Honourable senators, “Beautiful! Stunning!” were the gasps of appreciation as the bagpipes went silent and the curtain was drawn back on April 3 to unveil a magnificent five-panel gift of art from the Antigonish community to the Sisters of St. Martha on the occasion of their move into their new home.

The Town and County of Antigonish had joined efforts with St. Francis Xavier University and St. Martha’s Regional Hospital Foundation to commission local artist Anna Syperek to create this work entitled “Journey.” “Journey” is an allegorical landscape, created in oils, which reflects the Martha’s journey from their origins at St. F-X University across Canada, into the U.S. and off into the future.

The Sisters were being thanked and lauded by their home community and I had the honour of emceeing the event with hundreds in attendance.

So what were they being lauded for? I would describe the Martha’s as pioneering women CEOs and leading social activists.

As for their CEO role, in the early 1900s, these enterprising women initiated a door-to-door campaign, raising $500 for the creation of Antigonish’s first six-bed hospital. Today we enjoy a full service regional hospital in our town, thanks to these women.

By the 1950s, the Sisters of St. Martha owned and/or operated 11 hospitals across North America — in Cape Breton, Banff, Lethbridge and Lowell, Massachusetts.

They started St. Martha’s School of Nursing and engaged in education and social work programs.

On the social activism side, you’ve already heard me speak of the Antigonish Movement and its women’s division. The Sisters of St. Martha were key collaborators with Dr. Coady, working to equip people to improve the conditions in their own communities. The Martha’s worked with the Coady International Institute and are active today at the UN.

Sister Dorothy Moore, of Membertou, has successfully championed Mi’kmaq language and the inclusion of Mi’kmaq history in the Nova Scotia curriculum. Sister Jovita MacPherson works with people living on the streets of Halifax through innovative programs providing food, clothing, haircuts, art classes and legal services.

As we gathered on April 3, the fields out back were being plowed for the Martha’s New Growers program, providing access to land and instruction in farming.

The pathway that winds its way through Anna Syperek’s painting of the Martha journey branches off into an unknown future. When asked about the declining number of Sisters, Sister Jovita responded jovially — kind of dismissively, actually: “Mary — we are more focused on what we will get caught doing on our way out!”

Moses Coady declared that if he had 50 Marthas together, they could change the world.

This humble, yet able group of women, have been doing exactly that — changing the world for the better — for 118 years.

Honourable senators, please join me in applauding these exemplary Canadian leaders, the Sisters of St. Martha!