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1922-2011 (Vervaardig)
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- Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada (London, Ont.)
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8.1 cm of textual records
1 photograph: sepia tone
1 DVD (film, 12 minutes, 43 seconds)
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Institutionele geschiedenis
The Sisters of St. Joseph of the Diocese of London, Ontario was first incorporated on February 15, 1891 under chapter 92 of the Statutes of Ontario, 1870-1. London, Ontario is on the traditional territory of the Anishinaabek, Haudenosaunee, Lūnaapéewak, and Attawandaron Peoples.
On December 11, 1868, at the request of Bishop John Walsh, five Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto arrived in London, Ontario. Mother Teresa Brennan, Sister Ignatia Campbell, Sister Ursula McGuire, Sister Francis O’Malley and Sister Appolonia Nolan were accompanied by Reverend Mother Antoinette McDonald and were welcomed by Bishop Walsh, Rev. J.M. Bruyere, V.G., and Rev. P. Egan, pastor of St. Peter’s Church. Awaiting the Sisters were sleighs that transported them from the train station to a temporary home at 170 Kent Street.
In accordance with their mission in London, three Sisters began teaching at St. Peter’s School in January, 1869. After classes, they visited the sick, the poor and the imprisoned. They were also mandated to open an orphanage in the future. In order to accomplish these tasks, more Sisters and larger facilities were necessary.
On October 2, 1869, the Barker House at the corner of Richmond and College Street in North London was purchased and the Sisters moved there from Kent Street. The building was named Mount Hope, and it became the first Motherhouse of the Sisters, eventually housing the elderly, orphans, Sisters and novices.
On December 18, 1870, the Sisters of St. Joseph became an autonomous congregation in the London diocese, independent of the Toronto congregation. Sister Ignatia Campbell was appointed Superior General, an office she held until 1902. On February 15, 1871, the congregation became legally incorporated.
On October 7, 1877, an addition was made to Mount Hope. This building stood until it was demolished on August 3, 1980, surrounded by the growing healthcare institutions founded by the Sisters, beginning with St. Joseph’s Hospital which opened at 268 Grosvenor Street on October 15, 1888, and followed by the opening of St. Joseph’s Hospital School of Nursing in 1895, and the construction of a new nursing school building in 1927, which saw its last graduation in 1977. On May 1, 1951, St. Mary’s Hospital was opened, followed by Marian Villa on January 12, 1966. In 1985, the hospital complex was renamed St. Joseph’s Health Centre, and ownership was transferred in 1993 to St. Joseph’s Health Care Society.
But it was not only in London that Sisters saw the need for healthcare and nursing education. On October 15, 1890, they opened St. Joseph’s Hospital on Centre Street in Chatham, Ontario, which remained under their control until 1993. In 1895, they opened St. Joseph’s Hospital School of Nursing, which saw its last graduation in 1970. On October 18, 1946, they opened St. Jospeh’s Hospital at 290 North Russell Street in Sarnia which remained under their control until 1993. In Alberta, they administered St. Joseph’s Hospital in Stettler (1926), St. Joseph’s Hospital in Galahad (1927), the General Hospital in Killam (1930), and St. Paul’s Hospital in Rimbey (1932).
On April 10, 1899, the Sisters opened Mount St. Joseph Motherhouse, Novitiate and Orphanage at the former Hellmuth College at 1486 Richmond Street North in London. The orphans were moved to this new location from Mount Hope, which remained a home for the elderly and was renamed House of Providence on June 3, 1899. The orphanage remained at Mount St. Joseph until it was moved to Fontbonne Hall in 1953 (to 1967). The original Hellmuth College building was demolished in 1976.
Later, on September 14, 1914, the Motherhouse and Novitiate moved to Sacred Heart Convent at Colborne and Dundas Streets in London, with the orphans remaining at Mount St. Joseph. The Sisters lived at Sacred Heart Convent until 1953, when they moved back to the newly built Mount St. Joseph, on the original location of the former Hellmuth College. The new Motherhouse and Novitiate was officially opened on June 29, 1954. It was here that they continued a private girls’ school which had begun in 1950 at Sacred Heart Convent, and was now known as Mount St. Joseph Academy (to 1985). It was here too that they continued a music school which had also begun at Sacred Heart Convent and was now called St. Joseph’s School of Music (to 1982). The Médaille Retreat Centre began here in 1992, and the Sisters also administered a Guest Wing for relatives of hospitalized patients (to 2005). The Sisters departed Mount St. Joseph for their new residence, a green building at 485 Windermere Road in London, in 2007.
On September 4, 1873, St. Joseph’s Convent opened at 131 North Street in Goderich, Ontario, followed by other convents in Ontario, including Ingersoll (1879), St. Thomas (1879), Belle River (1889), Windsor (1894), Sarnia (1906), Kingsbridge (1911), Seaforth (1913), St. Mary’s (1913), Woodstock (1913), Kinkora (1916), Paincourt (1923), Maidstone (1930), Leamington (1932), Delhi (1938), Tillsonburg (1938), Simcoe (1938), Langton (1939), West Lorne (1957), and Zurich (1963)
The Sisters also opened missions in other parts of Canada, including in Alberta: Edmonton (1922), Wetaskiwin (1929), St. Bride’s (1934); and in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories Yellowknife (1953), and in British Columbia in Haney, now Maple Ridge (1956), and Rutland (1970). Branching even further afield, Convento San Jose was opened in Chiclayo, Peru in 1962.
Over the years, as well as their service as teachers in the separate school system, as music teachers, as healthcare workers, as nursing educators, in providing care to orphans, and in providing parish ministry, pastoral care, and administering spiritual retreats, the Sisters were also involved in social service ministry. In Windsor, they opened the Roy J. Bondy Centre on September 13, 1970 which was a receiving home for the Children’s Aid Society, withdrawing in 1982 but continuing to provide residential care for disabled children afterward. In London, they opened Internos, a residence for teenage girls attending school and later for troubled teens (to 1979). This was followed by the opening of St. Joseph’s Detoxification Centre on September 13, 1973 (to 2005) and St. Stephen’s House, an alcoholic recovery centre on February 1, 1982 (to 2000). Loughlin House in London opened as a residence for ex-psychiatric female patients in 1986 (to 1989), followed by the Home for Women in Need at 534 Queens Avenue in 1979 (to 2004). Later, St. Josephs’ House for Refugees was opened in 1987 (to 2005), followed by St. Joseph’s Hospitality Centre, a food security program, on February 2, 1983.
On November 22, 2012, the congregation amalgamated with those in Hamilton, Peterborough, and Pembroke into one charitable corporation under the name Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada by the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada Act, a Private Act of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario which received Royal Assent on June 13, 2013.
Geschiedenis beheer
Bereik en inhoud
This series documents the activities of the Alberta mission of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of London, Ontario. There are annals and historical summaries, reports, promotional materials, pamphlets, event programs, newspaper articles, correspondence, lists of Sisters on missions in western Canada, a photograph, and a digital video disc. These items showcase a legacy of mission work undertaken by the Sisters in pastoral care, education, and healthcare in the Archdiocese of Edmonton. There is a historical summary of mission activities from 1972 to 1983, authored by Sister Catherine Cunningham. Topics in this summary include teaching in the Edmonton catholic school district, social and cultural events in the region, celebrations, trips, retreats at Sylvan Lake, and the placement of new Sisters in the west. In addition, there is a compilation by Sister Cunningham titled, 50 Golden Years in Canada’s Golden West, with topics on the convents in the parishes of St. Bride’s and Sacred Heart in Alberta, Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories, and Maple Ridge in British Columbia, as well as in Alberta hospitals at Rimbey, Killam, and Galahad. The compilation also contains newspaper articles on the Sisters’ professions at the Sacred Heart Convent in Edmonton with photographs of the Sisters and clergy. There are lists of names of the London Sisters who were stationed in the west and a 1926 photograph of the first group of Sisters to go west. The series also contains records on the Catholic Sisters’ Legacy Recognition Project conducted by the Catholic Bishops of Alberta and the Northwest Territories. This includes the unveiling of the statue Service Through Christ, a 2011 Annual Report by Covenant Health, and the film A Legacy of Service – A Film in Honour of the Countless Women Religious Who have Served in the Province of Alberta for over 150 Years, directed by Eric Spoeth.
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These records were accumulated by the Sisters of of St. Joseph of London, Ontario.
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Original order was maintained.
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The records are located at The Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada Archives.
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Restrictions on access
Content within file F01-S017-03-01 List of Sisters stationed in the Archdiocese of Edmonton 1922-2001 is restricted for the protection of the privacy of living persons. The Archives reserves the right to restrict access to the collection depending on the condition of the archival material, the amount of material requested, and the purpose of the research. The use of certain materials may also be restricted for reasons of privacy or sensitivity, or under a donor agreement. Access restrictions will be applied equally to all researchers and reviewed periodically. No researcher will be given access to any materials that contain a personal information bank such as donor agreements or personnel records, or to other proprietary information such as appraisals, insurance valuations, or condition reports.
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Permission to study archival records does not extend to publication or display rights. The researcher must request this permission in writing from the Archives.
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No further accruals are expected.
Algemene aantekening
The Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of London, Ontario opened missions in other parts of Canada, including Edmonton, Alberta, where they contributed to the education, health care and social services in the region. On July 25, 1922, a group of five pioneer Sisters arrived in Edmonton by train to operate the Sacred Heart School, a two storey, twelve room, red brick building, with a capacity of 350 students. Their residence, the Sacred Heart Convent and the Sacred Heart Church, were both adjacent to the school located in the city center of Edmonton. This area and the outskirts surrounding Edmonton, is situated within the Treaty Six Territory in Alberta and the traditional homelands and the Métis Nation of Alberta Region Four, as well as the Nêhiyaw (Cree), Denesuliné (Dené), Nakota Sioux (Stoney), Anishnaabe (Ojibway/Saulteaux), Haudenosaunee (Iroquois), Kanien'kehá:ka (Mohawk), and Niitsitapi (Blackfoot).
In the early 1900s, the great expansion into western Canada experienced a steady stream of diverse immigrant settlers from Europe who sought a new life in the prairie provinces. The Sacred Heart parish was established out of the growing need to provide a spiritual foundation and to accommodate the surge of newcomers as they got settled in their new country. The Sisters held classes from kindergarten to grade eight and taught inner city students from the first wave generation of European families. Over the years, the Sisters served as educators, administrators and principals and remained at the Sacred Heart convent until 1961. The school was under their management until Sister Irene Fitzgerald retired in 1966, and by 1970 all the Sisters had withdrawn from the Sacred Heart school.
In 1912, the Edmonton Separate School District was formed, and their mandates based on the Roman Catholic theology, doctrine, and practices were enshrined by the Canadian Constitution Act of 1867. In the early pioneering days, school buildings were not just for education, but sometimes for spiritual services whilst a church was being constructed. They were also vital to the development of a burgeoning community, as it provided a gathering place for pie socials, card parties, club meetings, theatrical plays, bridal showers, farewells, summer picnics, winter activities, and Christmas concerts. From 1922 to 1992, about 56 Sisters taught at and administered schools that were primarily within the area or the outlying district of the Sacred Heart Parish. Some of the schools the Sisters were active in include the Sacred Heart School of Edmonton from 1922 to 1940, Fairview School from 1922 to1933, St. Patrick’s Elementary School from 1933 to 1985 (formerly Fairview School), St. Francis of Assisi Middle School from 1928 to 1974, St. Michael’s School from 1945 to 1965, St. Basil’s School from 1952 to 1992, Archbishop O’Leary High School from 1960 to 1974, St. Cecilia’s Junior High Composite School from 1965 to 1969, and St. Anne’s School from 1974 to 1982. Other schools located outside of Edmonton where the Sisters worked include the Sacred Heart School of Wetaskiwan in Wetaskiwin from 1929 to 1942, St. Brides School in St. Brides from 1933 to 1964, Our Lady of Fatima School in Killam from 1952 to 1992, and St. Bernadette’s School from 1957 to 1991 and St. Nicholas School from 1960 to 1970, both in Beverley.
At first the Sisters taught the children general subjects like reading, spelling, and arithmetic with an emphasis on English language acquisition. Then in the years of World War II, there was a great push for cultural development courses, and in the early 1930s during the great depression of unemployment, crop failure, and food shortages, the Sisters distributed fruit and cookies, and later the school board provided milk and vitamin pills. In the 1940s when a radio and phonograph were added to the classrooms, social studies and music classes were resounding successes. During the Alberta oil boom in the 1950s, industrial arts, home economics, special needs, and art and drama classes were introduced, as well as instigating a pre-employment work experience course called the Integrated Occupational Program.
In late 1925, the Stettler Board of Trade in Stettler, located 185 km south of Edmonton, asked Reverend Father Ernest Battle of the Catholic Church Parish, to reach out to the Archbishop Henry J. O’Leary. The purpose was to establish what was known as a “Sisters Hospital” run by the nursing Sisters of the Sisters of St. Joseph who had a renowned reputation for their medical services to soldiers during the First World War. In February 1926, at the request of Archbishop O’Leary, Sister Patricia Coughlin, Sister Virginia Lobban, Sister Austin Gurvine, and Sister Jane Frances O’Rourke travelled from London, Ontario to Stettler, Alberta, to operate a hospital. Reverend Father Battle arranged for the Sisters to work in a large building called Carder Hall, which was the former Stettler Cigar Factory that now served as a temporary hospital. In 1927, a decision to construct a 25-bed municipal hospital by a newly formed Municipal Board corporation with representatives from the districts of Settler, Botha, Haig, Waverly, and Dublin all in the County of Stettler, and Vim in the County of Camrose meant the end of the Nursing Sisters’ time in Stettler.
The Sisters opened and administered several small hospitals in rural Alberta: Stettler Hospital from 1926 to 1927, St. Joseph’s Hospital in Galahad from 1927 to 1978, St. Paul's Hospital in Rimbey from 1932 to 1949, and Killam General Hospital from 1930 to 1990 and Flagstaff Beaver Auxiliary Hospital from 1963 to 1990, both in Killam. The Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph provided funds to build and operate the hospitals until 1958, when the provincial department of the Ministry of Health and the Hospitals Division took over the administration and enacted the Alberta Health Plan. This government policy prevented any church owned and operated voluntary hospitals from being constructed in Alberta. However, it did have a limited provision to allow some upgrades and renovations to existing medical buildings. Also in 1958, there was a polio epidemic that struck throughout Alberta, requiring the services of the Sisters to work at full capacity.
The Sisters were involved in the early development of health care and social service, caring for the sick, poor and disadvantaged in the cities, towns, and rural areas in Alberta. In the harsh economically depressed years from 1930 to 1945, many people could not afford even the most meager medical costs. The Sisters never turned anyone away who needed help, and allowed payment in coal, hay, wood, farm produce, and manual labour. In the years of the Second World War, nursing Sister worked up to 40 hours per week without a break. During their time in Alberta, the Sisters from London, Ontario who were stationed in the western province occupied various health care roles in, nursing, management, housekeeping, business administration, and as technologists in medical labs and in radiology.
Algemene aantekening
The content in file F01-S017-02-03 is missing.
Algemene aantekening
Some content within this record group contains language which may be offensive, derogatory, or harmful. This language does not reflect the values of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada. We want to acknowledge that this content exists and the harm it has done and can do, but do not want to erase it from the historical context.
Algemene aantekening
This project has been made possible in part by Library and Archives Canada’s Documentary Heritage Communities Program.
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This project has been made possible in part by Library and Archives Canada’s Documentary Heritage Communities Program.
July 2024 by Lyllie Sue, edited by Rhiannon Allen-Roberts
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Bronnen
City Hall, City of Edmonton, Alberta, “Indigenous Land Acknowledgement – Home for Thousands of Years,” https://cityplan.edmonton.ca/indigenous-acknowledgement, accessed 2024/07/09
C. Kuefler, Sisters of St. Joseph (London) Ontario: Contribution to Education in Alberta, 1992.
Covenant Health - Killam Health Centre, “Sisters’ legacy of mercy thrives at Killam Health Centre,” https://covenanthealth.ca/sites/default/files/2023-11/legacy-day-story-killam-health-centre.pdf, accessed 2024/07/09
E. Carson, “Our History - Stettler Municipal Hospital,” https://www.stettlerlocal.com/post/our-history-stettler-municipal-hospital#, accessed 2024/07/09
E. Carson, “Stettler’s Christ King Church a spectacular structure,” https://www.stettlerindependent.com/news/stettlers-christ-king-church-a-spectacular-structure-6619493, accessed 2024/07/09
P. O’Halloran, The Bold Journey. 1943-1993. An Alberta History of Catholic Health Care Facilities and of their Owners, 1993.
S. Chevraux (ed.), The Ten Dollar Bets. A History of Killam and District, 1967, pp. 98-100, 118-119.
St. Patrick’s School, “History and Philosophy,” https://www.stpatsschool.org/about-us/history/, accessed 2024/07/09