is the official language of Yukon and it is important that health professionals know it well.

Internationally educated graduates are required to successfully complete an English proficiency test. However, an applicant may be exempted from the English language proficiency test if the international optometry-related degree was completed in English.

For more details, please visit www.yukoniehp.ca.

The Federation of Optometric Regulatory Authorities of Canada (FORAC) has established a national process for the credential assessment of international applicants.

Detailed information is available at www.forac-faroc.ca.

The Government of Yukon’s Professional Licensing & Regulatory Affairs Branch in the Department of Community Services is the regulatory authority for Optometrists in Yukon (“the Yukon regulator”). Once you have passed the national entry-to-practice exam please contact their office for further information. Contact information is listed at the end of this pamphlet.

If licensure as an optometrist is not an option, you could pursue a career as an optician or an optometric assistant. These are unregulated professions and job offerings may be advertised in the local newspapers or on www.yuwin.ca.

For other career options please contact one of the career counsellors in Whitehorse. A contact list is available at www.yukoniehp.ca.

Before you can work as an Optometrist in Yukon, you need to get a licence from the Government of Yukon.

The following steps explain the path to licensure.

For more information about working and living in Yukon, funding supports and other helpful resources, please visit the Yukon web portal for Internationally Educated Health Professionals (IEHP) at www.yukoniehp.ca.

A bridging program is a program that helps you prepare for the entry-to-practice exam and for the work as an optometrist in Canada by providing optometrists educated outside Canada and the United States of America with a structured orientation to Canadian standards of optometric practice.

Graduates of non-accredited Schools of Optometry (outside of North America) are required to successfully complete the International Optometric Bridging Program (IOBP) at the University of Waterloo before being allowed to challenge the national entry-to-practice exam called “Canadian Assessment of Competence in Optometry” (CACO). Please visit the IOBP website at www.uwaterloo.ca/international-optometric-bridging-program for application and course information.

The Canadian Examiners in Optometry assesses the competence of optometrists seeking authorization to practise in Canada using the Canadian Assessment of Competence in Optometry (CACO). Detailed information about this entry-to-practice exam can be found on the Yukon IEHP web portal at www.yukoniehp.ca.

STEP 1: LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY

STEP 2: QUALIFICATION RECOGNITION

NATIONAL ENTRY-TO-PRACTICE EXAMSTEP 4:

LICENSURESTEP 5:

RELATED CAREERSSTEP 6:FOLLOWING THE STEPS STEP 3: BRIDGING PROGRAMSInformation for

Internationally EducatedHealth Professionals

on

Optometrists

CONTACT INFORMATIONOffice of the Registrar of Optometrists Professional Licensing and Regulatory Affairs Branch Department of Community Services Government of Yukon P.O. Box 2703, C-5 Whitehorse, YT Y1A 2C6 Canada Phone: 867-667-5111Fax: 867-667-3609Email: plra@gov.yk.ca Website: www.community.gov.yk.ca/optometrists

The development of this pamphlet has been made possible by funding from Health Canada.