Yellowknife - Family Medicine

University of AlbertaYellowknife, Northwest TerritoriesCMG stream

Program websiteWebsite CANPREPPCANPREPP6 more links

Open on carms.ca

CaRMS program description, 2026 match, last approved 10 Sep 2025

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

Positions (approx. quota): 2 positions
Length: 2 years
Stream: CMG
Discipline: Family Medicine
Applications per year: 401–600
Applicants offered interviews: 76–100%
Accreditation: Accredited
CaRMS program ID: 29584

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

Summary

The University of Alberta's Yellowknife Rural Family Medicine residency is Canada's only full-time residency program based in a circumpolar region. Located in the Northwest Territories, this unique program prepares family physicians to serve in underserved urban, rural, and remote areas with a strong emphasis on Indigenous health.

Training

Research

Residents complete four small Evidence-Based Medicine research projects in first year and a Practice Quality Improvement project in second year, with potential conference presentation funding.

Training setting

A diverse, multicultural environment in Yellowknife, with rotations in Stanton Territorial Hospital, Qikiqtani General Hospital in Iqaluit, and Inuvik Regional Hospital, serving populations across nearly 18% of Canada's landmass.

Teaching approach

Competency-based medical education emphasizing comprehensive, full-scope training with progressive independence, one-on-one preceptorship, and exposure to diverse clinical experiences.

Setting types

Territorial hospital
Rural hospital
Remote clinic

Focus areas

Rural Family Medicine
Indigenous Health
Full-scope Family Medicine
Northern/Remote Medicine

Patient populations

Dene First Nations
Métis
Inuvialuit
Inuit
Immigrant populations
Rural and remote community residents

Highlights

Training across Northwest Territories and Nunavut
Cultural training days
Travel clinics in remote communities
Mandatory life support courses
Evidence-Based Medicine workshops
Practice Quality Improvement project
Northern Living Allowance

Strengths

Unique circumpolar training environment
Comprehensive full-scope family medicine preparation
Strong Indigenous health focus
Extensive rural and remote medicine exposure
Supportive, close-knit program culture

Enhanced skills

Obstetrics
Emergency Medicine
Procedures
Travel clinic experience

By year

PGY-1

Family Medicine BlockYellowknife20 weeks
Family Medicine Community BlockNunavut8 weeks
ElectivesCanada8 weeks
General SurgeryYellowknife4 weeks
PediatricsYellowknife4 weeks
Pediatrics Emergency MedicineAlberta4 weeks
AnesthesiaYellowknife2 weeks
PsychiatryYellowknife2 weeks

PGY-2

Family Medicine BlockYellowknife22 weeks
Family Medicine Community BlockNorthwest Territories8 weeks
Women's HealthYellowknife4 weeks
Emergency MedicineYellowknife4 weeks
Intensive CareAlberta4 weeks
Trauma MedicineAlberta4 weeks
ElectivesCanada4 weeks
Palliative CareAlberta2 weeks

From the program's rotation list.

Selection

What the program looks at

FMProC assessment
Medical Student Performance Record
Reference letters
Personal letter
Interview performance

Applications per year

401–600

Applicants offered interviews

76–100%

Interviews

Dates (2026 match): 16 and 18 Dec 2025; 18 and 19 Jan 2026

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

Pay

No salary scale on file for Northwest Territories. See the CaRMS salary page(opens in a new tab).

Teaching sites

Stanton Territorial Hospital
Qikiqtani General Hospital
Inuvik Regional Hospital

Hospital facts

Hospital size and activity: Northwest Territories 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

Yellowknife, Northwest Territories

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: −25.5 °C Yellowknife (Airport), 1.7 km away
July average: 17.1 °C Yellowknife (Airport), 1.7 km away
Snowfall: 155.0 cm a year Yellowknife (Airport), 1.7 km away
Days below −20 °C: 102.6 days a year Yellowknife (Airport), 1.7 km away

People

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

Population: 20,340 people up 3.9% from 2016
Official languages: English only 82.4% · French only 0.4% · English and French 16.7% · neither 0.5% Share of residents who can conduct a conversation in each. This is not the language spoken at home.
Immigrants: 16.4% of residents arrived 2016–2021: 3.1% · non-permanent residents: 1.7%
Indigenous identity: 24.2% of residents
How people commute: car, truck or van 73.4% · public transit 1.3% · walking or cycling 19.6% · other 5.7% Average commute: 12.6 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: $148,000 before tax $126,000 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: Yellowknife, a small population centre (1,000 to 29,999 people) 19,673 people in 2021
Remoteness index: 0.406 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.

Rental vacancy rate: 1.3% October 2025 survey, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories (census agglomeration). The share of purpose-built rentals (three units and over) vacant, not a rent.
Basic cost of living: $76,287 a year Market Basket Measure 2025, Northwest Territories, Yellowknife, 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: Very good The employment outlook will be Very good for general practitioners and family physicians (NOC 31102) in Northwest Territories 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.
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.