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New historic plaques unveiled at the Bruyère Village in Orléans celebrate important contributions by francophones in Orléans, including Mother Élisabeth Bruyère. Bruyère’s new president and CEO, Daniel Levac, proudly participated in this inaugural event alongside sisters Lorraine Desjardins and Huguette Parent and community members.

 

Bruyère’s foundress, Mother Bruyère, came to Bytown over 170 years ago on a mission to care for the community’s most vulnerable people. She opened Ontario’s first bilingual school and Ottawa’s first hospital. Her important mission lives on today. At first intended as a rest and convalescent home for the sisters, the Sisters of Charity of Ottawa built the Villa Saint-Louis in Orléans between 1953 and 1954. On that site today is Bruyère’s Saint Louis Residence, a long-term care facility.

 

Also commemorated as part of this project is Besserer Place; where the Bruyère Village is located since 2014. The land originally belonged to the Besserers, a prominent family who operated a hotel on the site. In fact, Jean-Théodore Besserer acted as Orléans’s first postman (1860-1866) and is likely to have chosen the name “Orléans.”

 

This initiative was spearheaded by the Société franco-ontarienne du patrimoine et de l’histoire d’Orléans in partnership with various other organizations, including Bruyère. This was part of wider celebrations commemorating francophones’ presence in Ontario over the last 400 years.