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Quw'utsun - Family Medicine

University of British ColumbiaQuw'utsun, British ColumbiaCMG stream

CaRMS program description, 2026 match, last approved 11 Sep 2025

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

Positions (approx. quota)
4 positions
Length
2 years
Stream
CMG
Discipline
Family Medicine
Applications per year
601+
Applicants offered interviews
76–100%
Accreditation
Accredited
CaRMS program ID
30350

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

Summary

The Quw'utsun Family Practice residency site offers a comprehensive, learner-focused educational experience rooted in equity, diversity, and inclusion. Located on the traditional unceded territory of Quw'utsun Hwulmuhw, the program aims to produce compassionate, community-engaged family physicians with a deep understanding of local Indigenous communities.

Training

Research
Residents complete a quality improvement project and scholar project, with opportunities to present at local Scholarship events.
Training setting
Located in Duncan, Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island, with training across multiple sites including Cowichan District Hospital, Ladysmith Health Care Centre, Victoria General Hospital, and Nanaimo Regional General Hospital.
Teaching approach
A learner-focused, interdisciplinary approach emphasizing collaborative learning, cultural sensitivity, and progressive independence in clinical practice.
Setting types
  • Rural community hospital
  • Academic medical center
  • Community clinic
  • Indigenous health center
Focus areas
  • Indigenous Family Medicine
  • Rural Medicine
  • Community-Engaged Practice
  • Cultural Safety
  • Comprehensive Family Medicine
Patient populations
  • Indigenous communities
  • Rural populations
  • Cowichan Valley residents
  • Acute care patients
  • Palliative care patients
Highlights
  • Longitudinal Indigenous Family Practice engagement
  • Hybrid curriculum with block and longitudinal components
  • Cultural safety training
  • Simulation bootcamp
  • Scholarly project opportunities
  • International elective options
Strengths
  • Comprehensive Indigenous health training
  • Distributed training sites
  • Strong community connections
  • Extensive elective opportunities
  • Emphasis on cultural safety
Enhanced skills
  • Emergency Medicine
  • Care of the Elderly
  • Anesthesia
  • Palliative Medicine
  • Sports and Exercise Medicine
  • Clinician Scholars program

By year

PGY-1
  • Family PracticeWith FP preceptor, hospitalist, urgent care, maternity clinic10 weeks
  • Electives6 weeks
  • Intro to FMSettle in at FP preceptor’s office, academic sessions, SIM bootcamp4 weeks
  • Internal MedicineAt Cowichan District Hospital (CDH)4 weeks
  • Emergency MedicineCDH4 weeks
  • ObstetricsLow-risk deliveries4 weeks
  • Pediatrics2 weeks inpatient at Victoria General Hospital (VGH) and 2 weeks in local outpatient clinics4 weeks
  • PsychiatryCDH and outpatient clinic2 weeks
  • General SurgeryCDH2 weeks
  • Addictions1 week at VGH, and 1 week at local outpatient clinics2 weeks
  • OrthoCDH2 weeks
  • AnesthesiaCDH1 week
  • Indigenous Family PracticeDedicated clinical and experiential time engaging with local Indigenous communitiesLongitudinal
PGY-2
  • Family PracticeWith FP preceptor, hospitalist, palliative, includes transition to independent practice16 weeks
  • Electives10 weeks
  • RuralAs part of rural selective match8 weeks
  • Internal MedicineCDH2 weeks
  • GynecologyLocal outpatient Gyne clinics2 weeks
  • Psychiatry (PES)Nanaimo Regional General Hospital (NRGH) ER Psychiatric Emergency Service2 weeks
  • Surgery selectiveCDH2 weeks
  • AddictionsAt VGH and local outpatient clinics2 weeks
  • AnesthesiaCDH1 week
  • Indigenous FP PracticeDedicated clinical and experiential time engaging with local Indigenous communitiesLongitudinal

From the program's rotation list.

Selection

What the program looks at
  • File review (20%)
  • MMI interview (75%)
  • FMProC score (5%)
Applications per year
601+
Applicants offered interviews
76–100%

Interviews

Dates (2026 match)
17, 17–27, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27 and 28 Jan 2026; 8 Feb 2026

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

Pay

Provincial scale, last updated 2 Sep 2026 · check the current agreement(opens in a new tab)

Salaries from April 2027.

Annual salary by PGY level, British Columbia
LevelAnnual salary
PGY-1
$71,390 / year
PGY-2
$79,571 / year

One provincial scale for British Columbia, 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
Yes. Mandatory
Dental plan
100% Premiums Paid
Educational leave
Yes
Extended health insurance
100% Premiums Paid
Frequency of calls
1 in 4 onsite/1 in 3 offsite
Life insurance
100% Premium Paid
Long-term disability insurance
Yes 100% Premiums Paid
Maternity leave
17 weeks, plus up to 78 weeks Parental Leave
Meal allowance
No
Provincial dues (% of salary)
1.5%
Provincial health insurance
100% Premiums Paid
Sick leave
Yes
Statutory holidays
2 x pay plus extra day with pay

Call

Call (provincial max)
1 in 4 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.

RDBC agreement, 1 Apr 2025 to 31 Mar 2029.

Teaching sites

  • Cowichan District Hospital
  • Ladysmith Health Care Centre
  • Victoria General Hospital
  • Nanaimo Regional General Hospital

Hospital facts

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

Cowichan District Hospital

Matched to Cowichan District Hospital (Duncan) in the province’s hospital list.

Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26
5,070 All procedure groups, for the fiscal year (1 April to 31 March). Scheduled surgery only: emergency surgery is not in the file.
Elective surgeries completed, 2026/27 Q1
1,443 One quarter (April to June), interim figures, all procedure groups. Scheduled surgery only.

Victoria General Hospital

Matched to Victoria General Hospital (Victoria) in the province’s hospital list.

Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26
8,131 All procedure groups, for the fiscal year (1 April to 31 March). Scheduled surgery only: emergency surgery is not in the file.
Elective surgeries completed, 2026/27 Q1
2,108 One quarter (April to June), interim figures, all procedure groups. Scheduled surgery only.

Nanaimo Regional General Hospital

Matched to Nanaimo Regional General Hospital (Nanaimo) in the province’s hospital list.

Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26
9,004 All procedure groups, for the fiscal year (1 April to 31 March). Scheduled surgery only: emergency surgery is not in the file.
Elective surgeries completed, 2026/27 Q1
2,040 One quarter (April to June), interim figures, all procedure groups. Scheduled surgery only.

Sources and licences

  • Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – British Columbia.

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

Quw'utsun, British Columbia

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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
4.6 °C Victoria (Airport), 24.6 km away
July average
17.2 °C Victoria (Airport), 24.6 km away
Snowfall
38.6 cm a year Victoria (Airport), 24.6 km away
Days below −20 °C
0.0 days a year Victoria (Airport), 24.6 km away

People

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

Population
5,047 people up 2.1% from 2016
Official languages
English only 93.5% · French only not reported · English and French 6.2% · neither 0.2% Share of residents who can conduct a conversation in each. This is not the language spoken at home.
Immigrants
11.1% of residents arrived 2016–2021: 0.8% · non-permanent residents: 0.2%
Indigenous identity
16.4% of residents
How people commute
car, truck or van 84.2% · public transit 1.6% · walking or cycling 12.7% · other 1.3% Average commute: 18.5 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
$53,200 before tax $49,600 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
Duncan, a small population centre (1,000 to 29,999 people) 24,358 people in 2021
Remoteness index
0.160 0 is least remote, 1 is most remote. Statistics Canada calls this index experimental.
BC rural designation
RSA community designation C · 6.00 total points Official page(opens in a new tab)BC Ministry of Health, Rural Retention Program (RRP) 2026/27, effective 2026-04-01; checked 9 Oct 2026
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.

Rental vacancy rate
2.9% October 2025 survey, Duncan, British Columbia (census agglomeration). The share of purpose-built rentals (three units and over) vacant, not a rent.
Basic cost of living
$54,086 a year Market Basket Measure 2025, British Columbia, population 30,000 to 99,999, 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.

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 Vancouver Island and Coast 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.
  • Adapted from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, Rental Market Survey, October 2025 (vacancy rates), and Statistics Canada, Table 34-10-0132-01. 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.
  • 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.
  • Source: BC Ministry of Health, Rural Practice Subsidiary Agreement Community Designation & Rural Retention Program Point List, 2026/27 (effective April 1, 2026).
  • 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.