Born February 22, 1923 Summerland, British Columbia. Died April 22, 2013, Vancouver, British Columbia. Jean attended Victoria Normal School to train as a teacher in 1943. She taught school on Salt Spring Island and in Penticton. Her beau was killed service overseas during World War ll. Jean relocated to Toronto to attend the United Church Training School with the intention of serving with the Women's Missionary Service. Jean switched her studies to earn a Bachelor degree from the University of Toronto taking additional additional courses from the United Church Training School (UCTS) at the same time. She also did summer field work with the U C T S until she received her diploma as a Deaconess in 1952. Returning west Jean worked with the Religious Education Council of Alberta.

née Norris. Born November 30, 1842, Canso, Nova Scotia. Died September 14, 1919, Toronto, Ontario.Maria attended normal school (teacher's college) in Truro, Nova Scotia in 1860-1861.  She taught in Canso young Micmac children from nearby islands and herself made the effort to learn Micmac.  In 1866 she converted to the Baptist faith. By 1868 she was teaching at the Baptist Grand Pre Seminary in Wolfeville, Nova Scotia. It was during this time that she followed her heart and faith and offered herself to the Baptist Convention of the Maritimes for service in Burma.  She was an unmarried woman and the Convention were not sure of sending her as a missionary.  Eventually, after she studied the Karen languages and obtained funding from the Baptist women's organization the Convention promised to consider her petition. In June 1870 she founded the Women's Baptist Missionary Aid Society in Canso. She went on to form 32 additional centres of Baptist Women in  Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. September 21, 1870 she sailed for Rangoon to work in a school in Bassein.  By January 1874 seven  additional missionaries from the Maritime Convention joined Hannah. She Married William F. Armstrong (died 1918), a fellow missionary. In 1875 the couple were serving in India. In 1880 they retuned to Canada to improve their health. They returned to Burma under the auspices of the American Baptist Missionary Union.  The couple  served for 40 years in India and Burma.  Maria returned to Canada after the death of her husband.  She had been the moving cause for foreign missions in Canada. (2023)

Born September 8, 1909, Glen Allen, Ontario. Died July 25, 1998, Toronto, Ontario. Addie moved to Toronto during the depression of the 1930's and worked as a domestic servant while she attended evening classes at Central Technical School in Toronto. She then attended and graduated in 1945 from the Medical Missionary College and the Toronto Bible College. She became affiliated with the British Methodist Episcopal Church where the pastor encouraged her to become a deaconess. In 1944 she was serving in Africville, Nova Scotia and moved to serve in Halifax, Montreal and then Toronto. She served in British Methodist Episcopal Churches in Toronto, Halifax, Nova Scotia  and Owen Sound, Ontario. In 1951 She became the first ordained Black woman in Canada. Her first church was in North Buxton, Ontario and then she moved on to Montreal, Toronto and finally Owen Sound, Ontario. Source: Addie Aylestock . David Spencer Educational Pages  (accessed  2011) (2023); Canadian Encyclopedia online (accessed 2024)

Born 1835, Summertown, Ontario. Died May 30, 1909, Dundee Centre, Quebec. After completing her schooling she became a teacher and taught in Fort Covington, New York, U.S.A. She went on to hold classes in a New Jersey, U.S.A. at a women's school and then moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.A. where she was co-owner of a woman's school just prior to the American Civil War. By 1878 she was back home in Summertown's Glengary County teaching at a private school. In 1879 she became the first Presbyterian woman missionary when she travelled to Prince Albert in the Canadian North West area that is now Saskatchewan. When she arrived in the Canadian North West she, at first, taught children of early settlers and some Métis and Cree children from the settlement. She earned a permanent teaching grant at the Prince Albert mission school in 1880. In 1890 she moved to the Makkoce Washte reserve in what is now South Dakota, U.S.A. where she served as chief instructor for Sioux Refugees. Learning the Sioux language, she taught here until her retirement in 1905. Some of her papers are maintained in the Provincial Archives of Saskatchewan. Source: Provincial Archives of Saskatchewan (accessed 2022); Find a Grave Canada. (accessed 2022)

née Kapila. Born April 4, 1924, Sahnewal, India. Died November 15, 2013, Toronto, Ontario. Sarla's family moved to British Kenya where they lived in the segregated Indian community. The family could not afford to send Sarla to England to University as she wanted so she became a teacher in Nairobi, Kenya. While teaching she cared for her parents and her brothers. In 1946 she married Gobind Bedi. The couple were married over 60 years and had four children. In 1972, seeking to escape unrest in East Africa the family immigrated to Canada and settled in Toronto. In 1976 Sarla became the first woman to be registered as an Hindu priest in Ontario. She enjoyed serving her Hindu faith community. She was proud of her new home and new life and refused to move to the U.S.A. to be with her son in her later years, preferring to stay at home in Toronto. Source: Lives Lived: Sarla Bedi by Nilam Bedi. Globe and Mail May 7, 2014. Suggestion submitted by June Coxon, Ottawa, Ontario.

Born April 30, 1897, Saint Roch parish. Quebec. Died September 4, 1929, Sillery, Quebec. In 1903 she began her education at the convent school of Saint Roch. In 1909 she continued her studies at Notre Dame de Jacques Cartier. In 1911 she ented convent boarding school but by 1913 was home with her parents. She studied piano and attained a teaching diploma. Her parents ent her to New York in the United States to learn music in 1916. She entered convent life becoming a third Order Dominican and taking the name of St. Catherine of Siena. August 11 1921 she entered the Religieuses of Jésus-Marie and took the name of Marie de Sainte Cecile de Rome. She became a piano teacher. She contracted scarlet fever in 1923 and it degenerated into Tubculosis from which she never fully recovered. The cure in 1939 of the infant Jules Caiasson of New Brunswick considered a miracle attributed to her. Salle Dina Belanger and the Quebec Music Festival Dina Belanger and the College Dina Belanger de Saint-Michel-de-Bellechasse are named in her honour.  A musical based on her life was in 2008. In 1956 the beautification cause was opened (a step towards sainthood in the Catholic Church) In May 1989 she was declared Venerable. In March 1993 she was beatified. Source: D C B (2024)

Born 1943, Rimouski, Quebec. Louise is a a member of the Sisters of Charity of Quebec. In 1975 she began a career as a psychosocial worker for the Social Services Centre of Quebec where she worked with children and deaf adults. In 1979 she earned her BA in Social Work from the Université de Sherbrooke. That same year she helped found the Charlesbourg Institute of the Deaf and Hani A (now Centre Signes d'Espoire) the only community centre in Quebec for deaf adults with disabilities. In 1986 she founded Auberge de Sourds, a home for deaf people with multiple disabilities. She also helped found the Regional Interpretation Service of Eastern Quebec. To help fund these homes she wrote the book, Des gestes pour le dire in 1995. Returning to university in 191 she earned her Master's degree from Université Laval. In 2000 she was make a member of the Order of Canada and i2002 she was presented with the Queen Elizabeth ll Golden Jubilee Medal. In 2005 she became a Chevalier of the Ordre national du Québec and the Université Laval presented her with the Médaille Gloire de L'Escolle. In 2010 she became a member of the Académie des Grands Québécois  (2019)

Born April 18, 1809, Terrebonne, Lower Canada (now Quebec) Died January 2, 1890, Lachine, Quebec. When Ester was 20 she began working as a domestic servant to a local family.  She was later hired to work for the Sisters of the Congregation of Notre Dame of Montreal.  It was while working with the Congregation that she learned to read and write. In 1833 she became a novitiate of the Congregation. Ill health prevented her from staying with the sisters. Esther began working as a teacher for anther convent school, Académie Blondin. In 1848 she applied to the Bishop of Montreal, Ignace Bourget to found a religious congregation to help educate poor children, both boys and girls. At this time, education for girls was often overlooked. September 13, 1848, a novitiate was opened for the the Congregation of the Daughters of Saint Anne. Esther took the religious name of Sister Marie Anne and took her vows on September 8, 1850. Mother Marie Anne was the Superior. Conflict arose with Abbé Louis-Adolphe Marcechal and Mother Marie Anne was asked to resign as Superior. In 1855 she was moved to Sainte-Genevieve as director of the school. In 1858 she was again transferred and moved again, this time to Lachine which was the new motherhouse where she served doing domestic chores. In 1972 and 1878 she was elected as General Assistant in the General Chapters by the sisters but was denied permission to attend meeting. However, after 50 there was a movement for recognition for this founder and in 1950 permission was given to further the cause of sainthood in Rome. In 1956 the first complete biography was published called; Martyre de silence. In 1991 she was declared Venerable by the Pope. Certification of a miracle was accepted and she was beatified April 29, 2001, this being one of the steps to being declared a Saint.  (2024)

née Cox. Born February 24, 1830, London, England. Died January 21, 1917, Montreal, Quebec. As a young woman she had lived with her family in Italy where she became fluent in the Iranian language. She married the Anglican minister Rev. William Carpenter Bompas on May 7, 1874 and the couple arrived at Fort Simpson in the Canadian north in September 1874. He was the new Anglican Bishop of Athabasca.  It was no doubt a shock to live in a log cabin. She “Carried on” at home while her husband was forced to travel for long periods of time throughout the Canadian Northwest. She learned the local language and took interest in local native women. In 1876 she traveled to Fort Chipewyan, Alberta to help establish a new mission. She taught music to the children and organized youth choirs. She also adopted 3 children but unfortunately 2 died at an early are. She was concerned with health of the people and supported homeopathic remedies. Ill health took her to England in 1883.  She used her time in England to fundraise for her northern Canadian missions. She also befriended and inspired the unmarried Anglican church women missionaries and missionary wives providing support wherever she could. Back in the northwest in 1886/7 she was forced again with ill health to recuperate in Montreal until 1892 when she joined her husband at Forty Mile on the Yukon River. After a trip to England to help a sick sister she returned to embrace the miners of the Klondike gold rush into her fold. In 1901 the couple moved to permanent headquarters at Caribou Crossing (now Carcross). In 1904 she undertook a tour of Southern Ontario and Quebec raising funds to build a new church. After the death of her husband in June 1906 she retired to Montreal where she was often inspiring others about mission work. Extracts of her letters and journals were published in London in 1929. Source: Dictionary of Canadian Biography Vol. Xiv Online (accessed December 2013)

Born June 22, 1946, Glace Bay, Nova Scotia. She earned her bachelor of arts in religious studies and a Master’s degree in Theological Studies. On June 21, 1969 she was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Salvation Army after she had completed officer training for two years. As a Captain she taught at the College for Officer Training in Toronto. Promoted to the level of a Commanding officer she worked at the Kitchener Corps and earned the Rank of Major. From Kitchener she went to serve at the Officer Training College in St John’s Newfoundland as Assistant Training Principal. In 1991 she served as divisional secretary of the Maritime Division and in 1993 she became Commander of the Maritime Division. In 1995 she earned the rank of Lieutenant and was posted to London, England at International Salvation Army Headquarters. By 1998 she was Divisional Commander of the Central North Division of England. On November 1, 1999 as a new colonel she was back in Canada where she worked as Chief Secretary for the Canada and Bermuda Territory. In July 2002 she was promoted to Commissioner of U.S.A., Western Territory. As Territorial Commissioner she was also Commander and Territorial President of Women’s Ministries. In 2005 she was appointed to International as Secretary for Life and Development and International External Relations. In May 2008 she was off to Australia to take over the Eastern Territory. On January 31, 2011 she was elected as General of the Salvation Army. Source: The Salvation Army. online (accessed May 2013)

Born April 17, 1620 Troyes, France.  Died January 12, 1700, Ville Marie (now Montreal), New France, (now Quebec). Marguerite came to Canada as a nun to work in the colony of New France. She would founded the Congregation de Notre-Dame de Montreal to encourage young women to work for their community with Devine guidance. She is credited with developing one of the first uncloistered religious communities in the Catholic Church. The Order taught and set up schools in New France. In 1683 she stepped down but stayed on as the figurehead of the Congregation until 1693.  Over the decades the bishop of New France attempted to make the Congregation cloistered part of the Ursulines Sisters but never succeeded. On July 1, 1698 the congregation was canonically accepted as a community. In 1878 she was declared venerable (first step to sainthood) by Pope Leo Xlll. She was beatified (a step to become a Saint) on November 12, 1950. May 30 1975 Canada Post issued a commemorative stamp of Marguerite Bourgeoys. She was canonized October 31, 1982 as the first female Canadian Saint. Today the order has several thousand members and has expanded their work to the USA and Japan. Mother Marguerite Bourgeoys was canonized ( declared a Saint in the Roman Catholic Church) in October 1982. (2024)

Born 1870, Ireland. Died 1962. In 1893 she was the first unmarried woman Anglican Missionary sent to the Canadian Yukon. She arrived from Ireland in 1893 and went directly to Forty Mile Creek, Yukon.  She would marry Reverend R.J. Bowen who arrived in the Yukon in 1895. In 1897 the couple were recalled from Alaska to go to Dawson City, Yukon Territory. Here they built the 1st log church, St. Paul’s. In 1899 Rev. Bowen became ill with typhoid fever and had to return to England to recover. On  August 1, 1900 he was back, this time serving in Whitehorse, Yukon. He held services in a tent until a new log church was built in October. The original log church is now a museum. By May 1903 he became ill again forcing the couple to leave the far north, serving instead in Nanaimo and Ladysmith, British Columbia. They finally settled in London, Ontario. Source:  Five Pioneer woman of the Anglican Church in the Yukon. Anglican Church of Canada, Women’s Auxiliary Yukon Diocesan Board, 1964; I wish the men were half as good. Gender constrictions in the Canadian North-Western Mission Field 1860-1940 by Myra Rutherdale. Online (accessed December 2013)

Born September 30, 1886, Eramosa Township, Ontario. Died October 28, 1982, Cambridge, Ontario. Janet trained as a nurse  as did two of her sisters. While her sisters opted to become Nursing Sisters during World War l (1914-1918) in 1917 Janet went to China as a medical missionary supported by the Presbyterian Church's Womens Missionary Society. She worked in Honan Province, China with Dr. Menzies. The doctor was killed in 1920 by Japanese in his attempts to save Janet and another nurse. She later worked with Dr. Robert McClure. (2023)

Born August 13, 1877 Saint-Ramain-la-Virvé, France. Died March 17, 1963, Ottawa, Ontario. She taught in France and Italy and 1904 she sailed to Massachusetts in North America. In 1906, taking her final vows in her Dominical Order, she took the name Sister Marie Thomas d’Aquin. In 1914 she arrived in Ottawa to serve at l’ Institute Jeanne D’arc. Setting up a school or young girls. She founded the congregation of Sisters of Jeanne d‘Arc. She became Mother Superior until 1942. An accomplished poet she published books in 1924, 1928 and 1945. She was a member of the Society of Authors and Poets. IN 1932 she received la Médaille de Vermeil de l’institut de France. In 1956 she received La Croix de la Legion d'Honeur from her home country of France. Source: ‘Jeanne Lydia Branda dite Mère Marie Thomas D’Aquin’. Ottawa Raconte-Moi Online (accessed July 2015)

Born March 19, 1818, L'Assomption, Lower Canada (now Quebec). Died April 5, 1876, Ottawa, Ontario. In the 1840's Bytown (now Ottawa) was a rough and tumble timber town with little or no social services and no schools for its large French-Canadian population. It was Sister Elisabeth, who, in 1845, answered the call for service. In 1839 she entered the Sisters of Charity of the Hôpital Générale de Montréal. The sisters were commonly known as the Grey Nuns. By March 3, 1845, one of the first bilingual schools in Upper Canada, was inaugurated. By May 10 a ten bed hospital was operating. By June there was organized care for the poor and sick. When an epidemic came in 1847 the services handled over 600 patients and later organized an orphanage to help the some 15 children left destitute. In 1856 the Sisters of Charity of Bytown became independent of the Montreal mother house and by 1876 they had opened some 25 houses to serve in Ontario, Quebec and New York State in the U.S.A. April 14, 2018 Poe Francis declared Elizabeth Bruyère Venerable, a major step to sainthood. (2022)

Born 1837, Paris, Upper Canada (now Ontario). Died November 21, 1904, Toronto, Ontario. A dedicated Baptist she taught Sunday School at churches she attended. She also established at churches she attended classes for young Women. In 1873 she was one of the founders of the Young Women's Christian Association (Y W C A) in Toronto for which she served as secretary for 20 years. In 1876 Jane and her sisters Margeret and Erskine became leaders in the Women's Baptist Foreign Missionary Society for Ontario West. Margaret and Jane established the Canadian Missionary Link, a periodical with Jane as business manager. The publication would grow to 5,000 subscriptions. In 1886 jane became corresponding secretary for the Women's Missionary Society, an unpaid position she held until her death. Her annual reports appeared in her own periodicals as well as the Baptist Year Book of Ontario. By 1904 the Women's Baptist Foreign Missionary Society of Ontario had several hundred groups upon which they could draw support. Jane's work was appreciated so much that Canadian Missionaries in India named a bungalow in her honour in Vuyyuru Hospital in Andhra Pradish India. Source: D C B

Born 1824 Kingdom of Hanover, Germany. Died June 13, 1868, Toronto, Ontario. Marie Bunning 9sometimes written Von Bunning) followed Sister  Sister Delphine Fontbonne (1813-1856) to live in St. Louis, Missouri. When she was 21 she became a noviciate with the Sisters of St. Joseph and took her final vows in 1848 becoming Sister Mary Martha.  She continued to served the orphanage in St. Louis. In 1850 Sister Mary Martha went with Sister Delphine to operate an orphanage in Philadelphia, U.S.A..  She also helped with a school and a hospital and was appointed the superior of St. Ann's Widows' Asylum in Philadelphia. She again accompanied Mother Delphine this time to served in Canada in Toronto where they opened orphanage. On April 9, 1852 she moved to Hamilton, Ontario where she was appointed the first superior of an orphanage.  In 1853 seperate schools in Hamilton came under the care of the Sisters of St. Joseph. The community provided support with the annual event called the Orphan's Festival for over 100 years. In 1856 the orphanage received a government grant which was annually increased. The Sisters also cared for immigrants to the city. By 1856 the convent became the motherhouse and noviciate for the Hamilton dioceses with a new building in 1857. Sister Mary Martha opened branch houses in Paris, Brantford, and Oakvill and included a hospital and home for the destitute in Guelph in 1861.Mother Mary Martha resigned in the summer of 1862 and she returned to teach in St. Louis. She was on a visit to Toronto when she died. Source: D C B

 Sister Ethelberta

née Elsie Burnstein. Born  September 16, 1900 Frankfurt, Germany. Died March 2, 1988. She took her religious vows in 1923 with the Sisters of Precious Blood. She served her 1st years in The Netherlands. In 1951 she led her order to Canada and founded St Bernard’s Convalescent Hospital in North York, Ontario. In 1958 the hospital went public and Sister Ethelberta served as hospital administrator until she retired in 1982.

Born January 27, 1794, Lavaltrie, Lower Canada (now Quebec). Died April 5, 1864, Montreal, Quebec. On October 7, 1811 Marie-Rosalie married Jean-Marie Jetté and the couple had eleven children. After the death of her husband, June 14, 1832, the widow Jetté looked after several unwanted unwed mothers. The Roman Catholic Bishop Ignace Bourget (1799-1885) felt that there was a need to have a new religious community to care for unwed mothers in the City of Montreal. On May 1, 1845, Marie Rosalie went to live as a penitent and in 1848 became Sister Marie of the Nativity. She would continue to care for unwed mothers and their babies and founded the Congregation of the Sisters of Misericorde to continue this work. In 1849 she obtained training in midwifery. The Sisters would help shift the social views of the plight of unwed mothers to one of understanding rather than disgust and abandonment. By 1853 the sisters had their own convent in Montreal. In the late 1860's Bishop Ignace Bourget proposed her consideration for canonization by the Roman Catholic Church. In 1988 the Centre Rosalie-Cadron-Jetté was established to put forth the cause of her canonisation. In 1989 the proposal was put into effect and her canonization cause was opened. In 2013 Pope Frances declared her as venerable, one of the steps towards being declared a saint. In 2007 Helene Grégoire published: Rosalie Cadron-Jetté: A story of Courage and Compassion in Montreal. In 2008 Spiritual Explorations with Rosalie Cadron-Jetté was published in Montreal. The Misericordia Sisters are still operating with communities in several countries and on multiple continents. Marie Rosalie's childhood home in Lavaltrie, Quebec, is open to visitors. Source: D C B (2024)

née French. Born January 30, 1846, Monivea, Galway, Ireland. Died November 30, 1921. In 1885 she traveled to the Canadian far north Fort McPherson to meet her fiancé, the Rev. Thomas Henry Canham (1852-1947). The famous Riel Rebellion would delay her trip for a whole year. In 1888 the young missionaries were transferred to the area that would become the Yukon Territories. They crossed the rocky mountains by dogsled, open skin boats and barge towed by a river steamer. They would work here in the Yukon for 30 years. The built a schoolhouse in 1892, the oldest known standing structure remaining in Fort Selkirk. Mail came once a year, if weather allowed. The cold was so severe they could not sit for even a meal. Charlotte’s health became poor and the couple eventually retired to Toronto, Ontario. Source: Herstory, the Canadian woman’s Calendar 2008. (Coteau Books, 2007); Five Pioneer women of the Anglican Church in the Yukon. Anglican Church of Canada Women’s Auxiliary Yukon Diocesan Board, 1964.

Born July 11, 1833, Saint Hyacinthe, Lower Canada (now Quebec). Died July 6, 1905, Saint Hyacinthe, Quebec. In 1845 she attended boarding school with the sisters of the congregation of Notre Dame.  After leaving school she returned home living a cloistered existence.  She took the additional name 'Catherine' to honour Saint Catherine of Alexandria. In 1859 it was suggested that she found an order of sisters.  September 14, 1861 a new order was founded consisting of a group of four women living in Catherine's family home dedicated to meditation and prayer. By 1863 they had moved to a convent and Catherine became Mother Superior of the Sisters Adorers of the Precious Blood. By 1902 there were ten convents in North America and Cuba. In 1929 the first formal request was made for canonisation. December 1, 2016 she was declared Venerable, meaning she was proposed for beautification the next step to being considered a Saint in the Catholic Church. Source: D C B

Born 1914, Toronto, Ontario. Died 2004, Toronto, Ontario. Both her parents died when she was young and she was raised by her uncle and found herself drawn to her Anglican religious community. She trained to become a Deaconess in the church and did mission work in areas of rural Saskatchewan. When attending Synod area meeting she was so shy she asked male colleagues to ask questions or make a point on her behalf. While National Synod passed the idea of accepting women as priests the diocese of Rupert’s Land was not do inclined and refused to ordain women. It was not until 1971 that the path was cleared for Ina to become the 1st woman in Saskatchewan to be ordained as a deacon and 5 years later she was called to the Priesthood. In the early 1980’s she retired to live in Toronto where she as an Honorary Assistant at Little Trinity Anglican Church until her death. Source: Herstory; The Canadian Women’s Calendar 2010.

née Faulkner. Born October/November 1840, Stewiacke, Nova Scotia. Died August 12, 1924, Toronto, Ontario. Like many of her time she attended Normal School (Teacher’s Collage), Truro, Nova Scotia. She taught locally and was one of the 1st trained graduate teachers at Model School, a high school in Truro. She volunteer teaching the poor Black residence of the area. As a single woman she was discouraged from following her dream to become a foreign missionary. In 1871 a Baptist minister, George Churchill (d 1908) asked her to marry him and accompany him to do missionary work in Asia. She attended the Women’s Medical College, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. and on September 16, 1873 the couple were married in Truro. They joined a missionary group originally headed for Burma but ended up serving in India. By 1879 the couple had set up their own mission at Bobbili. By 1880 she had established Caste Girl’s School. In 1916 she published with the help of a friend Letters From My Home in India which showed her determination in her missionary life. She remained with her missionary work in India until she retired in February 1921 when she returned to live with her one surviving child, a daughter, in Toronto. Source: D C B (accessed February 9, 2016)

Born 1864, Prince Edward Island. Died October 18, 1905, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. Lavina was a member of the Methodist Women’s Missionary Society in which she chose to work and serve. In 1890 she relocated to British Columbia and worked as Matron of Coqualeetza Missionary School at Sardis in the Fraser Valley. About a year after she became Matron the school was destroyed by fire. She remained to care for students while the new school was opened in 1894 under the name of the Coqualeetza Industrial Institute. In 1895 she was back in her home province of Prince Edward Island where she worked at the Crosby Girl’s School Home. In 1896 through 1902 she was in Port Simpson, British Columbia at a residential school for Aboriginal children. Her goal was to train good Christians and home makers saving the children from what she viewed as an unhealthy indigenous culture. In this era there was no consideration given to the beliefs of aboriginals. Lavina wrote of her work in various Methodist publications. Source: D C B  (accessed April 2014)

Born 1827, Tipperary, Ireland. Died Canada. A young widow Mary Isabella entered the Sisters of Saint Joseph in 1855. In 1858 she was appointed Superior at the House of Providence, Toronto,  Canada West (now Ontario). . In 1868 she was Superior and thf founder of an Orphanage in London, Ontario. In 1870 she was one of two sisters chosen for instruction of female inmates at the Don Jail, Toronto. In 1871 she was Superior and founder of an industrial school for girls. In 1872 she became a member of the General Council of the Sisters of Saint Joseph. She would sever again on this council in 1887 and 1890. In 1883 she oversaw the renovation of the Coburg Convent. In 1890 she was Superior of Notre Dame ddes Anges during which time the industrial school of girls became St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto. Source: For the Least of My Brethren: A Centaury History of St. Michael's Hospital by Irene McDonald online (accessed 2022)

née Martin. Born July 11, 1887, Manitoba. Died October 2, 1958, Minto, Yukon. Kathleen trained as a teacher in Manitoba. As a young woman she moved to Vancouver, British Columbia where she found office work. She applied and fought to be accepted as an Anglican Church missionary. Single woman were not easily accepted for such positions. In 1916 she moved to Fort Selkirk to teach only to find just two students! In 1929 she married Alexander Coward, a local trader and trapper.  She detested the last name so she used the name Cowaret. She traveled to camps tending the sick and as a licensed lay reader to minister to all who would listen. She worked with the local aboriginal population endearing herself to them by learning their language. In 1955 she was elected as the Yukon Diocese representative to the Anglican General Synod.In 1958 she received a Dominion Life membership in the Anglican Women’s Auxiliary and accompanied Bishop and Mrs. Greenwood to England. She became ill on returning to Canada and went directly to hospital. During her time in Fort Selkirk she made films of the area. These films have been deposited the National Archives of Canada. Her gravestone is engraved with the name Kathleen Coward. Sources: Five Pioneer Women of the Anglican Church in the Yukon. Anglican Church of Canada, Women’s Auxiliary, Yukon Diocesan Board 1962; A Guide to Who Lives Beneath Whitehorse Cemeteries. Online (accessed 2019)

Mother Mary Francis

Born 1811, Ireland. Died July 15, 1855. Marianne entered the order of the Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy and in 1840 she received her habit and took the name Sister Mary Francis. May 2, 1842 she and two other sisters left Ireland and landed in Newfoundland in June 1843. They ladies began caring for the sick in their community and by 1843 they had opened a school. By November 1843 she was appointed Mother superior of the Newfoundland mission. She devoted her life to education of the community children and caring for the sick. She was left alone when the two sisters of her order who had come to Newfoundland with her returned to Ireland and she continued her devotion to her order and ser vice to her community. Source D C B (2019)

Born March 30, 1833, Sorel-Tracy, Quebec. Died December 21, 1910, Nicolet. Quebec. Aurélie was educated by the sisters at the Congregation of Notre-Dame. in Berthier. Quebec. After completing her own education she became a teacher near her home. In 1859 she joined the Sisters of Charity of Saint-Hyacinthe and two years later accepted the name Sister Youville.  She would established a new charitable community in 1889 called the Hotel-Dieu de Nicolet. It was a hospital as well as an orphanage and home for the aged. She would serve as the superior general of these Grey Nuns from 1886 through to 1897 and agina from 1900 to 1903. Rue Aurélie Crépeau in Nicolet is named in her honour. Source: D C B

Born May 4, 1898, Hope River, Prince Edward Island. Died September 29, 1994, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. Like many young women of  her province, Ellen attended Prince of Wales College and became a teacher. By 1921 she heard a call from God and became Sister Frances Loyola of the Congregation of St. Martha of Prince Edward Island. ( later this order would allow members to use given names). At 23 she became Superior General of her convent and was known as Mother Loyola. By 1944 she had returned to school and earned her Bachelor of Science in home Economics at St. Francis Xavier University, Nova Scotia. She returned to her beloved PEI and became a teacher at Charlottetown Hospital School of Nursing. Once retired she turned her energies to other services for her home area. She served on the provincial and national Canadian Councils for the Aging in 1966 as well as serving on local senior organizations. In retirement she also found time to write and became involved with writing local history including a chapter on the history of the Catholic Church on the Island. The University of Prince Edward Island offers an academic Award in her honour. In 2006 she was awarded the PEI Heritage Award for a book she wrote with Sister Bernice Cullen. Source: Outstanding women of Prince Edward Island Compiled by the Zonta Club of Charlottetown, 1981.

Born January 19, 1902, Chicoutimi, Quebec. Died October 10, 1989, Chicoutimi, Quebec. Imelda was educated by the Ursuline Sisters in Roberval, Quebec. She graduated from Laval University in Quebec. After graduation she began working at the National Bank of Canada in Chicoutimi.  August 15, 1922 she became a novitiate with the Augustines of Mercy of Jesus of Chicoutimi and in 1924 took the name of Sister Marie-Joseph. She taught at the Chicoutimi Orphanage until 1926. Until 1929  she was responsible for nursing staff of the local hospital.  She became assistant depositary until 1941. Through her efforts of working with Laval University the institution offered a university education.  She also created the Hotel-Dieu Notre-Dame-de-L'Assomption in Jonquière and the the Hotel-Dieu du Sacre-coeur-de-Jesus in Dolbeau in 1955. She became the general director and bursar of the Hotel-Dieu de Chicoutimi and held that position until 1963. She would leave Chicoutimi to establishe  in Tripoli, Lebanon. In 1985 she was inducted into the Order of Canada.  (2024)

née Churchill. Born 1862, Portugal Cove, Newfoundland. Died May 16, 1957, Guelph< Ontario. In 1883 she relocated to Toronto, Ontario with her family.  She became a converted member of the Salvation Army and became the 11th officer to be commissioned in the new Canadian Territory. In 1884 she was preaching in Guelph, Ontario. August 5, 1885 Captain Emma Churchill married Charles Dawson (1864-1942). Due to regulations at the time she resigned her commission for six months until her bride groom was ready for service. The couple spent their honeymoon in Newfoundland. Emmer introduced the Salvation Army to Newfoundland. While on her honeymoon she organized meetings, rallied troops, and preached the gospel of Jesus. September 3, 1885, at the Methodist Church in Portugal Cove the first Salvation Army meeting was held. In 1886 the couple asked that officers be assigned to work in Newfoundland. The Dawson's themselves returned to Ontario where they established a series of Prison ministries.  Source: Women of impact on web site of Salvation Army online (accessed 2024).

Born May 7, 1820, Dublin, Ireland. Died July 1, 1889, Niagara Falls, Ontario. Ellen was educated in Dublin, were she was raised by her grandmother. She continued her education in Paris, France where she learned French and Italian and became accomplished in music. When she was 25 she entered Loretto Abby in Rothfarnham and became Sister Teresa. Two days afer taking her final vows Sister Teresa was sent by her religious order to Canada in 1847. She became Superior-General of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary in America and would oversea the opening of 13 establishments  She was the founder of the Institute in Toronto and later in her position as Superior-General she would oversee its growth in Ontario and New York State.

Born Boucherville, New France (now Quebec) March 23, 1722. Died June 6, 1792. She was the 1st regular novice to join the Grey Nuns on July 2, 1751. It was her inheritance that allowed the Grey Nuns to purchase the seigneury of Chateauguay. Upon the death of the founding Mother d'Youville, she became the second Mother Superior of the order.

Born Ekaterine Fyodorovna Kolyschkine August 15, 1896, Nizhni Novgorod, Russia. Died December 14, 1985, Combermere, Ontario. She was schooled abroad while her father traveled for work and the family settled in St Petersburg, Russia in 1910 where she attended the Princess Obolensky Academy. At 15 she married her 1st cousin Baron Boris de Hueck. During World War l she was a nurse on the front Lines. After the war the couple escaped the Russian Revolution going 1st to Finland and then to England before landing in Canada. The couple had one son. Divorcing her 1st husband she married again in 1943 to Edward ‘Eddie’ J  Doherty (1890-1975), a well known reporter. By May 17, 1949, the couple moved to Cumbermere to a new rural apostolate they called Madonna House. By 2000 there was a staff of 200 and over 125 associate priests, deacons, and Bishops. Catherine has authored numerous books of religious thought. (2020)

Born July 31, 1697, Trois Riviéres, New France. Died November 15, 1767, Quebec. Marie–Charlotte was one of the five daughters of the Governor of Trois Riviéres. She was educated with the Ursuline sisters in Quebec. On November 8, 1716 she entered the convent of the Hôpital Général of Québec and made her final vows in 1718. Acute at business, was her businesswoman sister Louise de Ramezay (1705-1776), Marie-Charlotte held the office of depositary (Bursar), a position she worked at for 26 years. While she did not site with the British and their takeover of New France she did care for British wounded at the hospital winning the admiration and promise of protection for the Hospital by the British General James Wolfe (1727-1759)  Source: D C B

Born June 7, 1794. Died August 1, 1866. Marie Louise joined the religious order of Saint Elizabeth Congregation of Notre Dame. She was a teacher of repute. In 1849 she became Mother Superior of her order. 27 missions were under her management and she opened five more. Source: D C B

Sister Mary Anastase

Born 1865 Quebec. Died1933 Lacombe House, Alberta. Marie joined the order of the Sisters of Providence and took the name Sister Mary Anastase. She worked 1st in Quebec catering to the sick. In 1900 she left for the fa north west of Alberta with three other sisters to open a boarding school for Aboriginal girls in Fort Vermillion, Alberta. The settlement established in 1788 is one of the oldest European settlements in the province which began as a trading community for the North West Company and was taken over by the Hudson Bay Company in 1921. It is located some 780 kilometers from Edmonton, Alberta. In 1911 she moved slightly further south to work for Father Albert Lacombe (1827-1916)  at Lacombe House, Alberta. The Lacombe Home was the last project of the pioneer Father Lacombe. It was a substantial facility to accommodate orphans, the aged, and the poor. Father Lacombe managed to convince the Sisters of Charity of Providence to operate the facility. The Lacombe Home was officially opened in 1910. The priest considered the Home the culmination of a life dedicated to ministering to the most vulnerable in western Canada, the home was likely the first of its kind in Alberta. Sources: Kay Saunderson, 200 Remarkable Alberta Women, (Famous Five Foundation, 1999)

Elalie Durocher.  Born October 6, 1811. Died October 6, 1849.  She was the founder of a local community of the Sisters of the Holy Name of Jesus and Mary which is a teaching order that served in rural Lower Canada (now Quebec) In 1982 Pope John Paul II Beatified Mother Marie-Rose, one of the steps to having someone declared a Saint.

née Dart. Born April 1792, Marhamchurch, United Kingdom. Died January 13, 1857, Little Britain, Upper Canada (now Ontario) Elizabeth at 19 joined the Wesleyan Methodist Church and four years later was one of the founders of the Bible Christian Church. She became an itinerant preacher, preaching to street mobs and was often pelted with eggs and assorted rotten vegetables. She spread the news of the church in Devon, Cornwall, and Wales in the United Kingdom. In 1835 she married John Hicks Eynon and the couple were posted to Upper Canada. The pair covered together and often separately a 200 mile circuit with often walking between destinations. She preached in Coburg, Bowmanville and Peterborough. In 1848 they returned to England to recover from exhaustion. She would return to preach in Coburg until her death. Her journals and letters were published during her lifetime in the Bible Christian Magazine from 1833-1857. There reports later appeared as a biography in The Observer in the spring and summer of 1883. While there seems to have bee some recorded reluctance and prejudice against woman preachers such as Elizabeth and Ann Robins (1799/1800-1853) the women persevered and helped pave the way for 20th century church women professionals. Source: D C B (2020)

née Odin. Born April 22, 1800,  Mortaque, Switzerland. Died March 29, 1868, Quebec. Henriette was a staunch believer in helping and serving people. As a youth she visited hospitals to help wherever she could. In 1822 she married Louis Feller a 51 year old widower and became step mother to his children. Her own daughter died at the age of three and shortly after Henriette became a widow. Financed with the monies left to her by her husband Henriette sailed to North America in 1835 and settled in Canada where within a year she established the Feller Institute, a one room school that today is a museum. She was a protestant and was determined to save French Canadians from the perils of the Catholic Church. There was some set back in the early days of her teaching and she took refuge in the United States for a short period before returning to Quebec to continue her mission to provide protestant education. She founded the French Canadian Protestant mission at Grande-Ligne about 30 miles outside of Montreal. Additional financial resources were raised through the Baptists and ten protestant churches and several missions were found against the forces of the Catholic Church in Quebec. and the Feller institute would successfully survive until its closure in 1967. Source: D C B (2024)

Born October 16, 1806, Saint-Vallier, Lower Canada (now Quebec0. Died September 1, 1885, Quebec. To help family finances Marie-Joseph entered the service of a family in Quebec City.  On April 17, 1828 she married the family widowed father, Francois-Xavier Roy becoming step-mother to his two children. The couple had three daughters together. In 1833 she was a young widow cheated of her assets by the guardians of her step-children and be became a servant once again. One of her daughters died in 1846 and the other two became postulants of the Grey Nuns in Quebec. Marie-Joseph took charge of a charity to help women in need. which had been established by George Manly Muir. January 11, 1850 she set up the Asile Sainte-Madeleine  and by 1852 the Sisters of the Good Shepard of Quebec was founded concentrating on education for young girls in both English and French. They supported themselves by sewing and receiving financial donations. May 30, 1855 the Asylum of the Good Shepherd of Quebec was incorporated and on February 2, 1856 the sisters were established as the Congregation of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary under the direction of Mother Marie-Joseph who took the name Marie du Sacre-coeur. Later in life she lived in solitude.  The Sisters visited women prisoners and provide those leaving prison with shelter. In 1870 a number of reformatory houses were established. From 1874 they tool in unmarried mothers and worked with orphans. Source D C B (accessed 2024)

née Ferguson Born July 19, 1939 Indianapolis, Indiana. Attending the University of Toronto she earned her B.A. in 1961, her M.A. in 1962 and a Ph. In 1964. She began her teaching career at Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario and then moved back to teach English and drama at the University of Toronto, Victoria College. She has written The York Records, Records of Early English Drama in 2 volumes in 1979.  From 1986 through 1992 she served with the International Society for Medieval Theatre and was also President of the Medieval and Renaissance Drama Society. She has also served as Chairman of the Board of Ministry, Presbyterian Church in Canada in 1981-1984. She has held the position of President of the Canadian Council of Churches starting in 1994 and in 1992 was a member of Unit ll Life Education and Mission, with the World Council of Churches. Source: The Canadian Who’s Who, (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1997)

Born December 24, 1813, Basen-Basset, France. Died February 7, 1856, Toronto, Ontario.  Marie-Antoinette was educated by the Sisters of St Joseph and entered that community  in Lyons, France in June 1832 and named Sister Delphine.  Within a few years she and her elder sister, also a nun, Sister Febronie became missionaries to  St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A. They were joined by their brother, Father Jacques. Sister Delphine became superior  in Carondelet ,St. Louis the first motherhouse in the U.S.A. In 1850 she was appointed superior of a novitiate and orphanage in Philadelphia, U.S.A. October  1851 she and two other sisters arrived in Toronto  to care for orphaned children. In 1852 she sent a ister to found another orphanage in Hamilton, Ontario. Mother Delphine began planning the House of Providence to serve anyone in need. She died serving the 1855 Toronto typhus epidemic. Source: D C B (accessed 2024)

Born January 22, 1830. Died October 31, 1874, Montreal, Quebec. Albine entered religious orders with the Sisters of Providence and she took the name Sister Marie d Bonsecoues taking her final vows on March 31, 1849.  As a novice she developed an keen interest to help children afflicted with being deaf-mutes. On her first assignment she met and supported an eight year old deaf and dumb girl. She was the founder and director of the Institution des sourdes-muettes de Montréal. She devoted her life to helping educated deaf and dumb girls and on February 19, 1851, a charitable organization for deaf and mute girls was founded. By 1853 there were ten students. Sister Marie d Bonsecoues went to New York School for the Deaf in the U.S.A. and returning to Montreal the next year she brought ten additional students. While the public was generous in support of the school for 30 years  the school benefited greatly on the generosity of the Gadbois family. In May 1870 she traveled to Europe to learn of a new method of communication which enabled a student for perceive speech through sight and touch. In the summer of 1874 she returned from a visit to a mission in Montana, U.S.A. to be diagnosed with cancer. The Institution des sourdes-muettes de Montreal became her legacy.  Source:: D C B

Born November 6, 1837 Saint-Michel, Quebec. Died December 29, 1920 Roberval, Quebec. As a young child she often spent time in the summers at her uncle’s farm where she became interested in agriculture. At 15 years of age she was a teacher on Ile d’Orléans. On August 15, 1861 she entered the Ursuline monastery, Quebec City and took the name Mother Saint Raphael. She became a graduate at the normal school (teacher’s college) run by the Ursines. In 1878 she became mistress of novitiate in Chatham, Ontario but was back in Quebec by 1880 preparing for a new mission at Lac-Saint-Jean in 1882. Here, she founded a monastery, in Roberval, to foster religious training and education of girls in the region. She is credited with establishing the 1st domestic science and agricultural school in the country which prepared young girls to be wives of farmers. The program enabled graduates to take examinations with the Catholic Central Board of Examiners which led to teaching certificates. Mother Rafael dealt with debt and destruction of the convent and school by fire. In 1893 her school was recognized by the government and could now receive financial grants. She worked closely with agronomists of the Department of Agriculture and Colonization and was recognized with the Order of Agricultural Merit in 1892 and 1895. In 1900 she was elected superior of the monastery for six years and began construction of a new boarding school and chapel. After retiring as superior she taught at the school and in 1909 worked to create a new school of household science at Université de Laval.

Born March 1, 1818, Montenay, France. Died January 29, 1900, Le Mans, France. In 1841 she worked founding the Marianite Sisters of Holy Cross, Le Mans, France. She was given the name Marie des Sept-Douleurs. In 1843 members of this group were sent to Indiana, U.S.A. and in 1847 to Lower Canada. Marie des Sept-Douleurs became superior general of the Marianite Sisters of Lower Canada and arrived in 1849 where the community consisted of 19 sisters 13 of whom were Canadian. Within ten years there were four convents with boarding facilities for children. However the legal status of the Marianite Sisters remained uncertain. In 1857  Marie des Sept-Douleurs was appointed superior general of the entire congregation of Marianite Sisters of the Holy cross in France, the United States and Lower Canada. She was recalled to the mother house in Le Mans in 1863. In 1867 the Marianite Sisters received approval of the Holy See (high government of the church). On December 3, 1882 the Canadian sisters set up a new religious congregation of their own as Sisters of the Holy Cross and Sept Douleurs.

Born February 9, 1828, Vaudreuil, Lower Canada (now Quebec). Died May 25, 1898, Duncan, British Columbia. A hardworking farmer's daughter she joined the order of the Sisters of St Anne as Sister Marie Angèle. She traveled as one of the first group of religious orders of women to open schools on Vancouver Island. The adventures of her trip to Victoria, British Columbia, were published in 1859. Perhaps more of a legacy than her writings was her teaching. She taught native children many skills including knitting. This skill would be used in Duncan B.C. to make the famous Cowichan sweaters.

Born July 17, 1840, Sainte-Rosalie, Upper Canada (Now Ontario). Died October 20, 1921, Montreal, Quebec. On February 9 1863 she entered into religious life with the Religious Hospitallers of St Joseph at Hôtel-Dieu in Montreal. On July 8, 1865 she took her formal vows. From 1871-1881 she served as Bursar to the Hospital and later as bursar for her religious community. In 1888 she was appointed Superior of a mission in Campbellton, New Brunswick. She and two sisters arrived August 13, 1888 to teach and to run a hospital. By October 1888 they had 50 students and their 1st hospital patient. The conditions were primitive and very cold. Sister Gendron worked to plan new accommodations which came two years later. She served as mistress to novices until 1897 when she move back to Montreal to serve as Chief Hospitalier. In 1900 she returned to Campbellton as Superior and Administrator. In 1905 expansion was past due and she began working on plans for a new hospital which would be opened in 1909. In 1906 she returned to Montreal and once again served as Bursar. Source; D C B   vol. 15, (accessed February  2016)

née Bell-Smith. Born May 6, 1864 London, England. Died May 31, Ontario. When she was just three her family immigrated to Montreal, Quebec. Rosalind graduated in May 1885 from the Toronto School of Art. She intended to travel to England to pursue her art when she met a young divinity student, Jonathan Goforth (1859-1936) in Toronto. They were married in 1887 and the following year they set off to North Hanan, China as the 1st Presbyterian Missionaries to the far east. The couple would have 11 children but only six would live to be adults. The family were forced to flee their mission in 1900 with the violence of the Boxer Rebellion. They returned to Canada but by 1901 they were one again in China. Rosalind published her 1st book : How I Know God Answers Prayers in 1920. In 1925 the United Church of Canada had the couple serving in Manchuria for ten years.  Jonathans sight became poor and the couple retired back home to Canada to live with their son who was a minister. After her husband's death in 1936 Rosalind published Goforth in China followed in 1940 with her autobiography, Climbing Memories of a Missionary Wife. 2019)

Born September 5, 1894, Paris, France  Died April 9, 1992, White Rock, British Columbia. After the death of her mother when Lydia was just eight years old, she and her sisters were sent to boarding school. After completing a grade 12 business course Lydia worked in the British civil service in 1913. It was that year that her father and her sisters immigrated to Saskatchewan where four of her brothers had settled. One of her brothers was studying for the ministry when he was killed in World War l (1914-1918). Lydia had earned a teaching certificate and was teaching when she decided to continue her education receiving a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Saskatchewan. She decided to study for the ministry graduating in 1923 with top honours from the Presbyterian Theology Collage (now St Andrew's College), Saskatoon. She worked as a minister's assistant and a lay practitioner as women were not allowed to be full ministers. In 1926 she requested ordination and was refused. She would repeat her request every two years. Once the United Church decided to allow female ministers, Lydia was ordained at St Andrew's Church, Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan on November 4, 1936, becoming the 1st woman in Canada to be a minister in the United Church of Canada. In 1953 she became the 1st woman to receive a Doctor of Divinity from St Andrews College. She continued her work in the church until she retired in 1962. In 1994 St Andrews College dedicated a commemorative plaque in her honour. In 1996, on the 60th anniversary of the ordination of women in the United Church, St Andrews College established the Lydia Gruchy Chair of Pastoral Theology in her honour. In 2003 St Andrews United Church, Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan named a chapel in her honour. (2022)

Born 1864 Eramosa Township, Upper Canada. (Now Ontario). Died May 15, 1916, Guelph, Ontario. After the death of her father her mother married George Wigglesworth and the family first settled in Georgetown and then finally in Guelph. Lydia and her sister Margaret worked as milliners. In April 1885 an evangelist the Reverend David Savage at the family’s Methodist Church and Lydia became a follower. In 1886 she worked with him on one of his religious teams and in 1887 she and Sarah (Sadie) Williams of Tottenham worked as a team. When Sadie left to go out on her own Lyda Sister Anne ‘Annie’ Jane Hall joined to form an evangelistic team. According to written newspaper accounts Lydia was a gifted preacher, earnest and intelligent. As their reputation grew the sisters were working with a strenuous schedule. In the spring of 1895 they were invited to conduct services in their home congregation in Guelph. The Methodist Church of Canada did not ordain women to its ministry so evangelists like Lyda had no official status. They were invited by ministers to come and help with services. The sisters worked together until 1907 when Lyda was stricken with paralysis. Annie remained home helping with her sister’s care. At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century a handful of lady evangelists such as Lyda and Annie labored to bring the word to the people and left a mark on the hearts of the people. Source: Dictionary of Canadian Biography. (accessed online 2002)

Died November 1964, Belgian Congo (Zaire). Muriel graduated from the Royal Jubilee Hospital School of Nursing , Victoria, British Columbia in 1920. She went on to take the Public Health Nurse Diploma offered through the University of British Columbia winning the Red Cross prize for highest marks. She worked with the Victoria Order of Nurses (V O N), Burnaby, British Columbia, where she established the first well-baby clinic. She would become a medical missionary serving in the Belgian Congo )Zaire) for 37 years. She was captured, tortured and killed by rebel Simbas forces in a raid that saw multiple deaths. Source: Early U B C Nursing Graduates: The Ethel Johns' years online (accessed 2023); The Congo Massacre, Christianity Today (particially accessed 2023) .

Born August 15, 1845 Chatham, New Brunswick. Died February 12, 1895, Halifax, Nova Scotia. She entered the congregation of the Sisters of Charity, Halifax, Nova Scotia on March 19, 1865 and in June of that year she took the name of Sister Mary Benedicta. In 1867 she too her 1st teaching assignment in the north end of Halifax. In the fall of 1870 she returned to a small convent in St Joseph’s parish where she came into close contact with orphan children and she experienced the work that was her greatest love. In 1878 she was at St Anne’s Convent at Eel Brook> It was a dark time with the convent facing persecution of a local pastor. The final decision came in favour of the convent in 1880 from Rome and in June 1881 Mary Benedicta became mother superior. She opened new missions in Nova Scotia and took steps to pen St Patrick’s Girls High School in Halifax in 1884. By 1894 her health was frail. Source: Dictionary of Canadian Biography Vol. 12. (accessed December 2001)

née Ruckle. Born 1734, Ballingrane, Ireland 1734. Died August 17, 1804 Augusta, Upper Canada (now Ontario). The Ruckle family were members of a community of German refugees known as the Palatines who settled in Ireland in 1709. Barbara married  Paul Heck in Ireland in 1760. The couple would have seven children. She and her husband originally emigrated to the colony of New York in 1760 where she was paramount in establishing the new Methodist religion, including organizing the First Methodist Church in New York City. Loyalists in the American Revolution the family fled to the sanctuary of the colonies in  Canada where once again Mrs. Heck worked to establishing the foundations of her Methodist church in the Bay of Quinte area of Upper Canada (Ontario) and is considered a founder of the Methodist church in Canada. Source: D C B

Born 1898, England. Died December 16,  1983, Whitehorse, Yukon. She and her family immigrated to Canada and settled in Vancouver, British Columbia. In 1930 she became the first Anglican woman in Canada to earn an Theological degree. In Vancouver at the Good Shepherd Anglican Mission she learned to speak Mandarin and helped Chinese children prepare for public school.  During the depression she adopted a Chinese baby girl. She continued her humanitarian endeavours organizing a soup kitchen feeding 1,200 people twice a day. In 1951 she relocated to the Yukon to fullfil a dream to be a missionary. From  1951 through 1983 she served as Deaconess of the Anglican Church.  She created a hostel for First National Youth in Dawson City. In 1973 she became the first person from the Yukon to be inducted into the Order of Canada. In 1982 she received the Governor Genera's Award in Commemoration of the Persons Case.  In 2000 the book, Hilda Hellaby: A Life in Story, Poems and Prayer was published. A window in Christ Church Cathedral shows wild Yukon skies with Dr. Hellaby walking in the snow. (2022)

Born February 11, 1881, Brittany, France. Died March 1, 1968, St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A. Emma became Sister St. Victor with the Filles de a Providence congregation. In 1903 she immigrated to Saskatchewan. She spent her first two years in the Canadian west learning English and studying at Normal School  (teacher's college)  She taught in a small boarding convent in Howell. She was sent to St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A. where and new large convent was being built. In 1919 she was in France for a short period and then returned to the congregation's training Convent in Vegreville, Alberta. In 1929 she became Mistress of Novices in Prud'Homme, Saskatchewan. In 1941 she became Provincial Supervisor. In 1955 she became semi retired living in St. Brieux and later retired to St. Louis. Source: Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan. online (accessed 2022)

Born August 19, 1910, China. Died April 24, 1993. Katherine was raised for her early childhood in China where her parents were missionaries. She returned to Canada for her higher education. She earned her BA in 1934 and went on to earn her MA, her degree in education and then earned a Bachelor of Divinity as well as a PhD in divinity. She was one of the 1st female students at Emmanuel College in Toronto. She was sponsored by the Women’s Missionary Society of the United Church to study for her doctorate in theology in India. She served as Dean of Studies and Librarian at the Canadian School for Missions and Ecumenical Institute. She wrote Servants of God in People’s China in 1962. Her portrait hangs in the Memorial Room of Trinity St Paul’s United Church on Bloor St., Toronto and the lane that runs behind this church has been named in her honour. Sources: Lois M. Wilson, I want to be in that number: Cool Saints I Have Known, Published by the author, 2014. ; Mary Rose Donnelly, Katherine: Katherine Boehner Hockin, a Biography, Winfield, B.C.; Wood Lake Books, 1992.

Ali has worked with the provincial government of Ontario's Ministry of Community and Social Services supervising various social service agencies in South East Ontario. She worked in services for children and abused women as well as for adults with developmental disabilities. Alia writes a regular column for the Kingston Whig Standard newspaper on issues of Canadian Muslim woman. She Is the  Director of the Canadian Council of Muslim Women. The Council has goals to affirm Canadian Muslim women's identities and to promote an  understanding of lived experiences.   In 2912 she became the second Canadian woman to be inducted into the Order of Canada for her work on women's rights and promotion of interfaith dialogue. She champions Islam's message of inclusively. In 2014 Maclean's magazine listed her as one of the fifty most powerful people in Canada.

Born 1905, Portsmouth, England. Died July 28, 1989 British Columbia. In 1921 she and her family immigrated to Canada and settled in Abbotsford area of British Columbia. Norah attended the University of British Columbia where she earned and Bachelor of Science degree in Microbiology. In 1937 she became a candidate for the ministry in the United Church of Canada. In 1940 she earned a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Union College and went on to earn her PhD from the University of Chicago in the U.S.A. In 1962 she was elected as the 1st woman to be head of a Conference in the United Church representing the geographical area of British Columbia. Source: British Columbia Conference of the United Church of Canada. Rev. Dr. Norah Louise Hughes Accessed February 20 2017.

Born April 30, 1791, Québec. Died January 7, 1869, Montreal, Quebec. Marie answered the calling to become a nun in the order of the Congregation of Notre Dame in September 1809. Sister Sainte-Madeleine would be appointed as the Superior of the order three times at a time of great expansion for the order itself. The order held education in high regard and expanded the knowledge of teaching. The sisters were well known as well trained teachers at a time when education of teachers was not strong nor a priority of the community. Source: : D C B

Born January 27, 1794 Lavaltrie, Lower Canada (now Quebec) . Died April 5, 1864 Montreal, Canada East (now Quebec). On October 7, 1811 she married Jean Marie Jetté (died 1832). The couple had 11 children. As a widow Rosalie opened her home in Montreal as a refuge for unwed mothers, a cause well ahead of her time. In the spring or 1845 she went against her children's wishes and moved to a small house on Rue Saint-Simon to continue her charity work. On January 16, 1848 she and her colleagues made their religious profession and she became Sister Marie of the Nativity, the widow Jetté. She preferred to work in the background refusing all positions of authority. She received penitents, cared for new born babies and attended the sick. During her life of service to the community she provided a safe haven for 2,300 unwed mothers.  Source: D C B.

Born May 1, 1650, Quebec. Died January 14, 1723, Quebec. As a six year old child Jeanne's aunt, a nun, Mother Marie-Francoise Giffard dite Marie de Saint Ignace, impresses on Jeanne-Francoise the need for her to enter religious orders to take her aunt's place. She entered a convent April 22, 1662 as a boarder and two years later became a novice in the religious Hospitallers of the Hotel Dieu with the name Saint-Ignace she became a trustee of the Alms for the Poor of the entire community in 1673. On December 19, 1680 she was elected superior of her convent, a post she held for 24 years. In March 1702 she was elected leader of her monastery. She oversaw worked during epidemics of influenza, measles in the late 1680's, and again in 1703 and 1711. In 1713 she was elected to her eighth term as Superior at the Hotel Dieu bus she became ill and was paralyzed. During this time she authored a history of the Hotel Dieu published for the 1st time in 1752. She was the 1st Canadian born Superior of her order.

Born 1797, Monivea, Ireland. Died February 27, 1857, Newfoundland. In 1823 Mary too her vows to become a Presentation Sister. Mother Mary Kirwan lead three other sisters in 1833 to Newfoundland to establish a school and orphanage for girls. The four nuns, the first to come to Newfoundland, arrived on September 21 1833 in St. John's. Their first classroom was located in the back of a tavern. As the years passed new teachers were trained and eventually boys and adults who wanted an education were allowed in classes. Leaving St. Johns Mary served in Admiral's Cove on the southern shore. The Admiral's Cove convent open September 23, 1853. Mother Mary was buried under the convent chapel. In 1876 the convent was destroyed by fire. In 1940 silver rings and rosary crucifixes were removed from the bodies at Admiral's cove and given to the cmother house in St. John's. In 1960  the small town decided to change its name and became Port Kirwan and the Reverend Mother's grave was declared an Municipal Heritage site on February 27, 2007. (2224)

Born 1879, St Andrew’s East, Quebec. Died St Andrew’s East, Quebec 1960. As a child she expressed her desire to become a missionary and took extra Mission Study Courses at school She interrupted her studies at McGill University in Montreal in 1905 and returned home to take care of her ill mother. She stayed at home for 16 years. When she was 40, in 1920, she set sail for China fulfilling her childhood dream of being a missionary. She worked as a Matron at the Canadian School for Missionaries under the Women’s Missionary Society (W M S) of the Methodist Church (now the United Church of Canada) After a furlough in 1933 she returned to China for a second posting to work in Changing City, China’s wartime capitol. She wrote home of her exploits to family and friend as well as providing generous reports to the W M S. Her writings give a view of China from the perspective of a more mature missionary, at a time of great change in the country. This area of Chinese history is just opening up to the interests of historians and her writings provide first hand accounts of life in an emerging China. She retired in 1940 and returned home to St Andrew’s East to care for an ailing family member. Sources: From the pages of three ladies: Canadian women missionaries in Republican China. By Deborah Shulman (MA Thesis, Concordia University, 1996) ;

Born January 4, 1662, Montreal, Quebec. Died October 3, 1714, Montreal, Quebec. Jeanne was the goddaughter of Jeanne Mance (1606-1673). As a young girl Jeanne Le Ber had a dowry of 50,000 écrus and was the most eligible girl in New France. However, Jeanne decided to live the life of a recluse and at 18 she withdrew from the world  leaving her home only to go to mass. She grew even more withdrawn and retired to a cell at the rear of the church of the Hôtel -Dieu. She wore haircloth undergarments and corn husk shoes and cut off all attachments to her family. She gave large financial assistance to the building of a new church for the sisters of the Congregation of Notre Dame and a three floor apartment directly behind the alter became her living quarters. On June 24 1685 she took a vow of perpetual seclusion, chastity, and poverty. Because of her social rank she retained an attendant who lived in seclusion with her. She also received visitors from time to time. She has been studied and her life used as a character in a modern mystery novel Death du Jour by Kathy Reichs in 1998. Kathy Reichs, a forensic anthropologist had been a member of a team to verify the authenticity of Jeanne Le Ber's bones. In 1943 the Recluse Sisters were founded in Alberta having inspiration of Jeanne Le Ber. In 2004 a federal electoral district was named in her honour.

Born 1826. Died 1885, St. Albert, Alberta. She was a member of the order of Sisters of Charity known as the Grey Nuns. She was trained in nursing prior to leading a party of two other members of the order, Sister Lamy and Sister Alpnonse, to the Canadian Northwest. On September 24, 1859 the party arrived after an arduous journey at the Métis community of Lac St. Anne, Northwest of Fort Edmonton. In 1863 they relocated to St. Albert where a convent was built for the sisters. They in turn established what may have been the 1st hospital in Alberta where Sister Emery was the doctor, surgeon and dentist for the community. The Sisters also established an orphanage and school. Source: Sanderson, Kay. 200 Remarkable Women of Alberta. (s.l., s.d.) online (accessed September 2014) 

Born 1862. Died 1919. Sister Vincent entered the Providence novitiate in the early 1890’s in Montreal, Quebec. In 1894 she was in Northern Alberta with 5 other members of her order. Here they established St. Berrard Mission on Lesser Slave Lake under primitive and isolated conditions. The settlement of Grouard, named after Bishop Emile Grouard in 1909,  grew around the Mission.  In 1905 she was living at the St Augustine Mission at Peace River, Alberta. She died during an influenza epidemic. Source: Kay Saunderson, 200 Remarkable Alberta Women, (Famous Five Foundation, 1999). Online (accessed September 2015)

née Marie Guyant. Born October 28, 1599 Tours, France. Died April 30, 1672 Quebec City, New France (now Quebec). In 1617 she married Claude Martin who died after two years into the marriage. Marie was a widow with a six month old son. For awhile she helped her brother in his business.  In 1631 she decided to enter the Ursuline convent inn Tours assuming her religious name Marie de L'Incarnation and she took her final vows in 1633. She read about Canada in the famous Jesuit Relations, which were reports sent back to France by Jesuit Priests serving in Canada, and decided it was the place for her. She would arrive August 1, 1639 and here she found the Ursuline Order of Canada. She became an expert in several native languages and translated several religious books for her native students. In 1980 she was officially declared 'Blessed' which is a step towards canonization. April 3, 2014 she was declared a Saint  with Pope Frances using a process known as equivalent canonization which does not require the verification of miracles made through the saint's intervention. The canonization was celebrated October 12, 2014. Sources: J. Marshall editor, Word from New France: The Selected Letters of Marie de L'Incarnation, 1967. 

Born December 2, 1899, Sherbrooke, Quebec. Died June 16, 1974, Ponteix, Saskatchewan. In 1909 Yvonne and her family relocated to a homestead west of Gravelbourg, Saskatchewan. She took her early education a a convent with the Soeurs de Notre-Dame D'auvergne (S N D A). In 1916 she travelled to France to the S N D A training convent. Returning to Saskatchewan in 1919  she attended Normal School (teachers' college) in Regina where she took piano, violin, painting, and sculpting. After graduation she taught at the Ponteix Convent. In 1932 she became Superior of the convent and in 1936 she launched a commercial course for students. From 1938 through to 1942 she taught at Lac Pelletier before coming back to Ponteix. at the end of World War ll (1939-1945) she was appointed Superior at Val Marie and ran the local hospital. She opened an new hospital in Zenon Park  and returned in 1962 as director of the Foyer Saint-Joseph nursing home. Source: Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan online (accessed 2022)

Born  April 13, 1674, Groton, Massachusetts, U.S.A. Died July 20, 1758, New France. When Lydia was 20 she was captured by the Abenaki, who were Indian allies of the French during the war against the British. She was taken to Ville Marie (now Montreal) where she became accustomed so much to life in New France that she refused to return to the US when captives were exchanged at the end of the war. She embraced the religion of her new home and entered life as a nun in 1695 as Sister Sainte-Madeleine. In a romantic novel, author Helen A. McCarthy called her "the First American Nun".  Source: D C B

Born 1924, Moncton, New Brunswick. As a child she learned to love music and leaned to play piano and violin. As a youth she would play with the Calgary and Edmonton symphony orchestras. When she was 30 years old she entered Our Lady’s Missionaries and became a sister. In 1961 she was missioned to Japan. Here she started to learn and practice Zen meditation, achieving the rank of a Master. In 1976 she was missioned to Manila, Philippines and there she opened a Zen Center for her Catholic Church. Against many doubts she visited a prison weekly to teach prisoners to turn from their anger to effective people. In England in 1992 she was a director of the Prison Phoenix Trust devoted to helping prisoners with meditation teachings. Back home in Canada in 1999 she formed a group to continue teaching called Feeling the Human Spirit. Source: Herstory 2008: The Canadian Women’s Calendar (Coteau Books, 2007)

Born March 26, 1805, Cote-des-Neiges, Montreal. Died April 9,1871, Quebec City, Quebec. Marie's father died when she was quite young and she was brought up by her aunt and uncle and educated with the Congregation of Notre Dame. In 1824 she became a novice with the Sisters of Charity of the Hôpital Général, Montreal. In 1847, during the typhus epidemic, she assumed full responsibility of the hospital. Two years later she became founder and mother superior of the new congregation in Quebec City. She established an orphanage, cared for the aged and infirm, and administered 5 boarding schools for girls. The Sisters of Charity were also known to care for immigrants and people who had become homeless due to fires. The Catholic Church recognized her to be Venerable in January 2014. This is the first of three stages leading to beatification (Blessed) and canonization with the title of Saint. The Centre Marcelle-Mallet was opened in her honour. The Sisters of Charity of Quebec home, Maison Mere-Mallet had bee designated a provincial heritage building. The Instutit Mallet was established to promote a culture of philanthropy in Quebec and a research chair has been established at Laval University to study the impact of philanthropy on society. Source: D C B.

Sister Mary Basilia

Born 1811, Ireland. Died October 27, 1870. Sister Mary Basilia of the Sisters of Charity arrived in Halifax in 1849to open the St Mary’s Girls School with 200 girls registered for free education. In 1850 the Board of School Commissions for the area recorded 500 students at the School. Sister Mary Basilia was also concerned with the adult illiteracy rate and established night classes for adults. At the same time she also cared for 20 orphans of immigrants who had died of ship fever during the strenuous ocean crossing. By 1854 St Mary’s Orphan Asylum had 16 youth under its care. She would become the first Mother Superior of the Canadian headquarters of the Sisters of Charity which was the only English speaking congregation of religious sisters in Canada. Today over 1400 sisters continue to serve across Canada. Source: D C B

Born February 29, 1835. Died November 4, 1917, St Boniface, Manitoba. Her mother died when she was an infant and she was brought up by her father and her and in St Andrew, Ontario. Her father took her to the Grey nuns in Ottawa so she would have an education. On January 31, 1851 she took her vows becoming Sister Therese. In 1855 she was serving in St Boniface, Manitoba in the area of the Red River Settlement. She became the pharmacist visiting the sick in the huts and teepees and was equivalent to a country doctor known as Sueur Doctor. In 1859 she was recalled to Ottawa but on the trip back she was kidnapped by some of her loyal followers and she returned to St Boniface where she was reinstalled. On August 5, 1871, with Sister Royal Sister Therese installed beds on the top floor of the laundry area to help the sick. By 1877 a regular hospital was established and St Boniface General hospital had its roots. She also founded St Mary's Academy.

née Fischer. Born November 15, 1858, Scotland. Died 1938, Lethbridge, Ontario. Elizabeth worked as a young lady as a governess in Ontario. She married a Presbyterian minister, Rev. Charles McKillop (1848-1907) and in 1887 she, along with her washing machine and her piano, relocated to Lethbridge, Alberta. They were the first clergy couple to settle in the area. The couple had eight children.  She hosted the first meeting of the Presbyterian Ladies Aid and was elected as president.  She was also the first president of the Alberta Women's First Foreign Missionary Society. in 1892. She was a charter member of the Independent Order oaf the Daughters of the Empire (I O D E) and was active in the Quota Club which supported women's rights.  A year after the death of her husband she laid the cornerstone for the new Presbyterian Church, which would named McKallop United Church in honour of this pioneering couple in 1945. During the First World War she worked meeting trains of soldiers providing food and comfort and became know as the "Mother of Lethbridge". In 1929 she was made a life member of the Great War Veterans Association (now the Royal Canadian Legion). The I O D E presents a presents an annual scholarship in her honour and the city of Lethbridge has named a street to honour her.  Source: Legacy of Lethbridge Women, Lethbridge Historical Society, 2005; Find a Grave Canada online (accessed 2021).

née Laing. Born 1830/1831, Scotland. Died March 15, 1910, Elmira, New York, U.S.A. In 1843 her family immigrated to Canada and by 1845 they had settled in Milborne, Lower Canada (now Quebec Province). On February 20,1854 she married William McLaren, a Presbyterian Minister. The couple moved throughout what is now southern Ontario and Upper New York State in the U.S. In Belleville, Ontario she established the local Women’s Missionary Society in 1868.  In February 1876 the couple had settled in Toronto where Marjory was a founder of the  of the Women’s Foreign Mission Society, Western Division. She served as president from 1876 to 1881 and again in 1897 to 1899. The group served under the Presbyterian Church of Canada’s Foreign Mission Committee, which was an all male committee. Her work in the Missionary Society of her Presbyterian Church was considered as important as the work of any of the missionaries who served in foreign areas. Source: Dictionary of Canadian Biography Vol. Xlll 1901-1910 Online (accessed April 2014)

née Morton. Born 1837, Penobsquis, New Brunswick. Died August 18, 1892, Victoria, British Columbia. In 1865 she married businessman Alexander James McLellan and the couple settled on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. As superintendant of Trail, Railroad and Bridges for the Pacific Railway Alexander traveled extensively and from all accounts Catherine often accompanied her husband on trips throughout British Columbia, the Canadian North-West and down into California. At home in Victoria she was serving on the executive on various women’s organizations. She served on the Women’s Christian Temperance Union and was a welcome lecturer in the area. She wan an active member and served as president of the Women’s Missionary Society of the Methodist Church of Canada. The local group supported foreign, North – West Canada and local mission work such as: the Crosby Girl’s Home in Port Simpson, British Columbia and the Oriental Rescue Home in Victoria which provided for Asian women immigrants. Source: The Dictionary of Canadian Biography Vol. Xll (1891-1900). Online (accessed April 2014.)

Born August 28, 1780. Died July 4, 1846.. When Marie-Louise entered the Ursuline order of nuns she took the name Sister de Saint Henri. She was a teacher in the order and became Mother superior. She was in fact a teacher ahead of her time. She established written teaching regulations which were the 1st of their kind for the order. Source: D C B ,( accessed  2015, )

née Stewart. Born November 2, 1947. Died January 6, 2022, Sudbury, Ontario. Maxine married Doran McVey and the couple raised three children. After raising her family she returened to school to become a commissioned Minister in the United Church of Canada (U C C) serving in Northeastern Ontario. As well as leading congregations she was active in the wider U C C serving on Sudbury Presbytery, president of Manitou Conference and was a delegate to General Council. She was chosen to sit on the Roman Catholic/United Church Dialogue. She was a strong proponent of right relations with Indigenous peoples  working in the construction of the Apology Cairn at Laurentian University, Sudbury Ontario in 1986.  In 1986 she was inducted into the Order of Ontario. She helped with restructuring of the Church and was on the Transition Team and Executive of the newly formed Canadian Shield Council in the 2010's. Source: Obituary (accessed 2022)

Born December 18, 1873, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Died June 3, 1945, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Mary entered the Sisters of Charity-Halifax in 1895 when she was 22 years old. She was a teacher at Reserve Mines, Nova Scotia and in Massachusetts, U.S.A. She returned to Halifax to the Mount Saint Vincent Motherhouse to serve as Vicar General of the Congregation. She was elected as Mother General August 7, 1926. With special permission from the Pope she was allowed to serve three terms as Mother General, from 1926 through 1944. . During her leadership the Sisters of Charity open 32  expansions of school, hospitals and convents. across North America. She would see the opening of St. Brigid's Home for Senior Citizens in Quebec City which was on of the first such services of its kind in North America and she also oversaw new missions and hospitals in western Canada. Source: 175 Sister Profiles: Mother Mary Louise Meahan online (accessed 2024). 

Born August 1781, Ireland. Died October 8, 1865, Saint John’s, Newfoundland. In 1825 Belinda became Sister Mary Xavier of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Galway, Ireland. In 1833 she and for other sisters, were the 1st nuns to arrive in Newfoundland. The sisters had as a goal to open a school for orphan and poor girls. By 1844 the school had grown from 950 students to 1200 girls. Later boys would be allowed to attend classes as well. In December 1844 a convent was build for the school but was destroyed by a fie in June 1846. In 1850 a new convent and school was opened in Cathedral Square, Saint John’s. In 1853 Sister Mary Xavier was appointed Superior of the convent of Harbour Main. Source: Barbara J. Eddy, “MOLONY, BELINDA,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 9, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–(accessed January 30, 2015 )

Born March 19,1649, New France. (now Quebec).  Died  April 8, 1830, Montreal, New France (now Quebec). Marie was educated by the Ursulines in Quebec. At the age of 13 entered the novitiate of the Religious Hospitallers of Ville, Marie (now Montreal). She took her final vows on October 27, 1671 and became Sister Morin. Marie was the first Canadian born woman to become a religious sister. She would become bursar and the first Canadian Superior of the Hospitalièrs of Montreal in 1693. She was also one of the first women writers in New France. She wrote the Annals of the Hotel Dieu (1697-1725) and her own memoirs. She was a heroic woman, a true product of the early days of New France. Source: D C B

Born January 9, 1861 Peterborough, Upper Canada (now Ontario). Died March 23, 1923 Peterborough, Ontario. At 14 Jessie formally dedicated her life to Christ at a church revival at George Street Methodist Church in her hometown. Her parent refused to let her become a missionary at such a young age so Jessie became attended Normal School (teacher's College) in Ottawa graduating in 1882. It was while at school that she became fluent in German. Jessie tught school in Lakefield, Goderich, and Brighton Ontario prior to applying to the Women's Missionary Society to teach in Japan arriving there in 1888. Ill health forced her to return to Canada in 1899. By 1904 she was sent to the mission field in Pakan, Alberta to help assimilate Ukrainian immigrants by establishing a mission to women and children. She and nurse Retta Edmonds lived in a tent conducting Sunday School and supervising construction of the mission station at Wahstao. Once construction was completed the pair opened a day school, a dispensary and a clinic to help the Ukrainian women and children and  instil manners and morals of the Protestant Anglo-Canadian home. She took a two year furlough from the project when she became ill but by 1908 she was establishing a Home for Ruthenian Girls In Edmonton, Alberta. In 1909 she retired from her mission work and lived with relative in Ontario until her death.  Source: D C B

Born September 25, 1918, Bright, Ontario.  Died July 29, 2006, Sechelt, British Columbia. Jessie attended the Woodstock General Hospital School of Nursing to become a Registered Nurse. After a bout with tuberculosis she regained her health and worked at the Brant Sanatorium and Beck Memorial Sanatorium in Ontario before relocating to work at Bella Coola Hospital in British Columbia. Jessie graduated from Covenant College in 1950 and was commissioned as a Women's Missionary Society Worker. Her first placement as in Ahousat, on Vancouver island. In 1954 she moved to the Skidegate Indian Mission in Haida Gwaii where she established a church. In 1962 she was presented as Deaconess (Diaconal Minister) for the United Church of Canada to the Conference of British Columbia. From 1961 through 1965 she served at Chilliwack United Church and the Soowhlie Indian Mission. She became an instructor at the Alberni Indian Residential School prior to serving in various United Churches in the province. She retired from St. Andrew's United Church in North Vancouver in 1983. Always fond of poetry she had two poetry books of her own works published with proceeds from the sales given to special United Church projects. Some of her papers are preserved in the United Church of Canada Pacific Mountain Regional Council Archives. Source: Obituary. online (accessed 2022); United Church Archives (accessed 2022)

Born Quebec September 27, 1755. Died January 25, 1831. She took the name de Saint Olivier when she entered the novitiate of the Ursuline sisters on March 12, 1772. She would serve three terms as Superior. During one of her terms an 1806 fire destroyed the convent. She remained on site until she had gained enough support to have the convent rebuild. During her tenure the sisters opened boarding schools, day schools and hospitals for the insane. They also expanded to Boston and New Orleans in the United States.

Born  May 12, 1840, L'Acadie, Lower Canada. Died May 3, 1912, Sherbrooke, Quebec. In 1854, at the age of 14 she presented herself at a convent near Montreal. In August 1857 she took her vows under the name of Sister Marie-de-Saint-Léon. She served in Quebec, and in the USA in New York and Michigan. She soon found herself in the Canadian Maritimes in  Acadia, where in 1874 she was chosen to direct a group of novices in New Brunswick. The Holy Cross Fathers in the region were desperate for help to educate the Acadians of the region. They could not afford to pay lay teachers. This energetic and devoted woman is credited with infusing energies and saving the Acadian culture in the region. Returning to Quebec in 1895 she sought support and recognition for her order of Little Sisters of the Holy Family, which would help priest with educational needs. Official recognition came in 1896. Elodie Paradis was beautified in Montreal on September 11, 1984, by Pope John Paul ll during his Canadian Visit. She was the 1st Canadian Woman to be beautified (the first step in the process to becoming a saint in the Roman Catholic Church) on Canadian soil. Source: D C B (2022)

Born April 16, 1823, Saint-Martin (Laval) Lower Canada (Quebec) . Died January 1902, Isle-aa-la Crosse, Saskatchewan. . In December 1843 she entered the Sisters of Providence in Montreal and volunteered with for others to be a missionary in the Washington and Canada western territories. She would be the power behind the establishment of some 10 schools, 2 orphanages, 15 hospitals, an asylum and home for the aged. In 1866 she was in charge of building and financing missions in the Canadian and American West. She would set on on "begging tours" in the Canadian and American west to finance the institutions that the order would build. Because of her contribution in designing and building institutions she is considered to be one of the first architects in the northwest and is also recognized as an early artisan who used native northwest woods. The state of Washington gave her national prominence in 1980 when her statue was placed in Statuary Hall in Washington D.C., as an historic leader of Washington State. She is the fifth woman and the first Catholic sister represented in the United States gallery of "first citizens."

Sister Marguerite-Marie of Alacoque

Born October 11, 1848, Red River, Manitoba. . Died December 27, 1883, Isle-à-la Crosse, Saskatchewan. Sara is perhaps best known for being the sister of Métis Leader Louis Riel (1844-1995). As a youth she was educated by the Sisters of Charity in St. Boniface, Manitoba. She took her vows as a nun in 1868 the 1st Métis of Red River to become  a nun. As a Grey Nun she taught at the sisters boarding school and then became a missionary. With the area active with rebellion in 1869 Sister Sara Riel was moved several time for her protection. In 1871 she became the 1st Métis missionary for Red River to serve at Ile-a-la-Cross in Northern Saskatchewan. A beloved member of her community she was godmother to many local children. In 1872, After a vision during a near death incident, she took the name of Sister Marguerite-Marie of Alacoque. She had correspondence with her brother and her letters provide historic insight to the era. The Grey Nuns of Manitoba created the Sara Riel Inc., a charitable organization offering a variety of mental health services to adults. In 1974 author M. Jordan published To Louis From your Sister who Loves you, Sara Riel.

Born April 4, 1925, Vancouver, British Columbia. Died March 4, 2017, Gladwyne, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. While Edna was still in high school she was drawn to the International Peace Mission movement that had been founded in the 1930's. She left her family to follow Father Divine, the leader of the movement, and took the new name of Sweet Angel. She relocated to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. to work as one of several personal secretaries to Father Devine. She proposed to Father Devine and they were married on April 29, 1946 when Father Devine was 65 years old. Their wedding date would become a celebrated anniversary in the movement. The marriage was chaste in accordance with his teachings and Sweet Angel, who would become also known as Mother Divine, had a female disciple with her at all times. After the death of Father Devine in 1965 Mother Devine became the official leader of the movement. Jim Jones (1931-1978) of the Peoples Temple claimed to be the reincarnation of Father Divine but Mother Devine fought his attempt to take over the International Peace Mission movement. Jones led the infamous mass suicide in Jonestown, Guyana in 1978. The membership in the movement has dwindled as celibacy is one of their rules, and as of 2015 there were only 19 members. The group believes in abandoning racial barriers, communal ownership of property and donation of goods and services, gender segregation, and that Father Devine is God. (2022)

Born 1799/1800 Cornwall, England. Died September 18, 1853, Bowmanville, Canada East( now Ontario) In 1819 Ann converted to the Bible Christian Church, an Methodist group in Luxulion, Cornwall, England  and served as an itinerate preacher. In 1826 she was posted to London. She married fellow preacher Paul Robins in 1831. By 1846  the couple were appointed to the Peterborough area where they  settled and serving churches in Upper Canada. By her own choice she did all her own housework and caring for her two children. She helped out at her church, visited the sick and preached the gospel In 1849 the family settled in Bowmanville. While there seems to have been some recorded reluctance and prejudice against women preachers these women like Ann and Elizabeth Dart Eynon (1792-1857) persevered and helped to pave the way for 20th century church women professionals.

Born 1804, England. Died 1892 Darlington Township, Ontario. Mary Ann for 32 years was an itinerate preacher prior to becoming the second wife of a fellow preacher Paul Robinson in 1854 when Paul was in England after the death of his 1st wife Ann Vickery Robins (1800-1853) .

Joyce decided when she was just seven years old that she would become a minister. Joyce went to  the University of Saskatchewan for her undergraduate degree and then attended St Andrew's Theological College, Saskatoon to become an ordained minister in the United Church of Canada. In 1967 she left Canada to do missionary work in Korea. After attending Korean language school she worked for a boy's school in central Korea. She also taught English at the YMCA. In 1971 Always a Guest which is an autobiographical account of her time in Chongju, Korea.  Returning to Canada in 1972 Joyce took positions in rural prairie churches. She would help organize Canadian Rural Church Network which connects lay people online providing information and support for their rural churches. In1997 she published The Country Preacher's Notebook ll. She continues to write for the Canadian Rural Church Network and the United Church Observer.  (2019)

Sister Aimee or Sister

née Collins. Born 1830?. Margaret married Rev Benjamin Sinclair (died 1884), a Métis of the Methodist Church. In 1847 she went with her husband and infant son traveling with Hudson Bay boats to Edmonton, Northwest territories (now  Alberta), arriving a Pigeon Lake in the fall were he served as an assistant missionary. In 1847 the family returned to Norway House in present day Manitoba. Moving to Whitefish Lake they helped establish a mission in 1858.

Born December 30, 1796, Stoke Climsland, Cornwall, England. Died May 7, 1862, Smithfield, Canada East (now Ontario) Mary was an iterate preacher from 1819 to 1823 with the Bible Christian Church. On June 16, 1823 she married a fellow preacher William Lyle (died 1873). The couple left the Bible Christians joining the Primitive Methodists in 1826. By the summer of 1833 the couple were missionary preachers in Upper Canada. The couple had four children. They worked together as circuit Methodists preachers. According to her son-in-law she was led by the belief that God does sometimes call women as well as men to engage in the ministry of the word. Mary Ann's story was published in Petticoats in the Pulpit: the Story of Early Nineteenth Century Methodist Women Preachers in Upper Canada.

nee Park. Born October 17, 1920, Amherstburg, Ontario. Died April 24, 2017, Ottawa, Ontario. Anne taught school prior to marring Bill Squire (died 2016) in 1943. The couple had three daughters. In 1972 she received the Carleton University Senate Medal.  In 1975 she earned her Master’s in religion from Carleton University, Ottawa and taught Religious Studies and Womens’ Studies programs. In 1977 through 1980 she was appointed as Chair of Project Ministry striving for a ministry of the whole people. From 1980 for five years she provided leadership at Queen’s Theological College serving on the Board of Managers. In 1982 she became secretary of the United Church of Canada's Division of Ministry, Personnel, and Education. She was also the chair of the Interchurch/Interfaith Committee from 1988 through 1992.  In 1985 she received her Doctor of Divinity from Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario. In 1986 she became the 1st woman lay Moderator elected to the highest position in the United Church of Canada serving through 1988. During her term as Moderator she took the brunt negative feedback when she announced that gay and lesbian people were eligible to be ordained and commissioned ministers. From 1993 to 1998 she chaired the Service Advisory Committee of the Ottawa Carleton Palliative Care Association. Anne was also a founding member of the Ottawa Muslim/Christian Dialogue Group and a staunch patron of the Multifaith Housing Initiative. In 2005 she was still an advocate for equality of marriages and expressed her views to an Ottawa legislative committee. She represented the United Church of Canada as a witness in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission proceedings. (2022)

Born 1908, Canora, Saskatchewan. Died September 11, 1964. She married and moved a bride to a Doukabor Colony In British Columbia. The Doukabor's were a religions sect who believe in a form of communal living and whose founders in Canada had emigrated from persecution in Russia. Storgoff became an active religious protestor against what she perceived as offensive government regulations. Both she and her husband were sent to a special Doukabor living compound on Pier's Island near Victoria, British Columbia. The Canadian government had set up the living compound as a result of the Doukabor protests which were considered a danger not only to the group themselves but to the Canadian public in general. Florence soon became an acknowledged leader of the Sons of Freedom Doukabor group. For what she believed to be her religious beliefs, she would be arrested, charged and sentenced and spend three years in the Kingston penitentiary for women for arson. In 1963 she led some 900 followers to the Lower British Columbia mainland. 400 of the protestors camped out at Agassiz Mountain Prison, protesting the arrest of fellow Doukabors.

née Alexander. Born April 8, 1869, Greenock Township, Ontario. Died April 10, 1955 Selkirk, Manitoba. Sadie had some training in nursing and was trained as a missionary at the Church of England Deaconess House in Toronto, Ontario. On March 10, 1896 she married her school sweetheart, an Anglican Church minister, Isaac Stringer (1866-1934) The couple served the Anglican Church in Canada’s far northwest right from the beginning of their marriage. They would have 5 children. From 1896 through 1901 they served on Herschel Island off the north coast of the Yukon in the Beaufort Sea. The Island was a winter station for whaling vessels and sailors became their flock during the iced in winter months. The long nights allowed the international group of sailors to learn to speak and write English in classed provided by Isaac and Sadie.  During this time Sadie rarely saw another white woman.  In 1905 he became the Bishop of Selkirk and the family moved to the more civilized Dawson City, Yukon. In 1914 the couple traveled to England on a fundraising tour when King George V asked to meet the. Sadie herself was a speaker well in demand although she felt her own experiences were much less inspiring than those of her husband. In 1931 he was promoted and elected Archbishop of Rupert’s Land and the family moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba. A grandson, Richard, a cinematographer by trade had done a movie :The Bishop who ate his boots, based on his grandfathers experiences. Bishop Stringer himself left behind movies, still photos and detailed diaries of life in Canada’s northwest. Source: Five pioneer women of the Anglican Church in the Yukon. Anglican Church of Canada, Women’s Auxiliary, Yukon Diocesan Board, 1964. : Leaders of the Canadian Church. Chapter Vll Isaac O. Stringer. By A.H. Soverign. Ryerson, 1943. Online (accessed January 2014)

née Macmillan.  Born July 12, 1859, Stewarton , Scotland. Died August 4, 1912, Boston, Massauchetts, U.S.A. Isabella and her family immigrated to Upper Canada (now Ontario) in 1862 and settled in Arran Township.  In 1862 she traveled to Chicago to visit her sister who introduced her to Christian Science beliefs and Isabella embraced the religion.  In Chicago she married John Henry Stewart anb by 1866 the couple had settled in Toronto. Isabella studied under Mary Baker Eddy the founder of Christian Science.  It was the Stewarts who established the Toronto Christian Science Institute for training practitioners.  Christian Scientists belied that only mid is ultimately real and offered healing without the intervention of medical thinking. They often appeared in court charged with practicing medicine with out a licence but cases were dismissed by the Ontario Court of Common Pleas on the grounds that no medicine had been prescribed. Isabella was charged with manslaughter when  a patient died but the case was thrown out by a grand jury. By 1868 the first Christian Science congregation outside the U.S.A. had been established in Toronto.  In 1892 Isabella was pastor until Mary Eddy declared tthat the Bible  shold be sole pastor of all Christian Science Churches.  Isabella held the position of first reader from 1899 - 1902 and again in 1906.  After the death of her husband in 1904 she was pressured to join Mary Eddy in Concord, New Hampshire, U.S.A.  and by 1906 she and her son made their home in Boston. By 1909 she had returned  to Toronto and she joined an new congregation in 1910. Source: D C B (accessed 2002)

née Davies. Born January 22, 1848, Sydney, Australia.  Died November 6 1935, Victoria, British Columbia. The family was living in San Francisco, California, when Cecelia began attending Mme Pettibeau's School of girls. She completed her education at a teen in Victoria, British Columbia when the family settled there. When she was just 15 she worked tirelessly to collect money to build the first Synagogue in Victoria in 1863 The letter thanking her for her efforts is part of the Archives and Special Collections at the University of Victoria. January 27, 1869 Cecelia married Frances 'Frank' Joseph Sylvester (1837-1908) and the couple settling in Victoria, British Columbia had eight children. Cecelia was a prominent matriarch in the City. Cecelia was a member of the Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire (I O D E) and she worked in the first hospital to be established in British Columbia. Later she would serve on the board of the Royal Jubilee Hospital.  The Synagogue is considered the oldest synagogue building in continuous use in Canada. Source The Jewish Cemetery of Victoria, British Columbia online (accessed 2024):Canada: From Outlaw to Supreme Court Justice 1728-2005, The Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women online (accessed 2024)

[gaderi dega'gwita] Born 1656 Ossernenon, New York U.S.A. Died April 17 1680, St-Francois-Xavier Mission (Kahnawake) New France (now Quebec). Tekakwitha, which means 'She who bumps into things' in Mohawk,  was baptized Catherine and was also known as Lily of the Mohawks. She became a baptized Christian in 1676 and a year later moved to Kahnawake. When she was just four years old her younger brother and both her parents died of smallpox. Tekakwitha survived but was left with scars on her face and poor eyesight. By 1669 Jesuit priests were a common sight in her Mohawk village. Resisting to be married at a young age as was the custom of her people she was baptised as a Christian when she was 19 years old on April 18, 1676 and the following year she joined  relocated to live at the Jesuit mission of Kahnawake, just south of Montreal on the St. Lawrence River. In 1679 the Jesuits gave her permission to take a vow of chastity. She died after a prolonged illness. Her relics are preserved in a shrine at Kahnawake and numerous miracles have since been reported. January 3, 1943 she was declared Venerable by Pope Pius Xll. She was beatified, a major step in the Roman Catholic Church of  the process to being declared a Saint, on June 22, 1980. She was the 1st North American Native candidate for sainthood in the Catholic Church. On October 21, 2012 she was canonized in Vatican City by Pope Benedict XVI. She is considered to be the patron saint of ecologists, ecology, environment, environmentalists, loss of parents. people in exile, people ridiculed for their piety and Native Americans. Numerous schools across the country have been named in her honour and numerous religious statues have been dedicated to her throughout North American and Mexico. Image: Statue of Kateri Tekakwitha at Sainte Anne-de-Beaupré near Quebec City, Quebec.

Born May 5, 1907, Hong Kong. Died February 6, 1992, Toronto, Ontario. Florence began her ministry with the Anglican Church in Hong Kong. In January 1944 she became the first woman to be ordained in the Anglican communion. Although there was support for her in her own diocese there was great pressure and protest against her ministry. She relinquished the title and role of priest. For the next 39 years she continued to serve without any bitterness to her church. In 1983 she immigrated to Canada and was appointed an honourary assistant at St John's Chinese congregation in St Mathew's parish in Toronto. Times had changed and the Anglican Church of Canada of the mid 1980's as now the church approved the ordination of women. In 1984, after a 40 year gap in time, Florence was reinstated as a priest in her church. The University of Waterloo has created the Florence Li Tim-Oi Memorial Award for students in social work with the elderly. The University will open a Resource Centre and Archives in her name to house her personal archives.

Born February 19, 1800, Montreal, Lower Canada (now Quebec). Died September 23, 1851, Montreal, Canada East (now Quebec). Her mother died when she was just four years old and after the death of the father in 1814 she was brought up by her aunt and uncle. She boarded at the school of the Sisters of the Congregation of Notre Dame for a year before living with her aunt and uncle. In 1818 she lived with her recently widowed brother. When she was 19 she was a debutante in fashionable Montreal society. In 1822 she wrote of her strong feelings for the convent. June 4, 1823 she married Jean-Baptiste Gamelin, (died 1827)an older farmer and businessman in Montreal. The couple had three children  who sadly died as infants. The young widow became immediately involved in charity work helping the poor.  Within a year she had joined the Confraternity of the Holy Family dedicated to spiritual growth and went on to work with Agathe-Henriette Huguet-Latours  the Charitable Institution for Female Penitents. During this time she would donate much of her finances to charity. She even took in four elderly deserving women into her home. March 4, 1830 she opened a shelter for frail and sick elderly women. The shelter grew over the next few years and within six years she was providing for 24 women. In 1832 she was one of 226 women who voted in a local by election. During the 1837 Rebellion she visited prisoners under sentence of death. In 1838 she survived an attack of typhoid fever and in 1841 she saw the shelter incorporated into the Montreal Asylum for Aged and Infirmed Women.  A new Asylum of Providence was formed and Emilie was elected as Director and Emilie donated the last of her property to this new project. July 8, 1843 she had become a novice with a new religious congregation the Daughters of Charity, Servants of the Poor who became known as the Sisters of Charity of Providence (in 1970 they officially became Sisters of Providence).  March 30, 1844 Emilie was elected Superior General of the new congregation and was now Mother Gamelin. In 1844 the sister opened the Hospice St. Joseph to care for sick and elderly Catholic priests. In 1845 they began to help job seekers and began caring for the mentally ill. The sisters helped with the 1847 Typhus epidemic and in 1849 the cholera epidemic. In 1849 the sisters opened an insane asylum. The modern Congregation serves in 9 different countries. In 1995 the land with  Asylum of Providence once stood was named Place Emilie-Gamelin. In 1999 a bronze sculpture by Raoul Hunter was installed at the Sainte Catherine Street exit of Montreal's Berri-UQAM station.   Emilie was Beautified on October, 2001 by Pope John Paul ll. This is one of the major step to being declared a saint in the Roman Catholic Church. (2024)

Born 1797, England. Died July 13, 1885, Columbus, Ontario.  Mary was an itinerate preacher in 1818-1818. She resigned her commission just prior to their marriage on February 22, 1819 to Joseph Tucker (1785-1868) in Cornwall, England. In the early 1830's the couple emigrated to Canada and settled in Columbus, Upper Canada (now Ontario). The couple had one son who would become a Bible Christian minister. Mary also preached in their new home area throughout her lifetime. Source: My United Methodist online (accessed 2020).

Died April 27, 2023, Webbwood, Ontario. Tania trained as a Personal Support Worker (P S W). She was a survivor of sexual assault and she let her voice be heard.. Small town life did not stop her from letting her voice be heard. Being diagnosed with cancer did not stop her from letting her voice be heard. She went on to found Secrets Protect Our Children, STOP Sexual Abuse. (2023)

Sister Saint Jean-de-Goto

Born July 27, 1845, Boucherville, Lower Canada (now Quebec). Died May 8, 1906, Arthabaska, Quebec. After being educated at a convent on September 8, 1860 this teenager joined the Religious Hospitallers of St Joseph at the Hôtel-Dieu in Montreal, Quebec. On February 3, 1863 she took her final vows and accepted the name Sister Saint-Jean-de-Goto. When she was 23 she was part of a group of 6 she went to Tracaidie to work with lepers. Here she set up a pharmacy. In 1875 she was elected Superior of Tracaidie. Although there was no formal demand for a school the sisters taught orphans in the surrounding area. Sister Saint-Jean-de-Goto began collecting funds and in 1898 an orphanage and hospital was completed. In 1899 she had completed her 5th term as Superior at Tracaidie and she would leave a strong foundation for her order with Acadian sisters she had trained. In 1902 she was elected Superior of Hôtel-Dieu at Arthabaskaville, Quebec where she strived to have built a new 5 story wing before her death. Source: D C B vol. 13, (accessed February 11, 2016),

Esther Wheelwright

Born Wells Massachusetts (now Maine), U.S.A. April 10, 1696. Died November 28, 1780, Quebec City, New France (now Quebec).  Born to a Congregationalist protestant family, she would be re-baptized as Marie-Joseph dite L'Enfant-Jésus when she became a nun in Quebec. She was kidnapped by the Indian allies of the French who were at war against the British. The French missionaries introduced her to the Catholic Faith. Her family tried to obtain her return home but there were too many barriers and the girl was placed in a school run by the Ursuline Sisters. She decided to become an nun and refused to return to her home. She would become the Mother Superior and maintain good relations between the Ursuline and the new British authorities after the fall of Quebec. She helped her religious community to become strong through 20 of its most difficult years. 

née Freeman. Born April 8, 1927, Winnipeg, Manitoba. In 1947 Lois  earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from United College at the University Winnipeg. As a student she was active in the Student Christian Movement of Canada serving as provincial president in 1944-1946 she would also serve on the national level and maintained a life long interest in the World Student Christian Federation.  She continued her education earning a Master's Degree in Divinity in 1950. After 15 years as a homemaker, having married an ordained United Church minister and raised four children, she became an ordained minister in the United Church of Canada in 1965. In the mid 1960's she was director on the  Town Talk in Thunder Bay, Ontario. This was aan innovative program utilizing all media which invited citizens to publicly discuss issues affecting the future of their home town.  In 1976 she became first woman president of the Canadian Council of Churches, and in 1980 she was appointed the 1st woman to the top position of Moderator of the United Church of Canada. In 1983 through 1991 she served as president on the World Council of Churches. In 1985 she worked as a commentator with the C B C on the Pope's visit to Canada. In 1989 for almost a decade she served as a panel member of the Environmental Assessment of the Disposal of Nuclear Waste. From 1990 though 200 she was the Chancellor of Lakehead University, Thunder Bay.  She has authored nine books including I want to Be in That Number - Cool Saints I have Known published in 2014. . She is a member of the Order of Canada and has received the Pearson Peace Prize and the World Federalist Peace Award. She was inducted as a Companion of the Order of Canada and holds also the Order of Ontario. From 1998 through 2002 she was a member of the Canadian Senate. In 2014 she was honoured by the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. She also has served as Distinguished Minister of Residence at Emmanuel College, University of Toronto.

née Dufrost de Lajemerais. Born October 15, 1701,Varennes, Quebec. Died December 23, 1771.  She was a daughter of one of the great families of New France. She was married in 1712, she was the mother of two children, and  became widowed in 1730. By 1742 both sons had become priests and Marguerite worked to ease the plight of the poor. She was joined by other women and their work extended to the running of the Hôpital Générale. The group of tireless workers would eventually become a religious order known as the Grey Nuns. Marguerite was described as a remarkable woman who was courageous and processed remarkable administrative talent. 

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