An attraction of the McGill program is its location in a cosmopolitan bilingual milieu. The language of instruction for all educational sessions is English. In the clinical setting, while most McGill-affiliated hospitals provide a primarily English work environment, the patient population includes many French-speaking patients. In addition, residents are expected to complete a rural rotation, which will often take place in a francophone milieu.
Since 2016, our program is no longer in a position to accept unilingual Anglophone or Francophone candidates due to various significant factors (Collège des médecins du Québec warning, patient safety, and clinical exposure). Residents will not be allowed to choose patients based on language proficiency.
Incoming residents to our program will be expected to conduct a simple assessment in both English and French. Residents are provided with various sources of support both internal and external to learn French and English as it pertains to a psychiatric evaluation.