Dalhousie halts cardiac training at Saint John hospital over harassment allegations

In November, without warning, Dalhousie University pulled the plug. Every medical student and resident training in cardiology at Saint John Regional Hospital and the New Brunswick Heart Centre was told to stop showing up. Effective immediately. The reason: some learners had complained about harassment, intimidation, racism, and sexism in the workplace.

The university sent an internal memo on November 10th announcing the pause. It cited feedback from students and trainees describing behaviours "consistent with intimidation/harassment/racism/sexism," along with concerns about inadequate supervision, particularly during overnight shifts. Nearly seven months later, the public learned what had happened—not from official channels, but from CBC News obtaining the memo. The university has released no information about how many people complained, who they accused, or what specific incidents triggered the decision.

Ben Peterson, president of the Dalhousie Medical Students' Society, which represents about 550 undergraduates across the Saint John and Halifax campuses, said the suddenness of the announcement conveyed the gravity of the situation. "When something comes across your email and it says, 'Effective immediately, students are not to be in the space,' I think that the gravity and the seriousness comes across," he said. At any given time, roughly 20 Dalhousie students rotate through various departments at the Saint John hospital, typically spending 10 to 12 weeks in each specialty. The cardiac unit was a major part of that pipeline.

Mario Jones, a 31-year-old medical resident from Blacks Harbour who previously worked as a nurse, was set to begin his first year of internal medicine training in Saint John with a cardiology rotation scheduled for four to six months out. He had spent two or three months at the New Brunswick Heart Centre before the pause and described his experience as positive, though he acknowledged the environment could be "difficult at times, maybe even harsh." Still, he said the staff and physicians seemed genuinely interested in creating a more welcoming space and bringing learners back. For Jones and others like him, the removal from training felt like a significant loss. The New Brunswick Heart Centre is one of very few places in Canada that performs both cardiac catheterizations and cardiac surgery—a rare combination outside major urban centres. It is widely regarded as the "crown jewel" of the province's medical education program, one of the reasons many students choose to train in New Brunswick.

Dalhousie officials declined to be interviewed. A spokesperson for the faculty of medicine, Jason Bremner, issued a statement saying the university "takes all allegations of harassment seriously" but could not comment on specifics due to privacy. Last year, Dalhousie launched an office of professional affairs to investigate complaints of mistreatment, with an anonymous online reporting portal. Horizon Health Network, which operates the hospital, also declined an interview. Dr. Susan Brien, senior vice-president of medical, academic and research affairs, said Horizon takes allegations of workplace harassment seriously but referred to the matter as "an internal matter" and offered no further details.

Neither Bremner nor Brien answered questions about the investigation's status or any disciplinary action. Dr. Jean-François Légaré, interim medical director and clinical head of cardiac surgery at the New Brunswick Heart Centre, told CBC he was "unaware of any formal investigation into harassment"—a statement that raised more questions than it answered. He did not clarify what he meant by "formal." The regulatory body for the province's physicians, the New Brunswick College of Physicians and Surgeons, did not respond to requests for comment. Maritime Resident Doctors, an advocacy group, declined to comment.

Peterson said students were surprised by the removal. The transition from classroom learning to clinical work is already difficult for many, and the added stress of a workplace environment that "doesn't always function as it's intended to" compounded the challenge. Yet he expressed some satisfaction that Dalhousie was taking the allegations seriously and had put contingency plans in place. Students were offered the option to do cardiac rotations at other sites, such as Moncton Hospital, or to spend that rotation period in another specialty. Jones remained hopeful his Saint John cardiac rotation would eventually proceed as scheduled, expressing confidence in the physicians there and their commitment to teaching. What remains unclear is when—or if—Dalhousie students and residents will return to the cardiac training program that once drew them to New Brunswick in the first place.