Halifax - Psychiatry

Dalhousie UniversityHalifax, Nova ScotiaCMG stream

Approx. quota: 9 positions
Length: 5 years
Applications per year: 51–200
Offered interviews: 51–75%

CMG stream · open to Canadian medical graduates

Interviews

4 dates, 26 Jan – 4 Feb 2027virtual

Halifax, 6 teaching sites · required rural rotation

Program website CANPREPP profile CaRMS program page

What stands out about this program

Research funding available exclusively for residents.
From “Program highlights” on the CaRMS page
International elective opportunity in global mental health.
From “Program highlights” on the CaRMS page

Dalhousie Psychiatry is a 5-year competency-based residency with training in locations across the Maritimes.
Main sites are the QEII Health Sciences Centre and IWK Health Center in Halifax, with required blocks in Saint John, Kentville and Sydney.
PGY-2 includes a one-month rural inpatient rotation in Sydney, and residents must complete a scholarly project.

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

What training looks like

Setting: Academic / tertiary hospital
Regional community
Rural / remote
Rural exposure: Required rural rotation
Research: Required · scholarly or quality-improvement project
Getting around: Housing away from the home site is provided or paid for
Travel is reimbursed

By year

PGY-1: Psychiatry Emergency Service (PES)One block
Psychiatry Short Stay Unit (SSU)Once block
rural psychiatry on the inpatient unitValley Regional Hospital in Kentville, NSOne block
psychiatry in emergency and consultation/liaison psychiatrySaint John Regional Hospital in Saint John, NBOne block
addictions medicineOne block
internal medicine working on the Medical Teaching Unit (MTU)Two blocks
neurologyOne block
emergency medicineOne block
family medicineOne block
either geriatric medicine, palliative care, or endocrinologyOne block
PGY-2: general adult acute care inpatient psychiatry6 months
general adult outpatient psychiatry6 months
rural settingCape Breton Regional Hospital in Sydney, NS1 month
Psychotherapy training in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
PGY-3: child and adolescent psychiatry6 months
geriatric psychiatry6 months
Clinical training in Family Therapy
selective opportunity in an additional psychotherapeutic modality
PGY-4: rehabilitation and integration psychiatry6 months
outpatient psychiatry3 months
consultation/liaison psychiatry3 months
Psychodynamic Psychotherapy

Other rotations

Listed by the program without a single PGY year.

clinical service (Stage I: Transition to Discipline · two blocks)
inpatient setting (Stage IV: Transition to Practice · Two months)
emergency setting (Stage IV: Transition to Practice · One month)

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

Where you train

Halifax, Nova Scotia: 6 teaching sites; required rural rotation.

QEII Health Sciences Centre
IWK Health Center
Horizon Health Network (Saint John · rural or distributed site)
Saint John Regional Hospital (Saint John · rural or distributed site)
Valley Regional Hospital (Kentville · rural or distributed site)
Cape Breton Regional Hospital (Sydney · rural or distributed site)

Record systems at the listed sites: Oracle Health (Cerner) at 4 of 6; no published record for 2.

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

Hospital facts

5 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, moving to a new system, by Dec 2026 As of 31 Oct 2026. At Valley Regional Hospital, Cape Breton Regional Hospital.

How to read the figures

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

QEII Health Sciences Centre

Clinical record: One Person One Record, fully electronic record since May 2026 As of 31 Oct 2026

This name covers 2 hospitals in the province’s lists. Each is shown on its own, A to Z, and the numbers are never added together.

QEII - Halifax Infirmary Site (Halifax)

Hospital type: Tertiary

QEII - Victoria General (VG) Site (Halifax)

Hospital type: Tertiary

IWK Health Center

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

Saint John Regional Hospital

Matched to Saint John Regional Hospital / Hôpital Régional de Saint John (Saint John) in the province’s hospital list.

Inpatient beds: 445 As listed in the province’s dataset, whose rows were last updated 24 Apr 2019; the count may be older.

Show facts for 2 more sites

Valley Regional Hospital

Matched to Valley Regional Hospital (Kentville) in the province’s hospital list.

Hospital type: Regional

Cape Breton Regional Hospital

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

Hospital type: Regional

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 – New Brunswick.
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
Other file component(s)
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): 26 and 28 Jan 2027; 1 and 4 Feb 2027
Format: Virtual
Traditional (one on one/two on one)

Info sessions

None listed on the program’s CaRMS page (opens in a new tab) (read 20 Oct 2026) or on CANPREPP’s events calendar (read 24 Oct 2026). Programs add sessions through the fall.

11 Psychiatry info sessions at other programs All info 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	9	5 years	4 dates, 26 Jan – 4 Feb 2027Virtual	Nothing noted

2026 match

The 2026 match, one row per stream (scrolls sideways on narrow screens)
Stream	Positions	Length	Interviews
CMG stream	9	5 years	4 dates, 20 Jan – 3 Feb 2026

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

The Dalhousie Psychiatry Residency Training Program provides comprehensive clinical training in general psychiatry to fully prepare graduates for independent work in academic, community, or private settings.
The program emphasizes a collegial atmosphere, committed teaching faculty, and responsiveness to resident concerns.
Graduates are well-prepared for the RCPSC qualifying exams and independent practice.

Research: Residents are required to complete a scholarly project and are provided opportunities to apply for time away from clinical rotations to prepare and complete their project.
Training setting: A distributed education model across multiple sites in the Maritime provinces, including Halifax Regional Municipality, Saint John, Kentville, and Sydney, with training experiences in urban and rural settings.
Teaching approach: A competency-based medical education approach with progressive independence, emphasizing comprehensive training across multiple psychiatric subspecialties and focusing on developing well-rounded, reflective practitioners.
Enhanced skills: Not stated on CaRMS page
What the program looked at: Medical Student Performance Record (MSPR)
Transcripts
CV/Resume
Reference letters
Self Assessment Questionnaire
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 director: Dr. Margaret Meldrum
CaRMS lists no email for the director.
Program office: Program Coordinator
Write to the officepsych.postgrad@dal.ca

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

Program websiteWebsite CANPREPPCANPREPP This program on CaRMS

Psychiatry elsewhere

Nearest to Halifax

Montreal - PsychiatryMcGill University
Montreal, QC · 790 km
10 positions · Regular
Bilingual
St. John's - PsychiatryMemorial University of Newfoundland
St. John's, NL · 897 km
6 positions · CMG
Ottawa - PsychiatryUniversity of Ottawa
Ottawa, ON · 955 km
11 positions · CMG, IMG

All 52 Psychiatry programs across Canada2027 match

In these collections:

Source

The program’s CaRMS page (opens in a new tab) · 2027 match · last approved 28 Sep 2026 · not final until file review opens 26 November; as of 19 Oct 2026, re-checked every two weeks.

Accredited · CaRMS program ID 35679 · 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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