A Chinese Hospital in Montréal

Hôpital chinois

Archives des Soeurs Missionnaires de l’Immaculée-Conception.

In 1918, an influenza pandemic swept the globe. Montréal was not spared: between September and November, more than 17,000 cases were reported in the city, and clinics and hospitals overflowed with flu patients. Chinese Montrealers were among the hardest hit, partly due to the substandard living conditions and overcrowding that most endured. Moreover, they were often turned away when they sought help at the city’s overcrowded health centres. Many resorted to the herbal remedies dispensed by some Chinese laundries.

Recognizing the severity of the situation, the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception asked the city for permission to open an emergency shelter for Chinese patients. The congregation had existing ties to the Chinese community: it had established a mission in China in 1909, and in Montréal, it provided assistance to Chinese immigrants upon their arrival. The Sisters acquired an abandoned building at 66 rue Clark and turned it into an infirmary. When the crisis ended in 1919, the service closed its doors. In all, it had treated nearly sixty men of Chinese origin. That year, the Chinese government awarded medals to Mother Délia Tétreault and Father Roméo Caillé, director of the Chinese mission, for their charitable gesture.

From temporary shelter to permanent hospital

Hôpital chinois

Archives des Sœurs Missionnaires de l’Immaculée-Conception.

In 1919, the Chinese Benevolent Association purchased a former synagogue at 112 rue De La Gauchetière, with plans to convert the building into a permanent Chinese hospital, with more space and resources. It entrusted the hospital’s operation to the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, one of whom, Sister Mary of St. George, had spent several years in China and spoke the language.

In 1922, Louis E. Fortier became the hospital’s first physician. He was soon joined by a second, William Delorme. Together, they planned expansions and the purchase of new equipment. Until 1945, the Chinese Hospital was entirely financed by donations from the Chinese diaspora in Montréal and Canada. Most of its patients were elderly and alone. Men without families were numerous in the community: many had come to the city at the turn of the century after working in British Columbia on the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway. From 1923 to 1947, the Chinese Exclusion Act prohibited Chinese immigration, preventing their families from joining them.

ancq-6071_.1965_crop.jpg

Archives des Sœurs Missionnaires de l’Immaculée-Conception.

A new location for the Chinese Hospital

In the early 1960s, the hospital had too few beds to meet the community’s growing needs, and its century-old premises were no longer adequate. In July 1963, the Chinese community acquired a building on rue Saint-Denis, near rue Jean-Talon. A major fundraising campaign was organized by the Board of Directors, which included Reverend Thomas Tou, a Chinese Catholic priest who had arrived in Montréal in 1957. With the help of supportive newspaper articles and a federal subsidy, the new hospital opened in 1965. A new interpreter joined the institution that year: Martha Lou, a social worker from Hong Kong, replaced Sister Mary of St. George, then almost eighty years old.

Hôpital chinois - 1965

Archives des Sœurs Missionnaires de l’Immaculée-Conception.

In 1969, the hospital refocused its activities to concentrate on long-term care. Many of the first Chinese immigrants, who had arrived in Montréal in the late 1800s and early 1900s, were living out their old age alone and without family, in vulnerable situations. When journalist Thérèse Vaillancourt, from the weekly Photo-Journal, met with these early immigrants, one of them, a 93-year-old, explained what the new centre meant to him: “A nice bed, good care, and fellow countrymen with whom I can speak in Chinese… I’m very happy here.”

Still, the hospital had a significant shortcoming: it was located far from the homes of the more than 150 seniors living in Chinatown. In the mid-1980s, sixty percent of the neighbourhood’s Chinese residents were over the age of sixty. In 1985, the board initiated a project to relocate the hospital. Another major fundraising campaign was launched, with dinners, events, and a funding drive announced in the city’s newspapers. The new hospital was finally built on avenue Viger in 1999, thanks to community contributions and government grants. Today, the building is a distinctive presence in the heart of Chinatown: its garden doors are typically Chinese, and an imposing statue of Confucius welcomes visitors.

Hôpital chinois - 2016

Denis-Carl Robidoux, MEM – Centre des mémoires montréalaises