By Nancy Miller Chenier
Topley LAC
When Élisabeth Bruyère arrived in Bytown, it was in serious need of schools, hospitals and social-welfare organizations for the needy. Along with her small band of Grey Nuns, she reached out to everyone, regardless of language, religion or race. Now, almost 175 years later, her legacy continues to grow on the same site where she established a hospital. Today, it is an academic health-care organization offering inpatient and outpatient stroke and geriatric rehabilitation, inpatient palliative care, primary health care and long-term care.
The provincial plaque near the Bruyère site provides some of the story of this remarkable woman:
In the 1840s, Bytown (Ottawa) was a growing timber-trade village with a substantial French-Canadian population but no Catholic schools and few social services. In February of 1845 the Sisters of Charity of Montreal (Grey Nuns) sent four nuns here. Led by Élisabeth Bruyère, a devout well-educated young woman, the sisters quickly established a bilingual school for girls, a hospital and an orphanage. They helped the poor, the elderly and the sick including hundreds of immigrants stricken during the typhus epidemic of 1847-48. By the time of Élisabeth Bruyère’s death the Sisters of Charity of Ottawa had founded key local institutions and extended their services to sixteen other communities in Canada and the U.S.
Pendant les années 1840, Bytown (Ottawa) est un village de commerce de bois d »œuvre en plein essor qui a une importante population canadienne-française, mais pas d’école catholique et peu de services sociaux. En février 1845, les Sœurs de la Charité de Montréal (Sœurs Grises) y envolent quatre sœurs. Sous la direction d’Élisabeth Bruyère, jeune femme instruite et pieuse, les sœurs établissent rapidement une école bilingue pour filles, un hôpital et un orphelinat. Elles aident les pauvres, les personnes âgées et les malades, dont des certaines d’immigrant frappés par les épidémies de typhus de 1847-48. A la mort d’Élisabeth Bruyère, les Sœurs de la Charité d’Ottawa avaient fondé d’importantes institutions locales et étendu leurs services dans seize autres collectivités au Canada et aux États-U