In memory of mothers never celebrated

Caroline Masse gave me an appointment in front of the maternity door of the former Misericordia hospital, boulevard René-Lévesque Est. The place is fenced, boarded up, padlocked. A bit like the secret story it carries. That of thousands of “unmarried mothers” who came to give birth there in hiding. That of his own mother who gave birth to him in this hospital. That of all these mothers who, for 120 years, have often been forced to abandon their babies and have never been celebrated.

Caroline is one of the last children born in this highly symbolic place, which was put up for sale by Quebec recently. For five years she has been campaigning for the redeployment of the site to include a place of commemoration of this important part of the history of women in Quebec.

When she learned in 2018 that a conversion project for the site was looming on the horizon, she realized with amazement that few people knew the history of this abandoned place which, for her and thousands of other people, is emotionally charged. To fill this gap in memory, she is now spokesperson for the Musée de la Miséricorde project, aiming to create a place of memory in the chapel of the former hospital.

This forgotten memory, although secret and painful, is neither distant nor anecdotal, recalls Caroline.

“It is a page of history that absolutely must be made known in Quebec. Talk about it around you. Talk to your grandmother, your great-grandmother, your aunts, your great-aunts. You will be amazed at how common these stories are in families. »

Unlike a large number of so-called “illegitimate” children born at Misericordia, Caroline was not given up for adoption or to nurseries. Her mother, a rebel of her time, decided to keep her. A courageous choice for a single mother in 1960s Quebec where women with children out of wedlock were still ostracized. The “rational” choice, which had been strongly suggested to her, would have been to entrust her daughter to adoption and start a new life to avoid being caught in a spiral of poverty.

“She really didn’t choose the easy road. She didn’t have me adopted even though she had no way of physically keeping me with her. Because at the beginning, at that time, there was no social assistance or day care. »

To be able to keep a link with her daughter while earning a living, the mother had to entrust her daughter to pensions. It was not until 1970, thanks to the arrival of social assistance in Quebec, that she finally had the means to resume it.

For a long time, she did not dare to reveal her secret. “She hid it from me until I was 20. She had made up a complicated story. She had told me that she was a widow and that my father’s grave was in the United States. »

When his adult daughter expressed the desire to go and pray at her father’s grave, the truth finally came out. She was a “mother-daughter”. Her father was a married man with whom she had had a love affair. He was still alive. Caroline was happy to hear it. She finally understood why her mother had cut all ties with her family. But she was ultimately never able to meet her father, who died shortly afterwards.

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Until the end of her life, Caroline’s mother, who died in 2022, remained deeply marked by the religious stranglehold and the oppressive patriarchal system in which women of her generation lived. Even though times had changed, the weight of shame had not gone away. “At the end of her life, my mother was in a CHSLD and she still told the orderlies that she was married. She was unable to change her story. »

The memory of the former Miséricorde hospital is multiple and changing according to the times. It necessarily includes stories that are more painful than others. The one her mother told when she talked about the Sisters of Mercy was rather beautiful.

“She was there at a time when social work was well established and she was able to benefit from it. It also benefited from certain initiatives set up by Marie Labrecque, known in religion as Sister Sainte-Mechtilde, who had created home for single mothers [inspirées d’un modèle new-yorkais semblable]. From the moment her pregnancy became evident, she was able to take refuge in one of these houses in Sainte-Dorothée, in Laval, for several months and only return to Misericordia to give birth. »

A pioneer in social work with both single mothers and sex workers, Marie Labrecque – to whom screenwriter Danielle Trottier wanted to pay tribute by naming a school after her in the series All the life – passed away on June 10, 2021 at the age of 100.

After reading an article in her memory, Caroline discovered, moved and incredulous, that this exceptional woman her mother had always spoken to her about with immense respect was housed in the same CHSLD as her. Without knowing it, they found themselves on the same floor, a few doors apart. They died eight months apart.

“In all the infinity of possibilities… they ended their days next to each other! »

For Caroline, it was another failed date. “I would have loved to go talk to him. For me, she is an essential feminist figure, who has been a driving force for social transformation in Quebec. »

Changing things in an institution as patriarchal as the Church certainly required guts. And guts, Marie Labrecque, who notably had the name “daughter-mother” replaced by “single mother”, had it in spades.

“There were many religious women like her who were quite badass, as we say today. »

One thing is certain, when her museum opens, Caroline Masse will set up an exhibition there in memory of Marie Labrecque. So that we do not forget these mothers who were never celebrated nor those who fought so that they are no longer stigmatized.