Émergence de l’identité professionnelle chez les infirmières québécoises, 1890-1927

The author outlines the story of the professalization of Quebec nurses, which started in 1895 when an elite corps of English-Protestant nurses established the Canadian Nurses Association. She explains that these graduates of the Montreal General Hospital were quite active within the English-Canadian nursing movement promoting the ideal of the trained nurse, conceived by Florence Nightingale in England. They also fought for professional registration, in keeping with the American trend. However, the author notes, the task of rallying French Catholics to the cause of registration soon proved difficult as disparities between schools and associations as well as between linguistic and religious groups became apparent. The 1920 Nurses Registration Act did not put an end to the conflict. By an immediate and controversial alliance, French Catholic physicians and nurses attempted to contest the law which penalized them. The author argues that if the alliance between them proved beneficial to French-Catholic nurses at first, it cost the latter their professional autonomy.

Canadian Bulletin of Medical History/Bulletin canadien d’histoire de la médecine

Vol. 11

no. 1

119-151

1994

fr