Cape Breton - Family Medicine

Dalhousie UniversityCape Breton, Nova Scotia

Approx. quota: CMG stream6 positions+1 from 5 in the 2026 match
IMG stream1 position
Nova Scotian IMG stream1 position
Length: 2 years
Applications per year: CMG stream401–600
IMG stream601+
Nova Scotian IMG stream601+
Offered interviews: CMG stream76–100%
IMG stream0–25%
Nova Scotian IMG stream0–25%

CMG stream · open to Canadian medical graduates

IMG stream · open to international medical graduates

Return of service: Required

IMG requirement: “Only IMGs who participate in the first iteration MMI will be considered for subsequent…” details under How they choose

Nova Scotian IMG stream · open to international medical graduates

Return of service: Required

IMG requirement: “Only IMGs who participate in the first iteration MMI will be considered for subsequent…” details under How they choose

Info session

all 3

Thu 5 Nov 2026,7:00–9:00 pm AST

Interviews

5 dates, 25–29 Jan 2027virtual

1 date, 22 Jan 2027virtual

Cape Breton, CMG stream: 5 teaching sites · IMG stream: 8 teaching sites · Nova Scotian IMG stream: 8 teaching sites · 16 rural weeks

A car is required

After residency in Nova Scotia: hours-based model open to new graduates

Program website CaRMS program page

What stands out about this program

Residents spend one full day every two weeks at their family medicine preceptor's office during specialty rotations.
From “Program highlights” on the CaRMS page
Residents can be matched to a preceptor with similar interests, such as EM, palliative care or obstetrics.
From “Program highlights” on the CaRMS page

This is a 2-year community-based family medicine residency in Sydney, Cape Breton, affiliated with Dalhousie University.
Cape Breton Regional Hospital is the primary teaching facility for specialty rotations, and family medicine teaching uses a one-to-one preceptor model.
Residents spend four weeks in PGY1 and 12 weeks in PGY2 in rural/community locations such as Baddeck, Cheticamp, Arichat or Neil's Harbour.
A scholarly project is required, with protected time.

The summary is written by CdnMD from the program’s CaRMS description.

What training looks like

Setting: Regional community
Rural / remote
Rural exposure: Required rural rotation (16 weeks)
Focus areas: Rural / remote
Research: Required · research or quality-improvement project · protected time
Enhanced skills: Emergency Medicine
Palliative Care
Care of the Elderly
Other
Getting around: A car is required
Housing away from the home site is provided or paid for
Travel is reimbursed

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
Vacation4 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
ICUSydney4 weeks
PsychiatrySydney4 weeks
Palliative CareSydney4 weeks
Vacation4 weeks
GeriatricsSydney2 weeks

✓ = the CaRMS page states it; – = not stated. From the program description and its rotation list.

Where you train

Cape Breton, Nova Scotia: CMG stream: 5 teaching sites · IMG stream: 8 teaching sites · Nova Scotian IMG stream: 8 teaching sites; 16 rural weeks. A car is required.

Cape Breton Regional Hospital (Sydney)
Baddeck (Baddeck · rural or distributed site)
Cheticamp (Cheticamp · rural or distributed site)
Arichat (Arichat · rural or distributed site)
Neil's Harbour (Neil's Harbour · rural or distributed site)

Cape Breton Regional Hospital (Sydney)
North Sydney (North Sydney)
New Waterford (New Waterford)
Glace Bay (Glace Bay)
Baddeck (Baddeck · rural or distributed site)
Cheticamp (Cheticamp · rural or distributed site)
Arichat (Arichat · rural or distributed site)
Neil's Harbour (Neil's Harbour · rural or distributed site)

Distributed across a region

Cape Breton Regional Hospital (Sydney)
North Sydney (North Sydney)
New Waterford (New Waterford)
Glace Bay (Glace Bay)
Baddeck (Baddeck · rural or distributed site)
Cheticamp (Cheticamp · rural or distributed site)
Arichat (Arichat · rural or distributed site)
Neil's Harbour (Neil's Harbour · rural or distributed site)

Distributed across a region

Record systems at the listed sites, all streams: Oracle Health (Cerner) at 1 of 8; no published record for 7.

Moving to a new system: Cape Breton Regional Hospital (by Dec 2026).

Hospital facts

1 site · public figures and clinical record systems where they are published

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

Cape Breton Regional Hospital

Clinical record: One Person One Record, moving to a new system, by Dec 2026 As of 31 Oct 2026

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.

Nova Scotia's One Person One Record is live at IWK Health and at Nova Scotia Health's Central Zone. The other zones follow, provincewide by the end of 2026 (the province's date). As of 31 Oct 2026

Verify with the official source: each source button opens the publisher’s own page.

Sources and licences

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

About Cape Breton

People
93,694residents, 2021 Census
Municipality of Cape Breton
Housing
2.7%rental vacancy rate
October 2025 survey, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia (census agglomeration)
Winter and summer
−5.0 °CJanuary mean18.2 °CJuly mean
1991–2020 normals, Sydney, 5.7 km away
Job outlook
Very goodfor the specialty here, 2025–2027

More about Cape Breton (its page: housing, getting around, weather, things to do, and every program that names it)

Sites as the program’s CaRMS page lists them. City figures are public statistics for the place named by the location; they describe the place, not the program.

How they choose

Application file components: CV
Electives
Examinations
Extra-curricular
Leadership skills
MSPRs
Personal letters
Reference documents
Research/Publications
Transcripts
Return of service, CMG stream: Not stated on CaRMS page. Check the provincial return-of-service rules.
Return of service, IMG stream: Required
IMG requirements, IMG stream: “Only IMGs who participate in the first iteration MMI will be considered for subsequent iterations of the CaRMS match.”
Return of service, Nova Scotian IMG stream: Required
IMG requirements, Nova Scotian IMG stream: “Only IMGs who participate in the first iteration MMI will be considered for subsequent iterations of the CaRMS match.”

Application file components as each stream’s CaRMS page describes them.

Interviews and info sessions

Interview dates (2027 match), CMG stream: 25, 26, 27, 28 and 29 Jan 2027
Interview dates (2027 match), IMG stream: 22 Jan 2027
Interview dates (2027 match), Nova Scotian IMG stream: 22 Jan 2027
Format, CMG stream: Virtual
Traditional (one on one/two on one)
Format, IMG stream: Virtual
MMI or rotating station
Format, Nova Scotian IMG stream: Virtual
MMI or rotating station

Info sessions

Thu 5 Nov 2026
7:00–9:00 pm AST
Info session · Virtual · Listed under interviews on CaRMSCANPREPP source (opens in a new tab)
Link for Dalhousie University, Thu 5 Nov 2026 (opens in a new tab)
Wed 2 Dec 2026
7:00–9:00 pm AST
Info session · Virtual · Listed under interviews on CaRMSCANPREPP source (opens in a new tab)
Link for Dalhousie University, Wed 2 Dec 2026 (opens in a new tab)
Sat 9 Jan 2027
12:00–2:00 pm AST
Social · Listed under interviews on CaRMSCANPREPP source (opens in a new tab)
Link for Dalhousie University, Sat 9 Jan 2027 (opens in a new tab)

From the program’s CaRMS page (opens in a new tab), read 20 Oct 2026; a row tagged CANPREPP is on CANPREPP’s events calendar (read 24 Oct 2026), alone or as well. Dates and times are as the program wrote them; “your time” is worked out in your browser when your time zone differs. Programs add and change sessions.

Pay and call

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

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

How provincial pay and rent compare

Call

Call (provincial max): 1 night in 4 in-house
Post-call rule (provincial): No work required once handover is completed
Max continuous duty (provincial): Handover begins by the 24th consecutive hour on duty

The union agreement’s limits and rules for all residents in the province; your program’s actual call schedule may be lighter. MarDocs agreement, 1 Jul 2024 to 30 Jun 2027. Read as of 1 Oct 2026.

Benefits

13 lines as listed by CaRMS in 2022–2024: Annual vacation, Call stipend, CMPA dues paid, and more

Annual vacation: 4 weeks
Call stipend: Yes
CMPA dues paid: Yes
Dental coverage: Yes
Educational leave: Yes
Extended health insurance: Yes
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

After residency

Family doctors in Nova Scotia can bill fee-for-service or join a model that pays for hours worked, enrolled patients and visits: the Longitudinal Family Medicine (LFM) payment model. New-to-practice physicians have a protected panel for their first year, based on the FTE in their offer letter. To join: 46 weeks a year in office-based clinical practice. Compare provinces

Official pages read 31 Oct 2026.

Past matches

Open after round 1 in 3 of 8 years (2019–2026); still open after round 2 in 0 of 9 years.

Positions at this site, all streams. Site as CaRMS lists it: Cape Breton.

Show the table, with round 2

Positions at this site, all streams, still open after round 1 and after round 2, by year. Each count above zero links to the CaRMS list page it comes from.
Year	Open after round 1	Open after round 2
2018	not available	0
2019	0	0
2020	1 position open after round 1 in 2020, CaRMS list (opens in a new tab)	0
2021	0	0
2022	0	0
2023	0	0
2024	3 positions open after round 1 in 2024, CaRMS list (opens in a new tab)	0
2025	5 positions open after round 1 in 2025, CaRMS list (opens in a new tab)	0
2026	0	0

CaRMS’s first-round list for 2018 was not found, so round 1 is counted over 8 years and round 2 over 9.

What this means

A position can go unfilled because of where the site is, because it is open to IMGs only or to another restricted stream, or because the quota changed late.
It says nothing about the quality of the training or how heavy the workload is.
A site’s numbers are shown when it had positions open after round 1 in at least 2 of 8 years or at least 3 in one year.

Source: CaRMS’s lists of positions open after round 1 and after round 2, as read in October 2026 (latest: 2026 round 1 (CaRMS PDF, opens in a new tab), 2026 round 2 (CaRMS PDF, opens in a new tab)).

Year by year

2027 match

The 2027 match, one row per stream (scrolls sideways on narrow screens)
Stream	Positions	Length	Interviews	What changed
CMG stream	6	2 years	5 dates, 25–29 Jan 2027Virtual	Positions 5 → 6 from the 2026 match
IMG stream	1	2 years	1 date, 22 Jan 2027Virtual	Nothing noted
Nova Scotian IMG stream	1	2 years	1 date, 22 Jan 2027Virtual	Nothing noted

2026 match

The 2026 match, one row per stream (scrolls sideways on narrow screens)
Stream	Positions	Length	Interviews
CMG stream	5	2 years	10 dates, 13 Nov 2025 – 6 Feb 2026
IMG stream	1	2 years	5 dates, 13 Nov 2025 – 6 Feb 2026
Nova Scotian IMG stream	1	2 years	5 dates, 13 Nov 2025 – 6 Feb 2026

The 2026 page of the CMG stream: our summary of its CaRMS description

The Cape Breton Family Medicine Residency Program prepares residents to become confident and competent family physicians capable of practicing in rural and urban settings.
Located in Sydney, Nova Scotia, the program offers a community-based preceptor model that emphasizes hands-on practical learning across diverse healthcare environments.

Research: Residents are required to complete a scholarly project with protected time for research activities.
Training setting: Community-based training in Sydney, Cape Breton, utilizing four acute care facilities and five rural facilities, with Cape Breton Regional Hospital as the primary teaching site.
Teaching approach: Competency-based medical education with progressive independence, emphasizing hands-on practical learning through a preceptor model and exposure to diverse clinical settings.
Enhanced skills: Not stated on CaRMS page
What the program looked at: FMProC assessment
Personal letter
Reference letters
CV
Medical Student Performance Record (MSPR)

Positions, length and interviews as each match’s CaRMS pages stated them; what changed from our comparison of the two matches and our readings of the 2027 pages.

Contacts and links

Program director: Dr. Sasha Sealy
CaRMS lists no email for the director.
Program office: Accreditation and CaRMS Administrator
Write to the officefmresidency@dal.ca

Per CaRMS. Staff change during the cycle, so check the CaRMS program page(opens in a new tab) before emailing. Site staff and other contacts are listed there too.

Program websiteWebsite Dalhousie Family Medicine Dalhousie Faculty of Medicine Postgraduate Program Maritime Resident Doctors Cape Breton Site (video)Residency at Dalhousie Family Medicine (Video)This program on CaRMS

Family Medicine elsewhere

Nearest to Cape Breton

Inverness - Cape Breton - Family MedicineDalhousie University
Inverness - Cape Breton · 71 km
2 positions · CMG
Rural
North Nova - Family MedicineDalhousie University
North Nova · 208 km
11 positions · CMG, IMG, Nova Scotian IMG
Rural
Prince Edward Island - Family MedicineDalhousie University
Prince Edward Island · 226 km
9 positions · CMG, IMG
Regional

Enhanced skills at Dalhousie University, through CaRMSCaRMS’s FM/ES match, for family medicine residents

In these collections:

Source

The CMG stream’s CaRMS page (opens in a new tab), last approved 11 Sep 2026 · The IMG stream’s CaRMS page (opens in a new tab), last approved 11 Sep 2026 · The Nova Scotian IMG stream’s CaRMS page (opens in a new tab), last approved 11 Sep 2026 · 2027 match · not final until file review opens 26 November; as of 19 Oct 2026, re-checked every two weeks.

Accredited · CaRMS program IDs 35605 (CMG stream), 36257 (IMG stream), 35464 (Nova Scotian IMG stream) · How these pages are made › · See the 2026 match under Year by year

The Applications per year and Offered interviews figures are 5-year averages the program reports to CaRMS: past cycles, not your odds.

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 CdnMD 24 Oct 2026.

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At a glance