Sisters of Charity of Ottawa hand lands, buildings over to Bruyère
The Sisters of Charity of Ottawa signed over ownership of the lands and buildings that make up Bruyère Continuing Care to the health-care organization during a ceremony Friday attended by Ottawa Archbishop Terrence Prendergast and numerous local officials.
The “passing of the flame” from the Sisters of Charity to Bruyère will change little in the organization that includes the region’s leading geriatric hospital, long-term care institutions, rehabilitation and research. The religious order, whose mother house is attached to the iconic Bruyère hospital in the By Ward Market, has been leasing the buildings and lands to the health organization for a nominal amount since 1993, when the sisters stopped actively managing it.
The transfer of the land and buildings was formally sanctioned by the Vatican.
Sister Rachelle Watier, the general superior of the Sisters of Charity of Ottawa, said the transfer will continue the legacy Élisabeth Bruyère, who founded the group, began in 1845.
Weeks after arriving in Ottawa from Montreal, the 27-year-old nun had opened a general hospital, the first bilingual school in Ontario, an old-age home and an orphanage, said Watier. She said she is confident the “flame” begun by Bruyère will continue.
“We know that our mission is going to continue. It is going to continue differently, but it is going to continue. I think this is the way to go,” said Watier. “She would be happy to see that little flame has become bigger and it is just going to be brighter because other people are taking it up.”
Across Ontario, numerous hospitals were founded by religious orders of nuns and are now overseen by the Catholic Health Association of Ontario.
Religious hospitals in the province has sometimes been under a spotlight — most recently during a debate about assisted dying, which Catholic hospitals do not offer.
But CEO Daniel Levac said the hospital has been able to maintain its core values while supporting its patients. In the case of assisted death, Levac said Bruyère has worked with partner hospitals when it has been requested by a patient. “We don’t abandon our patients.”
The two hospitals and two longterm care facilities that make up Bruyère have gone through numerous name changes over the years. The current Bruyère hospital, which was built beginning in 1861, was originally Ottawa General Hospital. Today it is the region’s leading hospital for care of the elderly and complex palliative care. The organization also runs Élisabeth Bruyère Residence and Saint-Louis Residence, which is part of Bruyère Village, located along the Ottawa River in the city’s east end and Saint-Vincent Hospital on Cambridge Street, which specializes in rehabilitation. Bruyère is a teaching institution and also has a research institute.
Levac calls the transfer of assets a “gesture of faith on the part of the sisters. They want the assets to remain in the community. We get to continue doing what we are doing.”