THUNDER BAY – St. Joseph’s Care Group is mourning the loss of an influential and visionary figure.
Sister Margaret Smith, who had served with the Northern Ontario health-care organization for nearly 50 years, passed away at the age of 93 at the St. Joseph’s Motherhouse in North Bay on Sunday.
St. Joseph’s Care Group president and CEO Tracy Buckler said Smith made lasting contributions throughout the region.
“It’s a very long legacy that Sister Margaret leaves behind and leaves for us to really carry on,” she said on Tuesday. “Sister Margaret Smith is a beautiful example of the sisters’ caring and contributions to Northwestern Ontario.”
Smith joined the Sisters of St. Joseph in 1944 and subsequently spent a decade in Thunder Bay before relocating to Sudbury. She returned to Thunder Bay in the late 1950s where she remained until the 1970s.
One of her most significant achievements was implementing an alcohol and substance abuse treatment program at St. Joseph’s Hospital in 1967.
It was something that was brand new at the time.
“There were no other programs or treatment centres and she worked with the government of the day to make that happen because she saw a gap in services for people who needed care and treatment,” Buckler said.
“Sister Margaret was an extremely visionary woman as were so many of the Sisters of St. Joseph because they always tried to look ahead and really tried to fill those needs other people weren’t doing.”
That work led the organization to name their alcohol and treatment centre after her. The Sister Margaret Smith Centre, which has been in its new Lillie Street location for about five years, continues to offer programs and services.
Having the centre named in her honour came as a surprise for Smith, who received the Order of Canada in 2007.
“She just saw doing her work was something she was called to do. That recognition and acknowledgement of the contributions she made to health-care services was something she was very humbled by,” Buckler said.
