Revisiting Secularization Stories: A Comparative Analysis of Catholic Hospitals in Québec and Newfoundland

This article challenges the notion that the trajectory of secularization in Canada has been linear and clear-cut, as well as questions the assumption that Québec’s secularization has been different than that in the rest of Canada (RoC). To do so, the authors draw on original archival and documentary analysis to explore two case studies. First, they document how, despite the laïcisation of Québec’s health care system during the 1960s’ Révolution Tranquille, the Augustine Sisters retained ownership of Hôtel-Dieu in Québec City up until 1995 when it was bought by the Ministry of Health and Social Services. The case demonstrates that the secularization of Québec’s health care system was a gradual process influenced by both provincial politics and transformations in the Catholic Church. In the second case of St. Clare’s Mercy Hospital in St. John’s, Newfoundland, it was the Sisters of Mercy who initiated the hospital’s transfer of ownership to the Provincial Health Authority in 1990s in exchange for the guarantee that its Catholic identity would be preserved. By juxtaposing these two case studies, the article suggests that approaching secularization as a process rather than a fait accompli is more productive. It also builds a case for the importance of inter-provincial comparisons, as these reveal similarities in processes of secularization across Canada—similarities that are significant at a political moment where Québec’s model of religious governance is constructed as intrinsically different from those in the RoC.