Nova Scotia·NewClasses begin in a week at the Cape Breton Medical Campus, where students commit to practising medicine in rural Nova Scotia communities for five years after their studies.Construction of the Cape Breton Medical Campus isn’t final yet, so classes begin at former NSCC buildingAnna Rak · CBC News · Posted: Aug 26, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 31 minutes agoA rendering is shown of the Cape Breton Medical Campus. (Cape Breton University)Classes begin in a week at the Cape Breton Medical Campus, where students commit to practising medicine in rural Nova Scotia communities for five years after their studies.Student Jamey Toney-Gagne, who is from Eskasoni First Nation, is looking forward to working in a Mi’kmaw community after graduation.”Rural medicine is really important to me because I want to be able to show up for people that are not necessarily seen or represented and also make care more accessible for folks,” she said.The medical campus is a partnership between Dalhousie Medical School and Cape Breton University in Sydney.The school’s 30 students are all from Nova Scotia and have signed contracts to work in the province afterwards.”We are fortunate in the sense that there is definitely a lot of opportunity for rural family medicine,” said Toney-Gagne, who wants to specialize in pediatrics after working as a family doctor.An April 2025 photo shows the medical campus under construction. Students will begin their studies at the Nova Scotia Community College’s former Sydney campus until the medical campus opens, which is expected later this year. (Tom Ayers/CBC)The school is part of the provincial government’s efforts to get more doctors working in rural areas. It’s funding the cost of building the medical school, as well as its operational costs for two years.”This is a really important pillar in the overall fix to health care in the province that puts us in a good place for the long term,” Premier Tim Houston said last year.Temporary homeClasses are temporarily operating out of the Nova Scotia Community College’s former Sydney campus because the new medical sciences building is under construction at Cape Breton University, but it is expected to open later this year.The students are expected to learn about the local population’s medical needs, including those of Indigenous and Black Nova Scotian descent, which CBU says would be applicable in rural settings throughout the province.Dr. Jennifer Hall, senior associate dean of CBU’s medical campus, said the school will help improve health care in the province.”Having the Cape Breton Medical Campus in place, allows us to do more of the training in those communities, large and small, around Nova Scotia that would benefit to have more physicians in those communities,” she said.MORE TOP STORIESABOUT THE AUTHORAnna Rak is a reporter for CBC Cape Breton.
Classes for CBU’s new medical school start in a week out of temporary home
