Canada’s Agriculture Day

Canada’s Agriculture Day is an opportunity to briefly present the story of sister Fernande Dumont (1922-1998), who used her experience to successfully grow vegetables in Canada’s Far North. Originally from Bécancour and born of farming parents, sister Dumont became a professed member of the Grey Nuns in 1944. She worked as a gardener and farmer at Métairie St-Joseph in Nicolet until 1966, when she was sent to Chesterfield Inlet in the Northwest Territories, where her experience in agriculture and poultry farming was put to good use. She had a greenhouse built using windows from the old church, and the soil was brought in by boat. In her first year, she harvested lettuce and 50 tomatoes!