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Facts on Canada's Nursing Sisters
- Canada's Nursing Sisters have a proud legacy of military service that dates back as far as 1885, when for the first time, Canadian nurses were part of the medical and surgical team deployed to care for soldiers wounded during the North-West Rebellion.
- The first nurses to serve in war were women who belonged to religious orders – hence, the designation of "Nursing Sister" and the traditional white veil.
- Nursing Sisters also provided medical service as part of the Royal Canadian Dragoons contingent that was sent, in 1898, to the Klondike to assist the Northwest Mounted Police during the gold rush.
- Prince Edward Island's Georgina Fane Pope, one of Canada's pioneer Nursing Sisters, who served in the South African war, trained in New York City at Bellevue Hospital's Nightingale School. The school was named for the world's most well-known nurse, Florence Nightingale, of Great Britain.
- A total of 3,141 Canadian nurses volunteered their services during the Great War of 1914-1918. At first, the army medical units were set up in hospitals away from the action. Eventually, however, Casualty Clearing Stations were set up, close to the front lines. It was at these stations that the ambulances would deliver the injured who, received early stage assessment and, as a result, obtained quicker and more effective treatment.
- During the First World War, 46 Nursing Sisters gave their lives: six were killed or mortally wounded (of which three died in the deliberate bombing of the military hospital in Étaples, France); 15 died at sea, with the sinking of the hospital ship, Llandovery Castle; 15 died of disease; and seven died back home, in Canada.
- During the Second World War, Canada's nursing service was expanded to all three branches of the military – the Navy, the Army and the Air Force – with each branch having its own distinctive uniform and working dress, while all wore the white veil.
- A total of 4,473 Nursing Sisters served during the Second World War, many of whom found themselves within range of enemy guns. At first, almost all field hospital units were set up under canvas tents, many of which later would move to bombed-out or abandoned buildings.
- During the Battle of the Atlantic, Canada had two navy hospital ships, the Letitia and the Lady Nelson, both of which were staffed by army Sisters. The navy Sisters served on naval bases on both coasts of Canada.
- The nursing service of the Royal Canadian Air Force was not established until November of 1940. With more than 100 station hospitals having been constructed, the demand for additional Nursing Sisters increased. Some were trained in air evacuation, 12 served in Newfoundland flying air-sea rescue missions, and 66 went overseas.
- During the Second World War, the nursing service also included four special branches: the Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapists, Dieticians and Home Sisters. In addition, there were Sisters who served on the hospital trains that returned the wounded to destinations across Canada.
- During United Nations operations in Korea, in the 1950s, Nursing Sisters served in both Korea and Japan. Others flew air evacuation with casualties back to Canada. Another specialty, which 5 RCAF Nursing Sisters joined, was the Para-Rescue Service. When the cease-fire came into effect, the Sisters tended to the newly released prisoners of war, helping them to regain their health.
- In more recent times, Nursing Officers (as they are now called) have served in the Gulf War, and in peace-keeping missions in Bosnia-Herzegovenia, Rwanda and Somalia.
