La Ronge - Northern-Rural - Family Medicine

University of SaskatchewanLa Ronge, SaskatchewanCompetitive stream

Program websiteWebsite CANPREPPCANPREPPContacts and 4 more links

CaRMS program description, 2027 match, last approved 8 Sep 2026 · See the 2026 version

2027 match programs, from CaRMS as of 5 Oct 2026. Programs can still change until file review opens 26 November; we re-check every two weeks. Always confirm on CaRMS (opens in a new tab).

Positions (approx. quota): 4 positions
Length: 2 years
Stream: Competitive
Discipline: Family Medicine
Applications per year: 601+
Applicants offered interviews: 26–50%
Accreditation: Accredited
CaRMS program ID: 36331

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

Summary

This two-year family medicine program is based in La Ronge, with most training in core rural/remote family medicine there.
Residents complete 14 weeks of rotations in Regina in R1 and obstetrics/gynecology and anesthesia in Prince Albert in R2.
Training includes weekly fly-out clinics to northern outpost communities and work with Indigenous populations.
IMGs must sign a provincial return-of-service agreement; CMGs have none.

Training

Setting

Rural / remote
Academic / tertiary hospital
Regional community

Sites

3 teaching sites

Lac La Ronge Rural and Remote Training Program
Regina
Prince Albert

Distributed across a region

Rural exposure

Based in a rural community

Focus areas

Rural / remote
Northern
Indigenous health

Getting around

A car is required
Travel is reimbursed

Highlights

Weekly fly-out clinics to four northern outpost communities.
Resident-run clinics at a local high school and two on-reserve high schools.
Large opioid agonist therapy program and primary care-led HIV and Hepatitis C treatment.

By year

PGY-1

core Rural/Remote Family Medicine trainingLa Ronge37 weeks
Intensive CareRegina4 weeks
PediatricsRegina4 weeks
Emergency MedicineRegina2 weeks
Palliative CareRegina2 weeks
TraumaRegina2 weeks
orientationLa Ronge1 week

PGY-2

core Rural/Remote Family Medicine TrainingLa Ronge43 weeks
Obstetrics/GynecologyPrince Albert7 weeks
AnesthesiaPrince Albert2 weeks

From the program's rotation list.

Other rotations

Listed by the program without a single PGY year.

Electives (10 weeks)

Selection

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

Required · IMGs only

Applications per year

601+

Applicants offered interviews

26–50%

Interviews

Dates (2027 match): 20, 21, 22 and 23 Jan 2027
Mode: Virtual

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

Pay

Provincial scale, last updated 23 Jul 2026 · check the current agreement(opens in a new tab)

Contract expired, may change.

Annual salary by PGY level, Saskatchewan
Level	Annual salary
PGY-1	$68,329 / year
PGY-2	$74,518 / year

One provincial scale for Saskatchewan, 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
CMPA dues paid: 100%
Dental plan: 100%
Educational leave: Minimum 7 days with pay, 12 Maximum
Employee Assistance Program: Two programs available through SMA and University of Saskatchewan
Extended health insurance: Blue Cross family coverage, if registered with a Provincial Health Plan
Frequency of call: 1:4 in-house (if in excess of 1:4 paid $196/period from 1700-0800 weekdays and $249 from 0800-0800 weekends)*;1:3 out-of-house
Life insurance: Paid premium, >$100,000 coverage
Long-term disability insurance: Paid premium cost for Disability Insurance
Maternity leave/ Paternity: In conformity with Sask. Labour Standards Act – 17 weeks max maternity leave and up to 35 weeks parental leave.5 paid days paternity (can split the 35 weeks parental leave with mother as desired.)
Meal allowance: n/a
On-Call Stipends: Home Light: per duty period: $72 weekday; $83 weekendIn House: per duty period: $166 weekday; $191 weekendICU/CCU: per duty period: $166 weekday; $191 weekend
Provincial dues (% of salary): 1 %
Provincial health insurance: Yes, if registered with Sask. Health
Sick leave: 1.25 days per month to maximum 75 days
Statutory and floating holidays: 1.5 times pay or 1/2 pay & day off for stats, plus 6 extra paid days off at Christmas
Supplemental Maternity Leave Benefits: 15 weeks topped to 90% pay when eligible for Employment Insurance

Call

Call (provincial max): 1 in 4 in-house, averaged over a rotation

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

RDoS agreement, 1 Jan 2023 to 31 Dec 2025. The term has ended; its terms continue until a new agreement is signed.

Teaching sites

Lac La Ronge Rural and Remote Training Program (La Ronge)
Regina (Regina)
Prince Albert (Prince Albert)

Hospital facts

Hospital size and activity: Saskatchewan 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

Grouped by the titles CaRMS lists. The program office (administrators and coordinators) usually answers questions about the program and applying; the director leads the training.

Program officeadministrators and coordinators

janice.skilliter@usask.ca

Janice Skilliter · Program Administrator

306-425-6409

Program director

Dr. Sheila Smith
Faculty profile of Dr. Sheila Smith(opens in a new tab)
Clinical Interests
Emergency Medicine
Source: medicine.usask.ca · checked Oct 2026

CaRMS lists no email for the director.

Site staffdirectors and coordinators at the teaching sites

Dr. Sean Groves
La Ronge Site Director

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

Location

La Ronge, Saskatchewan

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: −18.3 °C La Ronge, 2.6 km away
July average: 17.6 °C La Ronge, 2.6 km away
Snowfall: 145.7 cm a year La Ronge, 2.6 km away
Days below −20 °C: 66.4 days a year La Ronge, 2.6 km away

People

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

Population: 2,521 people down 6.2% from 2016
Official languages: English only 92.6% · French only not reported · English and French 7.2% · neither 0.2% Share of residents who can conduct a conversation in each. This is not the language spoken at home.
Immigrants: 13.1% of residents arrived 2016–2021: 6.6% · non-permanent residents: 1.4%
Indigenous identity: 52.1% of residents
How people commute: car, truck or van 82.8% · public transit not reported · walking or cycling 13.7% · other 3.4% Average commute: 9.3 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: $93,000 before tax $83,000 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: La Ronge, a small population centre (1,000 to 29,999 people) 5,317 people in 2021
Remoteness index: 0.493 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.

Basic cost of living: $51,502 a year Market Basket Measure 2025, Saskatchewan, population under 30,000, 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: Good The employment outlook will be Good for general practitioners and family physicians (NOC 31102) in the Northern 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.
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 CdnMD 6 Oct 2026.