Yukon government sets priorities to guide this year's nominee program

The Yukon government has announced a set of priorities for this year's Yukon Nominee Program, marking a departure from its past first-come, first-served approach for applicants.

The program, which is intended to help fill local labour market gaps by bringing in skilled immigrants, has remained closed since the federal government cut the Yukon's annual allocation to 215 nominees — half of what it received in 2024.

On Thursday, the government said it will invite employers to submit an expression of interest in applying for the program. Employers will complete a form online, providing basic information about a specific foreign worker they want to nominate.

That intake period will open on Monday, and close on April 22.

Then, the Department of Economic Development will invite employers to submit a full application to the nominee program if their candidate fulfills one or more of the priorities.

Those include: residence and employment in the Yukon for at least one year, being a graduate of Yukon University, ability to speak French, and a temporary measure letter of support from the Yukon government to obtain a Yukon-specific work permit.

This year, 10 nominations will be allocated for people in regulated health-care professions.

Intake for the nominee program was first paused for Whitehorse-based employers in May 2024 when applications exceeded the allocation limit for that year.

The federal government halved the Yukon's allocation of nominees in 2025 from the previous year, to 215. The Yukon government then extended the program's hiatus to consult local businesses on how to best use that limited number of spots.

The territory's Economic Development department considers the new process to be fairer and more strategic than the past practice, where the quickest businesses got access to the limited number of nominees.

The listed priorities aim to reduce staff turnover rates, target those who are more likely to stay in the Yukon, support Francophone immigration and help prospective nominees who were affected when the program was first closed.

While Premier Ranj Pillai believes the priorities reflect those of the business community, he singled out retail as an industry that will see fewer nominees.

"I don't think everybody will be happy. I think parts of the economy that have really leaned on these programs are probably not going to see the same amount of availability to workers," he said.

Pillai said the Yukon and federal government are having conversations about adding 100 nominations to the territory's allocation.

Opposition cites concerns raised by auditor general

The nominee program was a subject in the legislature's question period earlier this week, with the official opposition asking the government how it was responding to concerns raised by the auditor general in January.

When speaking to reporters, Yukon Party Leader Currie Dixon only had a quick glance at the government's news release about the new priorities, which was posted Thursday as MLAs were sitting in the legislature.

But he wanted to see changes that address the auditor general's concerns such as a lack of trust in the program's integrity and perceptions of unfairness.

"We had hoped to see some sort of changes to the process that would accommodate the concerns raised by the auditor general, particularly around the lack of enforceable conflict of interest," Dixon said.

NDP Leader Kate White also alluded to the auditor general's letter, which discussed the imbalance of power between employers and nominees.

"There's a real vulnerability when you're a person from another country looking to come in through the nominee program. So I still have concerns," she said.

In response to Dixon's comments, Pillai said he trusted department staff to act "appropriately," including by seeking advice from the conflict of interest commissioner. He also expressed confidence in the assistant deputy minister's oversight of the program.

"I think we have a strong process in place. We're going to be chatting very soon about some [advice] we're going to have from outside the department," he said. "I think we're in a trust building process."

According to the government's operational guidance, the intake for program applications will begin with those carried over from 2024 when applications outnumbered the Yukon's allocation for that year. This year's priorities will apply to those applications.

The expression of interest phase will follow.

If there are more expressions of interest that meet the 2025 priorities than there are available nominations, the department will invite those with the temporary measure letters of support to apply. The application spots left over will be randomly selected from qualifying expressions of interest.

A random draw will select any remaining nominations, with most going to Whitehorse-based employers.