They now operate shelters for battered women (with and without children), shelters for women in need, clothing and food dispensaries, centres for the disabled, and some health care facilities. St. Boniface General Hospital in Winnipeg is still owned by the Grey Nuns; hospitals previously owned, operated, or enlarged by the institute include the former Holy Cross Hospital in Calgary, St. Paul's Hospital in Saskatoon, and the Grey Nuns Community Hospital in Edmonton. Many of these health care institutions were founded by missionary nuns sent out from convents in Quebec and Ontario. Other works Grey Nuns may work with the incarcerated. Some chapters are also dedicated to peace and justice; at least one chapter, the Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart, has declared its properties a nuclear-free zone. Classification as religious sisters Although the institute's informal name contains the word "nuns", members are actually classified by the Roman Catholic Church as religious sisters, as they are not cloistered and belong to a congregation, not an order. They no longer wear their distinctive habit and now wear street clothes. Numbers In 1993 it was estimated that there were just under 3,000 Grey Nuns in Canada, mainly in Quebec and Ontario. By 2013 they will vacate their Mother House in downtown Montreal, after having sold the property to Concordia University in 2005. As of 2014 there were about 136 nuns in the Montreal congregation, whose average age was around 85. The Quebec congregation has not recruited any new members since before 2000. Sister Bernadette said the nuns' legacy will live on in other ways. See also Covenant Health Systems References Further reading The Grey Nuns and the Red River Settlement by Dennis King. Toronto: Book Society of Canada, 1980. Mother d'Youville, First Canadian Foundress by Albertine-Ferland Angers. Montreal: Sisters of Charity of Montreal, Grey Nuns, 2000. External links Grey Nuns of Montreal Home Page Sisters of Charity of Saint-Hyacinthe Home Page Sisters of Charity of Ottawa Home Page Sisters of Charity of Quebec Home Page Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart Home Page Grey Sisters of the Immaculate Conception Home Page Manitoba Historical Society – The Grey Nuns and the Red River Settlement Ward, Sister Mary Elizabeth. "Grey Nuns." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 7. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910 1738 establishments in the French colonial empire Religious organizations established in the 1730s Christian organizations based in Canada History of Catholicism in Canada