Advance Care Planning Checklist for Yukon

Having an advance care plan sounds straightforward until you sit down to actually do it. In Yukon, the process involves specific statutory requirements that generic Canadian checklists don't cover — from the mandatory proxy appointment under the Care Consent Act to the physical Notification Card filing at Lambert Street. Here's every step in order, so nothing gets missed.

Before You Begin: Gather What You Need

Before touching any forms, pull together:

• Your Yukon Health Care Insurance Plan number (the registry needs it)
• Contact details for the person or people you're considering as your proxy
• Your family physician's name and clinic address
• The name and address of your nearest community health centre (especially if you're outside Whitehorse)

You'll also want to think through your values before you start writing. What matters most to you — extending life at all costs, comfort care, independence, being at home? Your proxy will use these values to guide decisions when your specific wishes don't cover a situation.

The Checklist

Part 1: Choose Your Decision-Makers

• [ ] Select a primary healthcare proxy. They must be at least 19 when called to act (exception: your spouse or parent). They don't need to live in Yukon, but they must be reachable by phone during a medical crisis.
• [ ] Consider naming an alternate proxy. If your primary proxy is unavailable or unwilling when the time comes, an alternate prevents the decision from defaulting to the statutory hierarchy.
• [ ] Screen for eligibility conflicts. Your proxy cannot also serve as one of your two required witnesses, and neither can their spouse.
• [ ] Have the conversation. Tell your chosen proxy what you want — your treatment preferences, your values, your hard limits. A proxy who's never discussed your wishes will struggle to honour them under pressure.

Part 2: Choose the Right Document

• [ ] Abbreviated Advance Directive — Use this if you want to appoint a proxy and outline general care preferences. This is the standard choice for most Yukoners.
• [ ] Detailed Advance Directive — Use this if you have complex medical needs, want to specify detailed treatment preferences, or need Section 30 special authority (allowing your proxy to consent to treatment despite your future objections). Section 30 requires a Certificate of Legal Consultation from a practising Yukon lawyer.
• [ ] Resuscitation and Care Form — This is a separate clinical instrument that tells emergency responders whether to perform CPR. It does not appoint a proxy. If you want both, you need both documents.

Part 3: Draft Your Preferences

• [ ] Document treatment preferences. Be specific about the scenarios that matter to you: terminal illness with no recovery prospect, persistent vegetative state, severe cognitive impairment. For each, note whether you want aggressive treatment, limited intervention, or comfort care only.
• [ ] Address specific interventions. Consider CPR, mechanical ventilation, artificial nutrition and hydration, dialysis, blood transfusions, and antibiotics for life-threatening infections. State what you want and what you refuse.
• [ ] Note your values. Even the most detailed directive can't cover every future scenario. A values statement gives your proxy guidance for situations you didn't anticipate.
• [ ] Consider organ and tissue donation preferences. Document whether you consent to donation and any limitations.

Part 4: Execute the Document

• [ ] Arrange two independent witnesses. Both must be at least 19 years old. Neither can be your proxy, alternate proxy, or the spouse of either.
• [ ] Sign and date in front of both witnesses. All three of you must be physically present at the same time. If you're physically unable to sign, you can direct another person to sign on your behalf in your presence and the witnesses' presence.
• [ ] Have both witnesses sign and date. They sign in your presence and in each other's presence.
• [ ] Get your proxy's signature. Your proxy must sign the directive to formally accept. They don't need to sign at the same time as you, but the directive has no legal effect until they do.
• [ ] If applicable, get the alternate proxy's signature on the same terms.

Part 5: Register and Distribute

• [ ] Complete the Notification Card. Fill in your personal details and your Yukon Health Care number.
• [ ] Submit to Insured Health Services. Either mail to Box 2703, Whitehorse, YT, Y1A 2C6, or deliver in person to 4th Floor, 204 Lambert Street, Whitehorse. This creates a flag in the territorial health database — clinicians can then verify a directive exists.
• [ ] Give copies to your proxy and alternate proxy.
• [ ] Give a copy to your family physician. Ask them to note its existence in your chart.
• [ ] Give a copy to your local community health centre (critical if you live outside Whitehorse).
• [ ] Inform close family members that the directive exists and where the original is stored.
• [ ] Post a note on your refrigerator with the original's exact location. This is the standard Yukon protocol — paramedics and home care workers check there.

Part 6: Maintain the Plan

• [ ] Review annually or after any major life change — diagnosis, marriage, divorce, death of your proxy, move to a new community.
• [ ] To revoke, destroy the original or sign a written revocation while you still have capacity. Notify Insured Health Services, your physician, and anyone holding copies.
• [ ] To update, execute a new directive following the same signing and witnessing process. The new directive automatically supersedes the old one.

What This Checklist Doesn't Cover

Financial decisions require a separate Enduring Power of Attorney under different legislation. Your healthcare proxy has no authority over bank accounts, real estate, or bill payments. Estate distribution requires a will. A complete plan addresses all three tracks.

The Yukon Advance Directive & Living Will Kit bundles this entire checklist with pre-formatted signing scripts, witness eligibility screening sheets, the Lambert Street filing walkthrough, and a document distribution tracker — everything you need to move through the process without second-guessing whether you've missed a step.

See more Yukon guides →