Monsignor Chaumont Institute (1957-1971)

Cardinal Paul-Émile Leger, the Grey Nuns agreed in 1957 to manage an educational program for epileptic children, having previous experience with the education of epileptic children in Chambly and in Chateauguay during 1933-1942.

Sisters Diana Clouâtre and Aline Côté began working at Mgr Chaumont Institute on 15 July 1957, projecting to receive some one hundred students (girls between 6 and 16 years of age and boys between 6 and 12 years of age) as both boarders and day-students who were unaccepted in the regular school system. An affiliation with St. Justine’s Hospital provided neurological and medical information for obtaining accurate diagnoses.

The Institute was officially recognized as a Public Assistance Institute in 1958; thanks to its aggregate status with the Catholic School Commission of Montreal, it received the necessary teaching material and was able to hire teachers. With advancements in medicine many epileptic students were able to integrate into the regular school system and enrolment began to decline.

In August 1970 the Institute merged with the Foyer de Beauharnois where 72 children with limited learning ability were in residence. After a final school year the Grey Nuns left the Institute leaving its work to continue under the Charleroi-Boyer Corporation.