Palliative Care Doctor

The doctor for people with serious illness, focused on comfort, pain and time with family. One of the shorter specialist paths, and emotionally the hardest.

Typical pay: $311,000a year
Time to qualify: 9 to 13 yearsafter high school
Demand: Good
Licence needed: Yesregulated job

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Where to study to become a palliative care doctor in Canada

Programs in the fields this career usually comes through. Each has its own page: what it takes to get in, the courses you need and what it costs.

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Quick answers

How much does a palliative care doctor make in Canada?

The median pay is about $311,000 a year. Across everyone in the job it runs from about $126,000 at the lower end to about $607,000 at the upper end. The source is listed under Sources at the end of this page.

How long does it take to become a palliative care doctor in Canada?

9 to 13 years after high school, on the usual route.

What does it cost to become a palliative care doctor?

$73,000 to $165,000 all in for tuition, fees, exams and kit. Living costs are not counted.

Do you need a licence to work as a palliative care doctor in Canada?

Yes. It is a regulated job, so you need a licence or registration before you can work.

What is the job outlook for a palliative care doctor in Canada?

Good demand nationally, from government outlook data. Demand varies by region, so check your area.

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Palliative Care Doctor salary in Canada

What you earn and what it costs to get there.

What palliative care doctors make

Median

$311,000

Lower end

$126,000

Upper end

$607,000

Job Bank does not track palliative care on its own. It pools it under all medical specialists: a median of about $311,000 a year (low $126,000, high $607,000) for 2023 to 2024. Most doctors in Canada bill the provincial health plan, and published billing figures are gross payments before office and practice costs, not take-home pay. Many palliative care doctors trained in family medicine. Many are paid a salary or a daily rate by a hospital, hospice or health region instead of billing per visit. It varies by province, by hours, and by whether you also keep a family practice.

During residency

$73,000 to $86,000

A year in Ontario from July 1, 2025, in postgraduate years 1 to 3 (PGY1 to PGY3): 2 years of family medicine plus the extra palliative year

Set by the 2023 to 2026 agreement between PARO (Professional Association of Residents of Ontario) and Ontario's teaching hospitals. Other provinces have their own agreements and pay scales. The family medicine route into palliative care is one of the shortest specialist paths in medicine.

One of the lowest malpractice fees

$2,604 a year in Ontario

The 2026 CMPA (Canadian Medical Protective Association) fee for palliative medicine and geriatrics

Obstetrics pays $54,924 for the same coverage in Ontario. Palliative work is often paid as a salary or a daily rate by a hospital, hospice or health region rather than per visit.

What it costs to get there

Undergrad degree (3 to 4 years): $7,000 to $10,000 a year
Medical school, the MD (doctor of medicine), 3 to 4 years: $15,000 to $28,000 a year
MCAT (medical school admission test), applications, interviews: $2,000 to $5,000
Licensing exams: the MCCQE (the national medical exam) and the CCFP exam (family medicine certification): $1,500 for the MCCQE, plus several thousand for the CCFP exam

Roughly, all in

$73,000 to $165,000

Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel

The low end is a three year undergraduate degree and a three year medical school at the cheaper end of Canadian tuition, plus the MCAT (medical school admission test), the MCCQE (the national medical licensing exam) and the CCFP (the family medicine certification exam). The high end is four years of each at the priciest schools with the full range of application and exam fees. Family medicine residency is only two years, and the extra palliative care year on top is paid rather than charged as tuition, which is why this path costs less and takes less time than most specialties. Most graduates leave medical school owing $80,000 to $150,000.

Typical debt at the end of medical school is $80,000 to $150,000. The extra palliative year is paid, not tuition.

What comes with the job

Pension in salaried jobs
Hospital or health-region employees may join a public plan such as HOOPP (the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan). Self-employed doctors save on their own.
Malpractice coverage
Through the CMPA (Canadian Medical Protective Association), partly reimbursed by the province.
A real team
Nurses, social workers, spiritual care and volunteers share the load. Few doctors work this closely with a team.
Grief support
Good programs build in debriefs and counselling for staff. You will use them.

How to become a palliative care doctor in Canada

The exact path from high school to qualified.

The path to becoming a palliative care doctor, step by step

Most palliative doctors come through family medicine. A smaller group come through the Royal College subspecialty.

1
High school
Grades 11 and 12
Top marks in biology, chemistry, math and English. You need a very high average for a science undergrad.
2
Bachelor's degree
3 to 4 years
Any major works. Keep a GPA (grade point average) above 3.8, volunteer, do research. Write the MCAT (medical school admission test).
3
Medical school, the MD (doctor of medicine)
3 to 4 years
Admission is very competitive, and most applicants are turned down. Classes, then clinical rotations. Ask for a palliative elective; most schools have one.
4
Family medicine residency
2 years
Matched through CaRMS (the residency matching service). Clinics, wards, emergency, obstetrics. Palliative rotations are built in. Pass the CCFP exam (family medicine certification) and register with your provincial College of Physicians and Surgeons.
5
Palliative care training
1 to 2 years
A third year of family medicine enhanced skills in hospices, palliative units and home care, leading to a CAC (Certificate of Added Competence) in palliative care. The other route: a 2-year Royal College subspecialty in palliative medicine after internal medicine, pediatrics, anesthesia or a few other specialties.

High school courses that help you become a palliative care doctor

Biology and chemistry
Required for nearly every pre-med path.
English
Most of this job is talking and listening. Clear, kind language is the core skill.
Psychology or philosophy
Grief, meaning and hard decisions are daily work.
Calculus and functions

Time and money, at a glance

Years after high school: 9 to 13
Med school acceptance rate: Very competitive: most applicants are turned down
Palliative training: A 1 year program after family medicine, with limited spots at each school
Total tuition: $66,000 to $152,000
Paid while training?: Only during residency

Regulated, with two credentials

You need a licence from your provincial College of Physicians and Surgeons to practise. Any licensed doctor can provide basic palliative care, and family doctors do most of it in Canada. The CAC (Certificate of Added Competence) from the College of Family Physicians of Canada and the Royal College subspecialty in palliative medicine mark the specialists who run hospices and take the hardest cases. Both are national, so moving provinces is paperwork.

Quebec routeIn Quebec? The route is different. 3 more cards.

The path in Quebec

In Quebec you apply to medical school straight from CEGEP (public college), with no bachelor's degree first.

1
Finish Secondary V
Age 16 or 17
With Secondary V math (Technical and Scientific, or Science option), chemistry and physics. These are the entry courses for the CEGEP (public college) science program.
2
Science DEC (Diploma of College Studies)
2 years
A 2 year CEGEP (public college) program (200.B1), offered in English at Dawson and the other English colleges. Take the biology and chemistry courses medical schools ask for.
3
Medical school, straight from CEGEP
4 to 5 years
No bachelor's degree needed. McGill and Montréal start with a 1 year preparatory year, Laval and Sherbrooke do not. You need a top R-score (the CEGEP ranking score), the Casper test and interviews.
4
Family medicine residency
2 years
Matched through CaRMS (the residency matching service). 2 years in a university family medicine clinic, in a city or a region, with palliative rotations along the way.
5
Family medicine exam and CMQ (Collège des médecins du Québec) permit
End of residency
Pass the CFPC (College of Family Physicians of Canada) exam. The CMQ, the Quebec college of physicians, then issues your permit once you show French. A Quebec high school diploma counts.
6
Palliative care year
1 year
Apply through CaRMS (the residency matching service) to a 1 year program at Montréal, McGill or Laval. Montréal's leads to the CFPC (College of Family Physicians of Canada) certificate of added competence.

Palliative training in Quebec

Montréal's year, in French, covers adults and children and also comes as a 3 month version for doctors already in practice. McGill's year rotates through Montreal hospitals and palliative homes such as St. Raphael and the Teresa Dellar residence, and French is an asset there. Laval takes family doctors who already hold their Quebec permit. Like every new family doctor, you also need a spot in the PTEM (plans territoriaux d'effectifs médicaux, the territorial staffing plans) to work in a region.

Medical schools in Quebec

Université de Montréal: 1 preparatory year plus 4 years, in French, in Montreal or Trois-Rivières
McGill University: Med-P preparatory year plus 4 years, in English in Montreal or in French in Gatineau
Université Laval: 4 years (or 4.5 to 5 at your own pace in Quebec City), in French, in Quebec City, Lévis or Rimouski
Université de Sherbrooke: 4 years, in French, in Sherbrooke, Longueuil or Chicoutimi

Montréal and Laval set a minimum R-score (the CEGEP ranking score) of 33 for CEGEP applicants in 2026. McGill's Med-P year is only for recent CEGEP graduates.

What helps you get ahead as a palliative care doctor

Things you don't need, but that help.

Ways to shape the job

Home-based palliative care
Visiting patients where they live so they can die at home. Driving, phone calls, and a lot of family support.
Pediatric palliative care
Children with life-limiting illness. A small field, mostly at children's hospitals.
Cancer centre consult service
Pain and symptom control for patients still getting chemotherapy or radiation.
MAID (medical assistance in dying)
Some palliative doctors provide it, many do not. Either choice is respected, and the law lets you decline.

Nice-to-haves

Hospice or long-term care volunteering
Shows you can sit with dying people before you have to lead the room.
Comfort with silence
The best palliative doctors talk less than you would think.
French
Opens Quebec, Ottawa and New Brunswick programs and jobs.
A life outside work
Sport, music, faith, friends. This job takes from you, and you need somewhere to refill.

Keeping a family practice

Many palliative doctors split the week: 2 or 3 days in a hospice or on home visits, the rest in a family practice or emergency shifts. It spreads the emotional load, keeps general skills sharp, and lets rural doctors cover both roles for their town.

What being a palliative care doctor is really like

Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.

What a palliative care doctor does day to day

8 a.m. rounds on the palliative unit with the nurses: adjusting pain medication, a patient short of breath, a family who wants to take their dad home. Late morning, a family meeting in a quiet room about what the next weeks could look like. Afternoon home visits, one to three, sometimes an hour each. Calls with the family doctor and the pharmacy. Some nights you carry the hospice phone. Deaths happen on your watch, and you learn to sit with that.

The honest pros and cons of being a palliative care doctor

The good

One of the shortest routes to a specialist role
The work matters and families tell you so
More regular hours than most of medicine
Demand everywhere, from big cities to small towns

The hard parts

The emotional load is real and it builds
Long visits and no procedures to bill
You cannot fix a shortage of home care or hospice beds
Families in crisis can turn their anger on you

Work life

Typical hours: 40 to 50 a week, plus phone call
Remote work: Some phone and video visits
Physical demand: Low, plus driving for home visits
Unionized: Residents yes; staff doctors only if hospital employees

Similar paths

Things nobody tells you about being a palliative care doctor

Things people don't tell you.

Palliative does not mean giving up

Palliative care is support for serious illness at any age and in any setting. It can start at diagnosis, alongside treatment, not only in the last days.

The door in is family medicine

Most palliative doctors start in family medicine, which had 1,858 first-year residency spots in the 2026 match, by far the most of any field. 255 were still open after the first round.

Training fills a gap

Pallium Canada runs palliative care courses for doctors, nurses and other clinicians across the country, because most get little of it in their basic training.

How a palliative care doctor compares

Every list is built from the same numbers shown above, so you can see where this career sits next to the others.

More health careers in Canada

Doctors first, then the rest of the field. See every career in health.

Where these numbers come from

Last checked October 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in Canadian dollars, based on Government of Canada Job Bank wage data and published salary grids. They vary by province, employer and experience. Tuition is for domestic students. How every figure on this site is sourced and checked.