'We're seeing a Hunger Games' across Ontario: Hundreds in this town line up for a chance at a family doctor

They started to arrive, and the line began to form, as early as 2 a.m.

Despite a steady snowfall and bone-chilling cold, they came to stand outside and wait their turn, hours before the doors opened at 10 a.m. 

This wasn't a queue to purchase Taylor Swift concert tickets at a kiosk in downtown Toronto.

This line was outside a Royal Canadian Legion office in Walkerton, Ont., and was for something much more coveted in Canada's beleaguered health-care system: A chance to get their name on the patient list for a family doctor. 

By the time daylight arrived and the doors had opened at the temporary registration office set up at the Legion on Wednesday, the line extended around the block. 

"This is not the way it should be," said Dr. Paul McArthur, a local doctor on the search team to attract a new physician to Walkerton. "The response that we've had shows that we have a provincial problem that is big."

The word went out last week that Dr. Mitchell Currie was seeking patients for a new family medicine practice for the town of about 5,000 in Bruce County, a three-hour drive northwest of Toronto. 

Only 500 spots were available, and Pam Cussen managed to get one of them. 

"We all feel like we've won the lottery," she said. "Who would have thought it would come to this to get a doctor in Canada?"

Jacqueline Simoes also arrived early to join the list. She's been without a doctor since her physician retired eight years ago.

Simoes heard about the registration through a Facebook post and didn't hesitate to get in line, though it meant standing outside in –10 C cold. 

"I thought with today's weather that definitely there wouldn't be so many folks," she said. "The fact that there are so many of my neighbours and friends that don't have a family physician, it does speak volumes about our health-care system."

Those who joined the line had stories that differed in detail but shared some common themes. 

Like Simoes, many had gone years without a family doctor and were desperate to get on the list for one.