Shriners Hospital-Canada

This article is about the Shriners Hospital in Montreal. For other hospitals with similar names, see Shriners Hospitals for Children.

Shriners Hospital
Shriners Hospitals for Children
File:Shriners Hospital in Montreal 06.jpg
Location in Montreal
Geography
Location	Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Coordinates
Organization
Care system	Charity care
Hospital type	Specialist
Affiliated university	McGill University
Services
Beds	40
Speciality	Pediatric hospital
Links
Website	http://www.shrinershq.org/Hospitals/Canada/
Lists	Hospitals in Canada

The Shriners Hospital-Canada (also known as Shriners Hospitals for Children Canada and Montreal Shriner's Hospital) is the Canadian branch of the Shriners Hospitals for Children network. It is located in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, Montreal, Quebec, at 1003 Decarie Boulevard. It overlooks downtown Montreal, and is close to Montreal General Hospital of the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) hospital network, with which it is affiliated. The previous site of the institution (at 1529 Cedar Avenue) had outgrown its facilities, and since it was surrounded by Mount Royal Park, it could not expand in that location.

Political uncertainty over relocation

Following years of wrangling within the Shriners and in Quebec, a general vote of the Shriners would decide the future of the Canadian hospital. Originally slated to move to the new MUHC superhospital site, the project had been delayed more than a decade. However the delay proved decisive in the new Shriners president wanting the hospital to move out of Montreal. With the push for an alternate site, Ottawa and London, Ontario both pushed for the new facility. The Ottawa Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario hospital supported Montreal first, but if it were to move, it wanted it in Ottawa. An Ottawa location would not greatly affect access to those in the US Northeast, or eastern Canada, only being about 200 km from Montreal. The president of the Shriners brought up the potential threat of Quebec separation to influence the move out of the province. The search committee found that it was preferable to move to London, Ontario. However, the Shriners of Ottawa, Quebec, eastern Canada, and northeast USA oppose this decision. A vote to decide was held by the Shriners members at the meeting in Baltimore on July 5, 2005. Of a total of 1214 votes, 608 voted in favour of staying in Montreal, 605 of moving to London and one vote was refused. London Shriners withdrew their resolution on April 12, 2006.[1]

Two years following, unsatisfied with the prior decision, the London Shriners decided to invoke a last minute resolution to move the hospital once again, based on the fact the Quebec government still continued to delay the project or fully decontaminate the land where the hospital is to be built. The issue was decided with another vote that was held on July 3, 2007. Once again the vote swung in favour of staying in Montreal, with 75% of members voting against the move. Despite the decision, construction was still delayed and only 90% of the land had been decontaminated. As of 2010, construction of the new super hospital was still delayed, and with it delayed the new Shriners hospital as well. The London Shriners have vowed to re-attempt to move the hospital to Ontario.

Construction of new building

On October 13, 2011, the official ground breaking ceremony for the new Shriners hospital took place, on the site of the MUHC superhospital. Two years later, with construction well under way, a corner stone ceremony was held on September 22, 2013. The new Shriners building was completed in 2015. The new hospital, located at 1003 Decarie, opened in October 2015.