One woman’s crusade for a children's hospital in Ottawa

That’s why, as president of the volunteer CHEO Auxiliary in the 1960s,she helped lead a group of women that refused to back down when detractors thought Ottawa didn’t need a children’s hospital. 

They claimed Ottawa’s adult hospitals had space and expertise to treat kids, and money would be better spent elsewhere. 

“The women of the community had other thoughts,” said Mair. 

“We spent many years convincing people that children needed to be treated differently, have different equipment, which was not available in the hospital that we had at the time.” 

The issue was somewhat personal. Mair’s daughter was born in 1959 with spina bifida and died at just two months old. A children’s hospital might have made a difference. 

In the 1960s and early ‘70s, mothers and grandmothers raised money through fundraisers big and small and educated people about the value of a children’s hospital. Then mayoral candidate Don Reid put the issue on his campaign platform and won the election. 

After some back-and-forth with the Ontario government, a children's hospital in Ottawa was approved. 

“We were pretty adamant that it was going to happen regardless of what some people thought,” said Mair. 

When it finally did happen, Mair was there on opening day, May 17, 1974. On top of leading the auxiliary, she was a member of the original CHEO board of directors and part of the building and opening ceremonies committees. 

She remembers the initial list of people invited to that opening ceremony. A “great list,” she says, including politicians and prominent locals, but with one major oversight: not one woman was invited. 

(Image courtesy City of Ottawa Archives)

“The fact that the hospital existed because of the women’s work, I made it very clear that that was not acceptable,” she said. 

“In the end, they finally condescended to have one token woman, which ended up being me.” 

Speaking at the hospital’s 50th birthday celebration on May 17, 2024, Mair said she was beyond proud “that all our work paid off.”  

She also lauded the world-renowned research and care that now takes place at CHEO thanks to the staff, medical staff, learners and volunteers, and the work of the CHEO Foundation and CHEO Research Institute. 

“We started in such a controversial position, so to see our dreams realized like this, it’s just amazing,” she said. “It has been beyond anything we’ve imagined.”