Nursing Sisters of Canada

Nurses have been the backbone of our community and have played a key role in keeping us healthy throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. From administering vaccines to caring for infected people to running assessment sites, nurses are true heroes. The County of Brant has always had a strong group of nurses pulling us through hard times. Experiencing how much nurses have done during the pandemic, makes us reflect on the nurses from days gone by who helped pull us through tough times.

Brant is proud of the group of nurses who served with the Nursing Sisters of Canada. This group of women, braved all the hardships of war to do their duty and care for their patients and nursed the casualties left in the wake of war.

Military nursing had its beginnings in the Crimean War, although the tradition of alleviating the sufferings of soldiers is an old one. The organizing of battle nursing and the dispatch of women as nurses, begun by Florence Nightingale for the British, soon found its way to Canada.

It was in 1885 when Canada’s Nursing Sisters first took to the field, providing care to the Canadian troops sent to put down the North-West Rebellion. From the North-West Rebellion onward, Nursing Sisters joined every military force sent out by Canada, from the South African War to the Korean War. Although the nurses in Canada’s military are no longer referred to as Nursing Sisters, their contributions have continued into the activities and missions of the present-day Canadian Armed Forces. Over the years, the devotion and efficiency of Canada’s military nurses have earned them a very high reputation among the troops with whom they served and to whom they ministered.

Visit the Great War Centenary Association for a list honouring local Nursing Sisters: Remembering the Nursing Sisters of Brantford, Brant County and Six Nations | Great War Centenary Association (doingourbit.ca)