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Cape Breton - Family Medicine

Dalhousie UniversityCape Breton, Nova ScotiaIMG stream

Program websiteWebsite5 more links
Open on carms.ca(opens in a new tab)

CaRMS program description, 2026 match, last approved 17 Nov 2025

From the 2026 match (R-1 2026). See the 2027 version

Positions (approx. quota)
1 position
Length
2 years
Stream
IMG
Discipline
Family Medicine
Applications per year
601+
Applicants offered interviews
0–25%
Accreditation
Accredited
CaRMS program ID
29533

Bands are 5-year averages the program reports to CaRMS. They describe past cycles, not your odds.

Summary

The Dalhousie Family Medicine Residency Program at Cape Breton offers a comprehensive two-year training experience focused on preparing family physicians to serve Maritime communities. The program emphasizes community-based learning, hands-on practical experience, and training in diverse clinical settings across urban and rural environments.

Training

Research
Residents are required to complete a scholarly project with protected research time and support for critically reviewing medical literature.
Training setting
Community-based training across multiple sites in Cape Breton, including urban Cape Breton Regional Hospital and rural community clinics in locations like Baddeck, Cheticamp, Arichat, and Neil's Harbour.
Teaching approach
Competency-based medical education with progressive independence, emphasizing hands-on learning through a preceptor model and exposure to diverse clinical experiences.
Setting types
  • Community hospital
  • Rural clinics
  • Urban medical center
  • Regional referral center
Focus areas
  • Rural Medicine
  • Community-Based Family Medicine
  • Comprehensive Clinical Care
  • Underserved Community Healthcare
Patient populations
  • Rural community patients
  • Urban hospital patients
  • Nursing home residents
  • Emergency department patients
  • Obstetric patients
  • Pediatric patients
  • Geriatric patients
Highlights
  • Preceptor model of training
  • Mandatory Family Medicine Resident Education Symposium (FMRES)
  • Scholarly project requirement
  • Funded advanced certification courses (ATLS, ALARM, ACLS, NRP)
  • Evidence-based medicine tutorials
  • Multi-site training experiences
  • Academic half-day every two weeks
Strengths
  • Comprehensive training across multiple clinical settings
  • Strong community integration
  • High patient complexity exposure
  • Distributed medical education model
  • Emphasis on rural and generalist practice
Enhanced skills
  • Emergency Medicine
  • Palliative Care
  • Care of the Elderly

By year

PGY-1
  • Core Family MedicineSydney, North Sydney, New Waterford, Glace Bay8 weeks
  • PediatricsSydney8 weeks
  • Emergency MedicineSydney4 weeks
  • Orientation in FMSydney4 weeks
  • General SurgerySydney4 weeks
  • Internal MedicineSydney4 weeks
  • HospitalistSydney4 weeks
  • FM OBSydney4 weeks
  • GynecologySydney4 weeks
  • OrthopaedicsSydney4 weeks
  • SelectiveCape Breton4 weeks
  • VacationScheduled at resident's request.4 weeks
PGY-2
  • Core Family MedicineSydney, North Sydney, New Waterford, Glace Bay16 weeks
  • Community Family MedicineBaddeck, Cheticamp, Arichat, Neil's Harbour12 weeks
  • Electives4 weeks Resident's choice, 4 weeks Maritime Provinces8 weeks
  • Residents University program can arrange up to of their elective time outside the Maritime Provinces. Other electives must be done in the Maritime Provinces. Residents can apply to do more than outside the Maritime Provinces for global health experiences.Dalhousie4 weeks
  • ICUSydney4 weeks
  • PsychiatrySydney4 weeks
  • Palliative CareSydney4 weeks
  • VacationScheduled at resident's request.4 weeks
  • GeriatricsSydney2 weeks

From the program's rotation list.

Selection

What the program looks at
  • CV content
  • Personal letter
  • Reference letters
  • Clinical experiences
  • Multi-Mini Interview (MMI)
  • Academic performance
  • Examinations (NAC, FMProC)
Applications per year
601+
Applicants offered interviews
0–25%

Interviews

Dates (2026 match)
13 and 24 Nov 2025; 10 and 23 Jan 2026; 6 Feb 2026

Programs can change interview dates. Confirm on carms.ca.

Pay

Provincial scale, last updated 24 Jul 2026 · check the current agreement(opens in a new tab)

Annual salary by PGY level, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island
LevelAnnual salary
PGY-1
$78,578 / year
PGY-2
$83,904 / year

One provincial scale for Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, set by the resident agreement, so every program there pays the same. Showing the 2 levels this program covers.

Benefits

Benefits as listed by CaRMS in 2022–2024; check the current agreement(opens in a new tab)

Annual vacation
4 weeks
Call stipend
Yes
CMPA dues paid
Yes
Dental coverage
Yes
Educational leave
Yes
Extended health insurance
Yes
Frequency of call
l in 4 in-hospital and for homecall
Life insurance
$100,000 of insurance
Long-term disabilityinsurance
66.7% of salary
Maternity leave top up after one year’s service
eligible for up to a maximum of 17 weeks top-up allowance for maternity/pregnancy leave
Provincial dues (% of salary)
1.30%
Provincial health insurance
Yes
Sick leave
Yes
Statutory and floating holidays
paid

Call

Call (provincial max)
1 night in 4 in-house

The union agreement’s cap for all residents in the province; your program’s actual call schedule may be lighter. Check with the program.

MarDocs agreement, 1 Jul 2024 to 30 Jun 2027.

Teaching sites

  • Cape Breton Regional Hospital
  • Community clinics in Sydney, North Sydney, New Waterford, Glace Bay

Hospital facts

Public figures for hospitals named above, each with its source and reference period. They describe the hospital, not the program, and are not a ranking. We match names to the province’s lists by name, so check each source before you rely on it.

Cape Breton Regional Hospital

Matched to Cape Breton Regional Hospital (Sydney) in the province’s hospital list.

Hospital type
Regional As the province lists it. The list has no volumes or beds.

Sources and licences

  • Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Nova Scotia.

Contacts

Location

Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

Loading amenities…

About the city

Public statistics for the place named by this program’s location label, each with its source and reference period. They describe the place, not the program, and are not a ranking. Check each source before you rely on it.

Climate

Canadian Climate Normals, 1991–2020. Each value comes from the nearest weather station that reports it, not from the city itself.

January average
−5.0 °C Sydney, 5.7 km away
July average
18.2 °C Sydney, 5.7 km away
Snowfall
281.1 cm a year Sydney, 5.7 km away
Days below −20 °C
2.5 days a year Sydney, 5.7 km away

People

2021 Census. Figures are for the municipality of Cape Breton, not the metropolitan area. Statistics Canada rounds counts, so small places are approximate.

Population
93,694 people down 0.6% from 2016
Official languages
English only 95.5% · French only 0.0% · English and French 4.3% · neither 0.1% Share of residents who can conduct a conversation in each. This is not the language spoken at home.
Immigrants
2.3% of residents arrived 2016–2021: 0.4% · non-permanent residents: 2.5%
Indigenous identity
3.2% of residents
How people commute
car, truck or van 91.9% · public transit 1.9% · walking or cycling 3.6% · other 2.6% Average commute: 17.7 minutes. Shares are of people who commute.The way Canadians commute was altered in 2021 by the pandemic, with lockdowns to slow the spread of COVID-19 and changes in how and where Canadians worked leading to 2.8 million fewer commuters, compared with five years earlier. Statistics Canada, The Daily, 30 Nov 2022(opens in a new tab)
Median household income
$62,400 before tax $55,600 after tax · income year 2020, in 2020 dollars

Rural and remote

This describes the place named by the program’s location label. Programs can train in several towns, so it is not every site.

Population centre
Glace Bay, a small population centre (1,000 to 29,999 people) 16,915 people in 2021
Remoteness index
0.323 0 is least remote, 1 is most remote. Statistics Canada calls this index experimental.
Student loan forgiveness
Family medicine here may qualify for up to $60,000 of Canada Student Loan forgiveness. Eligibility depends on the postal code of where you work: check the official postal-code lookup. Postal-code lookup(opens in a new tab)

Housing, cost and work

Each figure names the area it covers. A missing line means the source publishes nothing for this area.

Rental vacancy rate
2.7% October 2025 survey, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia (census agglomeration). The share of purpose-built rentals (three units and over) vacant, not a rent.
Basic cost of living
$51,062 a year Market Basket Measure 2025, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, for two adults with two children. A modest, basic basket (the poverty line), not a resident’s budget. A size-class region is not the town itself.

Job outlook

Employment and Social Development Canada’s rating for the occupation in the economic region. It is not a count of jobs, and says nothing about CaRMS positions or your match.

Outlook, 2025–2027
Very good The employment outlook will be Very good for general practitioners and family physicians (NOC 31102) in the Cape Breton region for the 2025-2027 period.
Canada-wide, to 2033
Strong risk of Shortage ESDC’s projection for general practitioners and family physicians, 2024–2033. Recent conditions, 2021–2023: Strong signs of Shortage.

Sources and licences

  • Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Canada. Adapted from Statistics Canada, 2021 Census Cartographic Boundary Files.
  • Adapted from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, Rental Market Survey, October 2025 (vacancy rates), and Statistics Canada, Table 34-10-0131-01. This does not constitute an endorsement by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation or Statistics Canada of this product.
  • Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Canada (Employment and Social Development Canada, Canadian Occupational Projection System (COPS), 2024 to 2033 projections).
  • Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada (Canadian Climate Normals 1991-2020).
  • Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Canada (Employment and Social Development Canada, 3-Year Employment Outlooks).
  • Adapted from Statistics Canada, Index of Remoteness (17-26-0001), 2021. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
  • Source: Employment and Social Development Canada, Canada Student Loan Forgiveness (Canada.ca), page dated 2026-06-03.
  • Adapted from Statistics Canada, Table 11-10-0066-01 Market Basket Measure (MBM) thresholds for the reference family by Market Basket Measure region, component and base year, 2025. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
  • Adapted from Statistics Canada, Table 98-10-0011-01 Population and dwelling counts: Canada and population centres, 2021 Census. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
  • Adapted from Statistics Canada, Table 98-10-0002-01 Population and dwelling counts: Canada and census subdivisions (municipalities), 2021 Census. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
  • Adapted from Statistics Canada, Table 98-10-0057-01 Household income statistics by household type: Canada, provinces and territories, census divisions and census subdivisions, 2021 Census. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
  • Adapted from Statistics Canada, Table 98-10-0173-01 Mother tongue by knowledge of official languages: Canada, provinces and territories, census divisions and census subdivisions, 2021 Census. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
  • Adapted from Statistics Canada, Table 98-10-0266-01 Indigenous identity by Registered or Treaty Indian status: Canada, provinces and territories, census divisions and census subdivisions, 2021 Census. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
  • Adapted from Statistics Canada, Table 98-10-0307-01 Immigrant status and period of immigration by place of birth: Canada, provinces and territories, census divisions and census subdivisions, 2021 Census. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
  • Adapted from Statistics Canada, Table 98-10-0458-01 Main mode of commuting by commuting duration, time leaving for work, age and gender: Canada, provinces and territories, census divisions and census subdivisions, 2021 Census. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.

Independent. Not affiliated with CaRMS or the program. Programs edit their descriptions during the match; confirm on carms.ca (opens in a new tab) before you apply. Data last updated on residency.fyi 5 Oct 2026.