Real-time emergency room wait times for 797 hospitals across every province, sourced directly from official health authority data. Updated every 5 minutes — free, no sign-up required.
221 of 797 Canadian emergency departments are reporting live wait time data. The national average wait is 4h 46m. 9 ERs are currently closed or operating under advisory.
Wait times vary widely by province, time of day, and day of week. Overnight waits tend to be longer than midday due to reduced staffing, even though fewer patients arrive. ERstat tracks these patterns for every hospital so you can plan when to go.
Every Canadian emergency department uses the Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale (CTAS) to prioritize patients by the severity of their condition, not by arrival time. When you arrive at an ER, a triage nurse evaluates your symptoms and assigns a level from 1 (resuscitation — immediate) to 5 (non-urgent). Patients with more serious conditions are always seen first.
The wait time displayed on ERstat is the estimated time from registration at triage to being seen by a physician. It does not include time for diagnostic tests, imaging, specialist consultations, treatment, or discharge. Your actual time in the emergency department will be longer than the posted wait.
Posted wait times are averages based on patients currently in the department. If you arrive with a serious condition, you may be seen well before the displayed wait. Conversely, patients with minor conditions may wait longer than the average if the department is managing several high-acuity cases.
Canada has no national ER wait time system. Each province manages its own health data independently, and transparency varies dramatically. Five provinces publish real-time data; five publish nothing. ERstat aggregates every available source into a single platform.
Live data as of Apr 16, 6:31 p.m. AT. New Brunswick wait times measure total visit length rather than time-to-physician and are not directly comparable to other provinces.
ERstat pulls wait time data directly from provincial health authority systems — the same sources hospitals use internally. There is no manual data entry and no delay beyond what the source provides. Data freshness ranges from every 2 minutes (Alberta, Nova Scotia) to every 15–30 minutes (Ontario, Quebec) depending on the province.
For provinces and hospitals without official data, ERstat supports crowdsourced wait reports. Patients can submit their wait time after visiting the ER, and healthcare workers can report live status through the ERstat Hospital Portal. Crowdsourced reports are clearly labelled to distinguish them from official data.
ERstat checks every data source every 5 minutes. If a source stops responding, that hospital is marked as “data unavailable” rather than showing stale numbers. For full methodology and data source details, see the ERstat Transparency Report.
Open erstat.ca on any device — phone, tablet, or computer. The map shows every ER in Canada colour-coded by current wait time: green for under 2 hours, yellow for 2–5 hours, red for over 5 hours. Tap any marker to see the full detail view with live wait, forecast, and nearby alternatives.
You can also browse by province or city to find specific hospitals. Every hospital page includes a 12-hour forecast chart showing predicted wait times, a “Best Time to Visit” pattern based on historical data, and a list of the nearest alternative ERs with current waits and driving distance.
For alerts, you can sign up to receive push notifications, email, or SMS when your local ER closes, reopens, or when wait times exceed a threshold you set. Alerts are free and require no account.
Many conditions that bring people to the emergency room can be treated faster and closer to home. Canadian pharmacists can now assess and prescribe for dozens of common conditions — from UTIs and pink eye to allergies and skin infections — often with no wait and no appointment.
Use the ERstat Care Guide to check whether your condition needs the ER, a walk-in clinic, or a pharmacist visit. Or browse what your pharmacist can treat by province.
If you are experiencing a medical emergency — chest pain, difficulty breathing, stroke symptoms, severe bleeding, or loss of consciousness — call 911 immediately. Do not check wait times for life-threatening conditions.
See live wait times, closures, and the best time to visit — for 797 hospitals across Canada.
Open the live map →Work at a Canadian ER? Report your wait times — free, takes 30 seconds.
Hospital administrator? Manage your ER listing on ERstat.