Hon. Marie-Françoise Mégie: Honourable senators, it is a great honour for me to introduce you to my guest today. She was able to take her rightful place as a Black woman, demonstrate her excellence and make a unique contribution to Quebec society and the advancement of medicine.

Her name is Yvette Bonny. She was born in Haiti in 1938. She studied medicine and provided health care in the rural areas of the country. She emigrated to Quebec in 1961 and did her residency at the Sainte-Justine pediatric hospital in Montreal in 1965. She was the first Black woman resident at that hospital.

She then went on to specialize in hematology at the Saint-Antoine Hospital in Paris, the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal and the Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital, where she did her residency in hematology in 1967 and in pathology in 1968.

When she began her career, she was the third woman hematologist in Quebec and the first with a specialization in pediatrics. However, it was not an easy road. As a Black female doctor, Dr. Bonny had to work that much harder to gain the confidence of her peers and some parents who, when they saw her, doubted her abilities. She often felt as though she always had to prove that she was the best.

Still, these obstacles did not stop her. Dr. Bonny showed her determination throughout her long and outstanding career. On April 2, 1980, she performed the first bone marrow transplant on a child in Quebec. A bone marrow transplant is a procedure to treat leukemia and other cancers and is now done to treat sickle cell disease, a genetic red blood cell disorder.

She was the only pediatric hematologist performing this procedure in Quebec for many years. Over the course of her career, she performed 200 bone marrow transplants.

Her dedication, compassion and humour earned her the nickname “Patch Adams” among her pediatrics colleagues.

She received many awards and honours throughout her successful career. I certainly don’t have enough time to list them all, but I would like to point out that she was made a knight of the Ordre national du Québec in 2007 and has been a member of the Order of Canada since 2008.

Dr. Bonny has always been an inspiration to me. She has paved the way for young girls from Haiti who dream of working in health care. She is a role model for the Haitian community and especially for all young Black women.

Colleagues, please join me in congratulating Dr. Bonny on all her accomplishments and in wishing her and her daughter, Nathalie Gadbois, a warm welcome to the Senate of Canada.

Thank you.