Kingston - Ophthalmology

Queen’s UniversityKingston, OntarioCMG stream

Program websiteWebsite CANPREPPCANPREPP1 more link

Open on carms.ca

CaRMS program description, 2026 match, last approved 28 Aug 2025

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

Positions (approx. quota): 2 positions
Length: 5 years
Stream: CMG
Discipline: Ophthalmology
Applications per year: 51–200
Applicants offered interviews: 26–50%
Accreditation: Accredited
CaRMS program ID: 29201

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

Summary

Queen's University offers a tight-knit, collegial 5-year Ophthalmology residency program with one-on-one teaching, high surgical volume, and flexible individual learning plans. The program provides comprehensive clinical and surgical training across various ophthalmology subspecialties.

Training

Research

Residents are expected to design and conduct research projects, with strong encouragement to present at national and international meetings.

Training setting

Training occurs in Kingston, Ontario, across multiple teaching hospitals including Hotel Dieu Hospital and Kingston General Hospital, with additional external facilities.

Teaching approach

Competency-Based Medical Education with progressive increase in responsibility, emphasizing individual learning, critical appraisal, and research development.

Setting types

Academic medical center
Community hospital
Teaching hospitals

Focus areas

Comprehensive ophthalmology
Subspecialty ophthalmology
Clinical and surgical training
Research

Patient populations

Inpatient ophthalmology patients
Outpatient ophthalmic care
Emergency eye patients

Highlights

University of Toronto basic science program (TORIC)
Research Stream for interested residents
Flexible individual learning plans
Annual research day
Critical appraisal and research development course

Strengths

Full Royal College accreditation
High surgical/procedural volume
One-on-one teaching
Tight-knit program environment
Comprehensive subspecialty exposure

Enhanced skills

Research Stream
Community clinical experience

By year

PGY-1

Off-service rotations5 blocks
Ophthalmology2 blocks
Toronto Ophthalmology Residents' Introductory CourseUniversity of Toronto6 weeks
Elective1 block
Emergency Eye Clinic

PGY-2

Subspecialty clinics9 blocks
Subspecialty ophthalmology4 blocks
Emergency Eye Clinic

PGY-3

Subspecialty ophthalmology13 blocks

PGY-4

Subspecialty ophthalmology13 blocks

PGY-5

Transition to Practice8 blocks
Subspecialty ophthalmology5 blocks

From the program's rotation list.

Selection

What the program looks at

CASPer Test
Program Questionnaire
CV
Electives
Reference letters
Personal letter
Research/Publications

Applications per year

51–200

Applicants offered interviews

26–50%

Interviews

Dates (2026 match): 30 Jan 2026

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

Pay

Provincial scale, last updated 6 Jan 2025 · check the current agreement(opens in a new tab)

Contract expired, may change.

Annual salary by PGY level, Ontario
Level	Annual salary
PGY-1	$73,367 / year
PGY-2	$79,670 / year
PGY-3	$85,564 / year
PGY-4	$92,701 / year
PGY-5	$98,567 / year

One provincial scale for Ontario, set by the resident agreement, so every program there pays the same. Showing the 5 levels this program covers.

Call

Call (provincial max): 7 nights in 28 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.

PARO agreement, 1 Jul 2023 to 30 Jun 2026. The term has ended; its terms continue until a new agreement is signed.

Teaching sites

Hotel Dieu Hospital
Kingston General Hospital

Hospital facts

Hospital size and activity: Ontario doesn't publish this as open data.

Unfilled positions in past years

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

Positions at this site, all streams.

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. Verify with the CaRMS lists. 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)). 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.

Contacts

Contacts weren't collected for the 2026 match.

The current program director and contacts are on the 2027 version of this program and on the CaRMS program page(opens in a new tab).

Location

Kingston, Ontario

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: −7.0 °C Kingston, 5.5 km away
July average: 20.8 °C Kingston, 5.5 km away
Snowfall: 158.0 cm a year Centreville, 33.8 km away
Days below −20 °C: 13.2 days a year Centreville, 33.8 km away

People

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

Population: 132,485 people up 7.0% from 2016
Official languages: English only 85.8% · French only 0.2% · English and French 13.4% · neither 0.6% Share of residents who can conduct a conversation in each. This is not the language spoken at home.
Immigrants: 13.6% of residents arrived 2016–2021: 2.0% · non-permanent residents: 2.5%
Indigenous identity: 4.2% of residents
How people commute: car, truck or van 81.5% · public transit 6.2% · walking or cycling 10.0% · other 2.3% Average commute: 17.6 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: $79,000 before tax $70,500 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: Kingston, a large urban population centre (100,000 or more people) 127,943 people in 2021
Remoteness index: 0.216 0 is least remote, 1 is most remote. Statistics Canada calls this index experimental.

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: 2.4% October 2025 survey, Kingston, Ontario (census metropolitan area). The share of purpose-built rentals (three units and over) vacant, not a rent.
Basic cost of living: $54,744 a year Market Basket Measure 2025, Ontario, population 100,000 to 499,999, 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.
Unemployment rate: 5.6% September 2026, three-month average, seasonally adjusted, Kingston, Ontario (census metropolitan area); standard error 0.7 points. A survey estimate.

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: Good The employment outlook will be Good for specialists in surgery (NOC 31101) in the Kingston - Pembroke region for the 2025-2027 period.
Canada-wide, to 2033: Strong risk of Shortage ESDC’s projection for specialists in surgery, 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 34-10-0130-01. 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.
Adapted from Statistics Canada, Table 14-10-0459-01 Labour force characteristics by census metropolitan area, three-month moving average, seasonally adjusted, reference month 2026-09. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
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 CdnMD 5 Oct 2026.