The surgeon for babies, children and teens, from newborns born with organs outside the body to appendicitis. General surgery first, then two more years. One of the smallest specialties in Canada.
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The median pay is about $419,000 a year. Across everyone in the job it runs from about $144,000 at the lower end to about $767,000 at the upper end. The source is listed under Sources at the end of this page.
13 to 15 years after high school, on the usual route.
$79,000 to $175,000 all in for tuition, fees, exams and kit. Living costs are not counted.
Yes. It is a regulated job, so you need a licence or registration before you can work.
Good demand nationally, from government outlook data. Demand varies by region, so check your area.
Or read the whole thing here
What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Median
$419,000
Lower end
$144,000
Upper end
$767,000
These are Job Bank (the Government of Canada job site) figures for all surgeons together, a year, from 2023 to 2024. Job Bank pools every surgical specialty in one group, so this is not a pediatric surgery figure. Nearly every pediatric surgeon in Canada works at a university children's hospital on a salaried or blended plan.
$73,000 to $109,000
A year in Ontario from July 1, 2025, in postgraduate years 1 to 7 (PGY1 to PGY7), over the 7 years of residency
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 pediatric years come after a full general surgery residency, and you are still carrying medical school debt.
About $509,000
The Job Bank median for surgeons in Alberta, one of the highest in Canada
Ontario's median is about $404,000 and Quebec's about $397,000. Like the national figure, these pool every surgical specialty.
Roughly, all in
$79,000 to $175,000
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The low end is three years of undergraduate study and a three year medical degree at cheaper Canadian schools, plus the MCAT (Medical College Admission Test), the MCCQE (Medical Council of Canada Qualifying Examination) and both Royal College exams, one in general surgery and one in pediatric surgery. The high end is four years of each at the most expensive schools with a longer application run. The seven or more years of residency and fellowship after medical school are paid, so they add fees and time but not tuition. Malpractice cover runs into tens of thousands a year once you are practising, which is a working cost rather than a cost of getting qualified.
Typical debt at the end of medical school is $80,000 to $150,000. Seven years of residency pay slows the bleeding but rarely pays it off.
Academic contract
Protected research and teaching time. Some hospital-employed surgeons join a public pension plan.
On-call stipends
Hospitals pay extra for covering nights and weekends.
Malpractice coverage
Through the CMPA (Canadian Medical Protective Association). Provinces reimburse part of the fee.
A full team around you
Child life specialists, pediatric anesthesiologists and neonatal nurses. Nobody does this alone.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
Every doctor's road, a full surgical residency, then a second match into one of the smallest programs in Canada.
High school
Grades 11 and 12
Top marks in biology, chemistry, math and English. You need a very high average for a science undergrad.
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).
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. Surgery and pediatrics electives earn the reference letters that decide the match.
General surgery residency
5 years
Matched through CaRMS (the residency matching service). Adult surgery: abdomen, breast, trauma, with in-hospital call from year one. Pediatric surgery rotations happen along the way.
Pediatric surgery subspecialty
2 years
A second match near the end of general surgery. Newborn surgery for birth defects, childhood cancer surgery, trauma, and the everyday: appendix, hernias, swallowed objects. Pass the Royal College exam to become FRCSC (Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Canada), then register with your provincial College of Physicians and Surgeons.
Biology and chemistry
Required for nearly every pre-med path.
Calculus and functions
Physics
Tested on the MCAT (medical school admission test).
English
You will explain surgery to terrified parents and to 6-year-olds, in the same conversation.
You need a licence from your provincial College of Physicians and Surgeons to practise, and Royal College certification in pediatric surgery to work as one. Children's hospitals will not grant operating privileges without both. The credential is national, so moving provinces is paperwork and fees, but there are only a few children's hospitals to move between.
In Quebec you apply to medical school straight from CEGEP (public college), with no bachelor's degree first.
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.
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.
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.
General surgery residency
5 years
Matched through CaRMS (the residency matching service). 5 years. Montréal trains in French at hospitals in Montreal, Laval, Trois-Rivières and Saguenay.
Pediatric surgery residency
2 years
2 more years. McGill's program is based at the Montreal Children's Hospital, with optional time at Sainte-Justine. Montréal's 2 year program selects through the NRMP (National Resident Matching Program, the US-run match).
Royal College exam, CMQ (Collège des médecins du Québec) permit and a hospital post
End of residency
The CMQ, the Quebec college of physicians, issues your permit once you show French. Then you need a spot in a hospital's medical staffing plan, which the health ministry sets.
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.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Neonatal surgery
Operating on babies born days or hours earlier, some weighing under a kilogram.
Pediatric surgical oncology
Removing childhood tumours of the kidney, liver and adrenal gland.
Trauma
Injured children at the big trauma centres.
Research
Rare conditions mean every centre shares data. Academic pediatric surgeons lead the studies.
Time with kids
Camps, coaching, hospital volunteering. Being at ease with a scared 4-year-old is a skill.
Surgery electives and research in med school
The match is decided by letters from surgeons who watched you work.
Patience with parents
You treat the child, but you manage the whole family.
French
Opens Quebec, Ottawa and New Brunswick programs and jobs.
Pediatric surgeons work at children's hospitals, and Canada has only a small number of them, all in big cities. A new graduate may wait for a job to open or take a position far from home. Some spend a year or two abroad in a fellowship while a Canadian post appears. Plan for that before you commit.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
7 a.m. rounds in the neonatal intensive care unit and the surgical ward. First case: a hernia repair on a toddler, 45 minutes. Then a newborn whose bowel did not form properly, a delicate 3-hour operation with an anesthesiologist who specializes in babies. Afternoon clinic: kids with lumps, undescended testicles, chest wall shapes, and parents with a lot of questions. On call about one night in four; appendicitis and swallowed batteries do not wait.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
Health Canada warns that a swallowed button battery can cause severe internal chemical burns in as little as 2 hours. Toddlers are most at risk, and removing one is a race, not a wait-and-see.
Babies born with the intestine outside the body (gastroschisis) need surgery soon after birth. So they are best born at a hospital with a newborn intensive care unit.
Every list is built from the same numbers shown above, so you can see where this career sits next to the others.
Surgeons first, then the rest of the field. See every career in health.
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.
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