Gov.-Gen. names religious sisters Members of Order of Canada

Sr. Margaret Vickers

By DEBORAH GYAPONG
Canadian Catholic News
Ottawa

Two Catholic nuns have been named members of the Order of Canada in recognition of their contribution to Canadian health care.

On Dec. 28, Governor General Michaelle Jean named Sister Margaret Smith of the Sisters of St. Joseph and Sister Margaret Vickers of the Sisters of Charity of the Immaculate Conception among 61 new appointments.

North Bay service

Smith grew up in Woodlawn, Ont., and became a registered nurse before entering the Community of the Sisters of St. Joseph in North Bay in 1944.

Before her 1992 retirement, she served as a nursing school director and executive director of several hospitals.

In North Bay, the Sister Margaret Smith Centre, a drug and alcohol abuse facility, is named after her.

She has advocated a holistic approach to substance abuse treatment, and the maintaining of 12-Step support groups.

Sister Margaret Vickers comes from the Miramichi region in northern New Brunswick. Before entering the Sisters of Charity, she obtained her nursing degree in Antigonish, N.S., and worked as a nurse in New Brunswick, Ontario, Michigan and California.

After joining the religious order in 1955, she served as administrator of three hospitals formerly operated by the order. From 1972-94, she was administrator of St. Joseph's Hospital in Saint John. She also served at hospitals in Vancouver and Prince Albert, Sask. She helped found the New Brunswick Catholic Health Association and Saint John Hospice. She has also served in leadership for her religious community. Since 1997, she has been serving on the board of Providence Health Care and Society in Vancouver.

The sixth of 13 children, Margaret Vickers has two siblings, Charlotte and Alice, who also joined the Sisters of Charity. Last May, the Catholic Health Association of Canada (CHAC) awarded Margaret and Charlotte Vickers performance citation awards, the highest distinction in Catholic health care.

The date for the investiture ceremony has not been set.

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