Who Counts? Nuns, Work, and the Census of Canada

Although women religious (commonly called nuns) have historically been a large group of mostly professional women, they were regularly excluded from what the Census of Canada defined as the work force. In the censuses from 1871 to 1991, the categories in which nuns were enumerated varied, resulting in impossible fluctuations in their numbers and under-reporting of their contributions to the work force. Nor are the statistics provided by the Roman Catholic Church reliable for estimating the number of nuns working in Canada in any given year. How nuns were reported in the census has had significant implications for the ways in which they have been portrayed or neglected by labour historians. Bien qu’elles aient été à travers l’histoire un vaste groupe de femmes surtout professionnelles, les religieuses (communément appelées soeurs ou bonnes soeurs) étaient régulièrement exclues de ce que le Recensement du Canada définissait comme la population active. Aux recensements de 1871 à 1991, les religieuses n’ont pas toujours été dénombrées dans les mêmes catégories, ce qui s’est traduit par des fluctuations impossibles de leur nombre et par une sous-représentation de leur contribution à la population active. Les statistiques de l’Église catholique ne permettent pas non plus d’estimer de manière fiable le nombre de soeurs travaillant au Canada durant une année donnée. Le mode de dénombrement des soeurs lors du recensement a eu des répercussions importantes sur la façon dont les historiens du mouvement ouvrier les ont dépeintes ou négligées

Arts, Crafts, and Rural Rehabilitation: the Sisters of Charity, Halifax, and Vocational Education in Terence Bay, Nova Scotia, 1938-1942

Responding to rural poverty associated with the declining fishery, the rise of industrial capitalism, and the impact of the Great Depression, the Sisters of Charity, Halifax, implemented a vocational training program in weaving and carpentry in the small community of Terence Bay, Nova Scotia in 1938. Senator William Dennis, a proponent of the New Democracy Movement, financed the program. Because the Sisters based their claims to success on observed behavioural changes among the residents of Terence Bay, the program can be seen as an example of liberal therapeutics in education, a model that placed emphasis on achieving social goals rather than transferring discrete skills and capacities to pupils. Focusing on the years 1938-43, this paper outlines the rehabilitation efforts at Terence Bay, describes the programs the Sisters implemented, and evaluates the definitions of success ascribed to their training school just a few years later.En respuesta a la pobreza rural asociada al declive de la pesca, el ascenso del capitalismo industrial y el impacto de la Gran Depresión, las Hermanas de la Caridad pusieron en marcha un programa de formación profesional de tejido y carpintería en la pequeña comunidad de Terence Bay, Nueva Escocia, en 1938. El senador William Dennis, un defensor del Movimiento de Nueva Democracia (New Democracy Movement) financió el programa. Debido a que las hermanas basaron sus reclamaciones en el éxito que observaron en los cambios de conducta entre los residentes de Terence Bay, el programa puede ser percibido como un ejemplo de terapia liberal en materia educativa. Un modelo que enfatiza el logro de objetivos sociales en vez de la transferencia de habilidades y capacidades diferenciadas para los alumnos/as. Este artículo, que se centra en los años 1938-1943, señala los esfuerzos de rehabilitación en Terence Bay, describe los programas que implementaron las hermanas y evalúa las definiciones de éxito atribuidas a su escuela de formación sólo unos pocos años más tarde

Arts, Crafts, and Rural Rehabilitation: the Sisters of Charity, Halifax, and Vocational Education in Terence Bay, Nova Scotia, 1938-1942

Responding to rural poverty associated with the declining fishery, the rise of industrial capitalism, and the impact of the Great Depression, the Sisters of Charity, Halifax, implemented a vocational training program in weaving and carpentry in the small community of Terence Bay, Nova Scotia in 1938. Senator William Dennis, a proponent of the New Democracy Movement, financed the program. Because the Sisters based their claims to success on observed behavioural changes among the residents of Terence Bay, the program can be seen as an example of liberal therapeutics in education, a model that placed emphasis on achieving social goals rather than transferring discrete skills and capacities to pupils. Focusing on the years 1938-43, this paper outlines the rehabilitation efforts at Terence Bay, describes the programs the Sisters implemented, and evaluates the definitions of success ascribed to their training school just a few years later.En respuesta a la pobreza rural asociada al declive de la pesca, el ascenso del capitalismo industrial y el impacto de la Gran Depresión, las Hermanas de la Caridad pusieron en marcha un programa de formación profesional de tejido y carpintería en la pequeña comunidad de Terence Bay, Nueva Escocia, en 1938. El senador William Dennis, un defensor del Movimiento de Nueva Democracia (New Democracy Movement) financió el programa. Debido a que las hermanas basaron sus reclamaciones en el éxito que observaron en los cambios de conducta entre los residentes de Terence Bay, el programa puede ser percibido como un ejemplo de terapia liberal en materia educativa. Un modelo que enfatiza el logro de objetivos sociales en vez de la transferencia de habilidades y capacidades diferenciadas para los alumnos/as. Este artículo, que se centra en los años 1938-1943, señala los esfuerzos de rehabilitación en Terence Bay, describe los programas que implementaron las hermanas y evalúa las definiciones de éxito atribuidas a su escuela de formación sólo unos pocos años más tarde

Women's suffrage and confederation

Sherpa Romeo blue journal: Author has right to self archive after publicationAbstract not availableYe

PEI women attending university off and on the island to 1943

Permission to include this article granted by the editors of AcadiensisExamines the assumptions and barriers that women from Prince Edward Island facing in pursuing higher education. Introduces two women-religious who were instrumental in breaking the barrier to coeducation at St. Dunstan's, Prince Edward Island's only university.Ye

Doing more with less: the Sisters of St. Martha (PEI) diminish the impact of the Great Depression

Permission to include this article granted by the editors of AcadiensisExamines the Sisters of St. Martha, a congregation of women religious, and their contributions to health and social services during the Great Depression in Prince Edward Island. The Sisters had advantages that allowed them to respond to the economic effects of the Depression more quickly and effectively than non-governmental or governmental organizations.Ye

Developing a strong Roman Catholic social order in late nineteenth-century Prince Edward Island

Permission to archive granted by publisherAbstract not availableYe

Transforming Catholic women's education in the sixties: Sister Catherine Wallace's feminist leadership at Mount Saint Vincent University

Open access articleSister Catherine Wallace (1917-91) was president of Mount Saint Vincent University (MSVU), Canada’s only degree-granting women’s post-secondary institution, from 1965 to 1974. Wallace’s appointment coincided with a transformative era not only in the North American post-secondary landscape, but also in the Roman Catholic Church and the women’s movement. Wallace was acutely aware that this combination of factors would require a transformation of MSVU itself for the institution to survive the next decade. Wallace ultimately strengthened MSVU’s identity and gave it a more outward-looking vision by embedding many of the goals of second-wave feminism, including the recommendations of the Report of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women in Canada (1970), in the University’s renewal. She also gave the university a more national profile through her work on the executive of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC), including in 1973 as their first woman president.Ye

The social origins and congregational identity of the founding Sisters of St. Martha of Charlottetown, PEI, 1915-1925

Permission to archive granted by editorAbstract not availableYe