Halifax - Ophthalmology

Dalhousie UniversityHalifax, Nova ScotiaCMG stream

Approx. quota: 2 positions
Length: 5 years
Applications per year: 51–200
Offered interviews: 26–50%

CMG stream · open to Canadian medical graduates

Info session

details

Wed 4 Nov 2026,7:00–9:00 pm ASTvia CANPREPP source (opens in a new tab)

Interviews

1 date, 18 Jan 2027virtual

Halifax, 6 teaching sites

Program website Instagram CANPREPP profile CaRMS program page

What stands out about this program

PGY-5 residents act as junior attending supervising the emergency eye clinic.
From “Program curriculum” on the CaRMS page
Department is associated with a Canadian and American Orthoptic Councils training centre.
From “Program highlights” on the CaRMS page

Dalhousie Ophthalmology is a 5-year residency based mainly at the QEII Eye Care Centre and the IWK Health Centre in Halifax.
PGY-1 off-service rotations take place in Halifax and Saint John, ending with the six-week Toronto Ophthalmology Residents' Introductory Course.
Residents complete a research project with protected time across the four core years and do required rotations outside Halifax within the Maritimes.

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

What training looks like

Setting: Academic / tertiary hospital
Regional community
Rural exposure: Not stated on CaRMS page
Research: Required · research project · protected time

By year

PGY-3: Basic Science Course4-week

Other rotations

Listed by the program without a single PGY year.

ophthalmology block (Transition to Discipline · 1)
off-service blocks (Foundations of Discipline · 8)
Toronto Ophthalmology Residents' Introductory Course (Foundations of Discipline · 6 weeks · Toronto)
Emergency Eye Clinic (Core of Discipline · 3-6 blocks)
surgical blocks (Core of Discipline · 4-5)
community block (Core of Discipline)
elective blocks (Core of Discipline · 2-3)
Subspecialty Ophthalmology blocks (Core of Discipline)
Emergency Eye Clinic (as junior attending) (Transition to Practice · 1-2 blocks)
subspeciality blocks (Transition to Practice)
community block (Transition to Practice)

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

Where you train

Halifax, Nova Scotia: 6 teaching sites.

QEII Health Sciences Centre, Victoria General Hospital, 1276 South Park St, Eye Care Centre
QEII Health Sciences Centre, Halifax Infirmary
IWK Health Centre, Pediatric Ophthalmology Department
Bayers Lake Community Outpatient Centre
Halifax Vision Surgical Centre
New Brunswick - Cornea (Rothesay · rural or distributed site)

Record systems at the listed sites: Oracle Health (Cerner) at 3 of 6; no published record for 3.

Hospital facts

3 sites · 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.

Clinical record: One Person One Record, fully electronic record since May 2026 As of 31 Oct 2026. At QEII Health Sciences Centre, Victoria General Hospital, 1276 South Park St, Eye Care Centre, QEII Health Sciences Centre, Halifax Infirmary.

How to read the figures

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

QEII Health Sciences Centre, Victoria General Hospital, 1276 South Park St, Eye Care Centre

Matched to QEII - Victoria General (VG) Site (Halifax) in the province’s hospital list.

Hospital type: Tertiary

QEII Health Sciences Centre, Halifax Infirmary

Matched to QEII - Halifax Infirmary Site (Halifax) in the province’s hospital list.

Hospital type: Tertiary

IWK Health Centre, Pediatric Ophthalmology Department

Clinical record: Oracle Health (One Person One Record), fully electronic record since Dec 2025 As of 31 Oct 2026

Matched to IWK Health Centre (Halifax) in the province’s hospital list.

Hospital type: Tertiary

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 Halifax

People
439,819residents, 2021 Census
Municipality of Halifax
Housing
2.6%rental vacancy rate
October 2025 survey, Halifax, Nova Scotia (census metropolitan area)
Winter and summer
−4.1 °CJanuary mean18.5 °CJuly mean
1991–2020 normals, Shearwater, 11.0 km away
Job outlook
Very goodfor the specialty here, 2025–2027

More about Halifax (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: Not stated on CaRMS page. Check the provincial return-of-service rules.

Application file components as the program describes them.

Interviews and info sessions

Interview dates (2027 match): 18 Jan 2027
Format: Virtual
MMI or rotating station

Info sessions

Wed 4 Nov 2026
7:00–9:00 pm AST
Info session · VirtualCANPREPP source (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 5 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
PGY-3	$89,462 / year
PGY-4	$95,485 / year
PGY-5	$101,926 / 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

Past matches

No repeated vacancies in CaRMS’s lists of open positions, 2019–2026.

Positions at this site, all streams.

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	2	5 years	1 date, 18 Jan 2027Virtual	CaRMS page changed during the match: requirements (noticed 5 Oct)

2026 match

The 2026 match, one row per stream (scrolls sideways on narrow screens)
Stream	Positions	Length	Interviews
CMG stream	2	5 years	1 date, 20 Jan 2026

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

Dalhousie University's Ophthalmology Residency Program offers comprehensive training in a state-of-the-art facility, preparing residents for both academic and community ophthalmology practice.
The program emphasizes high-quality medical education, research, and clinical excellence, with a strong commitment to training ophthalmologists who can serve the Maritime provinces and Canada.

Research: Residents are required to complete a research project, with protected research time and opportunities to present at annual research day. The Clinician Investigator Program supports one full year of research during residency.
Training setting: Urban medical center training across multiple sites in Halifax, Nova Scotia, including QEII Health Sciences Centre, IWK Health Centre, and community outpatient centers, with potential rotations in other Maritime provinces.
Teaching approach: Competency-based medical education with progressive independence, emphasizing group cooperation, collaborative learning, and comprehensive skill development through structured rotations and research opportunities.
Enhanced skills: Not stated on CaRMS page
What the program looked at: Medical Student Performance Record (MSPR)
CV/Resume
Personal Letter
Reference Letters
Research/Publications
Elective Evaluations
Interview Performance

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 directors: Dr. Danielle Cadieux
Dr. Dani Cadieux
danicadieux@dal.ca
(902) 473-2517
Program office: Program Assistant
Write to the officeophthed@dal.ca

Per CaRMS. Staff change during the cycle, so check the CaRMS program page(opens in a new tab) before emailing.

Program websiteWebsite CANPREPPCANPREPPdescribes academic half-dayFrom the programThis program on CaRMS

Ophthalmology elsewhere

Nearest to Halifax

Montreal - OphthalmologyMcGill University
Montreal, QC · 790 km
5 positions · Regular
Bilingual
Ottawa - OphthalmologyUniversity of Ottawa
Ottawa, ON · 955 km
3 positions · CMG, IMG
Kingston - OphthalmologyQueen’s University
Kingston, ON · 1,025 km
3 positions · CMG

All 17 Ophthalmology programs across Canada2027 match

Source

The program’s CaRMS page (opens in a new tab) · 2027 match · last approved 2 Oct 2026 · not final until file review opens 26 November; as of 19 Oct 2026, re-checked every two weeks.

Accredited · CaRMS program ID 36373 · How these pages are made › · See the 2026 match under Year by year

What changed, noticed 5 Oct: Additional documents: text added and 1 more. See what changed

We read each program’s CaRMS page about every two weeks and note what differs. The date is when we noticed it; the change was made in the window shown. Reformatting is not listed, and a contacts change is listed without names.

Noticed 5 Octchanged between 1 and 5 Oct
- Additional documents: text added
  Description of research interests Submit a document summarizing your top 3 scholarly activities/projects, including research, innovation, or quality improvement, in the field of medicine. Briefly summarize each activity, include your specific role or contribution, and describe how each activity/project was …
  From the CaRMS page, read 5 Oct
- Review process: text removed
  An applicant is considered to have a Maritime connection if they meet at least one of the following criteria: Within twelve (12) years of the date of application, the applicant has completed four (4) years of junior high and/or high …
  As the CaRMS page read on 1 Oct, before it was removed

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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