Sister Gilberte Villeneuve

Childhood

Gilberte Villeneuve was the sixth of fourteen children, growing up in a modest but warm-hearted working-class family.

Education

Gilberte Villeneuve received her elementary and secondary education from the Sisters of Charity of Saint-Louis-de-France, as well as from the Grey Nuns. She studied nursing at the Hôpital Saint-Jean-de-Dieu (HSJD) in the late 1930s. From 1944 to 1946, she attended the École Émilie Tavernier; then, from 1961 to 1963, she completed a bachelor’s degree in hospital science.

Career

Registered Nurse

Gilberte Villeneuve worked at the Hôtel-Dieu de Valleyfield (1942–44), Province Notre-Dame-des-Sept-Douleurs (1944), Œuvre des cancéreuses (1983) and Hôpital Saint-Jean-de-Dieu (HSJD) as a registered nurse.

Religious

Gilberte Villeneuve entered the postulancy of the Sisters of Providence on 18 November 1940, pronounced her temporary vows on 19 November 1942 and her perpetual vows on 19 November 1945. Her religious name is Sister Colette-Françoise.

Teacher

As a professor, she taught at HSJD (1946–50), École Émilie-Tavernier (1946–50) and Mont-Providence (1950–54).

Director

Sister Gilberte Villeneuve held a management position at the following: École Émilie-Tavernier (1951–54); Mont-Providence (1951–54); Hôpital du Sacré-Cœur (HSC) (1951–64); École des infirmières du Mont-Providence which provides after-school nursing-psychiatry training (1954–57); HSJD (1954–58); École des infirmières de l’Hôpital du Sacré-Cœur (HSC) de Hull (1958–61); HSJD After-School Psychiatric Nursing Department (1963–64); Pavillon Marie de la Maison mère (1983–89); Community Departments (1989–2003); and HSJD Executive Director (1969–74).

Administrator

Sister Gilberte Villeneuve was a member of the Board of Directors of the following: HSJD (1954–1969); Fondation diocésaine Ignace-Bourget (1984–86 and 1991–2002); Fondation Gamelin en santé mentale (1984–86, 1991–2003 and 2005–08); Pavillon Marie de la Maison mère (1984–86); Compagnons de Montréal (1989–93); Fondation Roger Roy (1991–94); and Fondation Cardinal Léger (1991–2002). She was also vice president of the Fondation Gamelin (2005–07).

Local Superior

She was a local superior at the following: HSJD (1964–69); Maison mère (1989–2003 and 2003–07); Religieuses de Jésus-Marie (1989–2003); Fondation Bourget (1991–2002); Fondation Roger Roy (1991–94); Fondation Gamelin (1991–2003); Fondation Cardinal Léger (1991–2002); Résidence Notre-Dame-de-la-Providence; Maison mère, then in charge of community departments and reception service for retreats (1989–2003); superior at Résidence de Salaberry (2003–07).

General Superior

She was a superior general at the Sisters of Providence (1974–84).

Mayor

According to Richard Leclerc in his article "Les municipalités à vocation religieuse au Québec" (2011):

Between 1855 and 1939, six municipalities with a religious vocation were created in Quebec. This situation, virtually unique on the international scene, enabled the Quebec government to offer certain religious communities privileges that favoured the provision of health services, particularly psychiatric services, to the community. The beneficiaries of these mainly fiscal prerogatives were able to reduce their operating costs in a period when the Quebec government had limited financial resources to support their activities. Other religious groups were taking advantage of this municipal status to run successful commercial farming and forestry operations.

As superior general or executive director of the Sisters of Providence, Sister Gilberte Villeneuve was therefore mayor of Ville Gamelin. This was confirmed by anthropologist Philippe Blouin, who mentioned the following in his article À bâbord (2024): "Ville Gamelin, whose Mother Superior was mayor by acclamation," and was also confirmed by Dr. Jacques Ferron, HSJD general practitioner for 16 months (1970–71), who stated the following in his book La conférence inachevée : Le pas de Gamelin et autres récits (2020): "Miss Executive Director, mayor of the municipality on which the extra-territoriality of the high places was based, had her office on the first floor."

Expulsion of Nuns

On 14 June 1974, René Lévesque’s Quebec government, and especially psychiatrist Denis Lazure, a graduate in hospital administration and Minister of Social Affairs (1976–81), decided to secularize hospitals by ousting the religious and their volunteer work. (See also Secularism in Quebec.) He himself had been ousted from the HSJD by the Sisters of Providence, according to Dr. Jacques Ferron in the book cited above:

They had indignantly dismissed him: “Sisters, let us not harbour in our midst a new Dr. Bethune!” In the early thirties, the surgeon of Mao's armies had indeed practiced his work at their Sacré-Coeur hospital. The young psychiatrist was careful not to die in China. He stayed in his home country, sharpened his teeth and claws in another position, at Sainte-Justine. Then, buoyed by the economic climate, returned in a vengeance and drove out those who had driven him out.

Retirement

Sister Gilberte Villeneuve retired on 10 April 2008, at the age of 90, but she continued to bring joy and support to those around her, despite her declining physical health. She took care of those in need and visited her sick sisters.

Over the years, psychiatrists from HSJD have paid tribute to Sister Gilberte Villeneuve. Dr. Raymond Morissette, addressed her at the Centenary ceremony:

And so the period we are currently experiencing at this hospital, the period of the three missions: clinical, teaching and research, was established in the early 1960s by several trailblazers.

One of these is Sister Gilberte Villeneuve, who was Executive Director of this fine institution from 1964 to 1974. She was a Sister of Providence, the hospital's centenary congregation and its founding congregation.

By virtue of her duties, her knowledge and her convictions, she was at the heart of the decisions that marked an important turning point in the hospital's mission.

She was considered a pleasure to work with due to her competence, motivation, charisma and confidence in her staff. Our deepest regards, Sister Villeneuve, and thank you.