Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate a significant milestone in the education of girls in my hometown of Kingston.
The dream of Archbishop MacDonell to establish a school for the education of girls became a reality when three sisters from the congregation of Notre Dame in Montreal arrived in Kingston on this day, November 21, in 1841. Three days later, the sisters received their first pupils and, in time, the Notre Dame Convent School was inaugurated, a school which hundreds of women still proudly call their alma mater.
From Kingston, the sisters expanded their ministry to educate girls in western and Atlantic Canada. After 126 years, Notre Dame Convent School joined with Regiopolis College for Boys to become the current Regiopolis-Notre Dame Catholic Secondary School.
Let us honour this milestone of the sisters of the congregation of Notre Dame as they celebrate today 171 years of continuous ministry and education in Kingston, Ontario.