["Let's assert ourselves." The activist Sister Augustine at Saint-Jean-de-Dieu Hospital].

Abstract

The history of nuns at the Saint-Jean-de-Dieu Hospital, like that of lay nurses, has remained in the blind spot of women's history. And yet, over the past 30 years, the history of nursing has clearly highlighted the important achievements of French-Canadian religious and nurses in Quebec history, as well as the real opportunities for fulfillment and self-fulfillment that these careers offered women. This is what this article aims to remind us of, by revisiting the achievements of the militant Sister Augustine. Objective To bring Sister Augustine's activist journey out of the blind spot of IUSMM history. Method The preferred cultural microhistory is built around the "evidentiary paradigm," based on the identification and interpretation of discrete and scattered signs drawn from the Archives Providences de Montreal. Results If the Quiet Revolution has left its mark on people's minds, and above all has been interpreted as a turning point that constituted an exceptional springboard for the modernization of Quebec, we often forget the price paid by all the strong women of the first half-century who were the engineers and driving forces behind a complete and efficient healthcare system. The fact that they were nuns discredit them from any scientific knowledge and is enough to make us forget that nuns were at the top of the hierarchy of their institutions, and that they demonstrated their know-how as the country's first caregivers. Conclusion Despite Sister Augustine's half-century of fervour, her notable achievements, and her determination to develop and teach knowledge within the walls of Saint-Jean-de-Dieu, her career is inextricably linked to the evolution of the IUSMM.