Kathleen Connors, centre, President of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions takes part in the rally outfront of Scarborough General in the pouring rain, on June 4, 2003. Ms. Connors used her legendary networking skills, deep understanding of health-care policy and calm but forceful-when-it-mattered approach to push for change and build the nurses union movement.Louie Palu/The Globe and Mail
The room fell silent when Kathleen Connors stepped onto the stage in front of hundreds at the 1999 convention of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions. It was in that moment that Ms. Connors’s daughter realized just how influential her mother was as Canada’s top advocate for nurses.
The ballroom was filled with hundreds of people and there had been a constant chatter throughout the day, recalled Kara Connors, who was 19 at the time.
“But, when my mom got up there, it was deathly quiet,” she said. “I did a look around and I was like: Whoa. I realized the amount of respect she had and how much they valued her leadership.”
Kathleen Connors, who led the national nurses’ federation for two decades and was one of Canada’s most successful labour organizers, died on April 3 at age 72 in St. John’s, N.L.
When asked later in life about her career, Ms. Connors always said she was a registered nurse rather than mentioning her leadership role, her daughter said. “She knew that nurses were an integral part of our publicly funded health-care system and that’s what inspired her life’s work,” Kara added.
In 1983, Ms. Connors was elected president of the National Federation of Nurses Unions (precursor to the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions), to represent unionized nurses at the national level at a time when feminism was transforming society and the fight for pay equity, better working conditions and child care support took centre stage. Over the next 20 years, she grew organization’s membership from 20,000 to 125,000.
It was hard work, especially operating with only a shoestring budget, but Ms. Connors managed to bring most provincial unions under the national umbrella by the turn of the century. The federation joined the Canadian Labour Congress, the country’s central labour body, in 1998. At that time, her organization was also starting to operate on the international stage.
Debra McPherson, former head of the BC Nurses’ Union, remembers travelling to Australia, Japan, England and the United States to advocate for nurses and public health care alongside Ms. Connors. Ms. McPherson said one of her most cherished memories is marching across San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge with the American civil rights activist Jesse Jackson, who at the time was advocating for Medicare for all.
Ms. Connors “really supported the whole notion of solidarity across the profession,” Ms. McPherson said.
Linda Silas, current president of the CFNU, was also present at the rally in San Francisco. She said the American speakers were evangelical, making spectators “shake from the inside.” But Ms. Connors, too, had a knack for galvanizing the crowd, raising her provincial health insurance card high in the air and shouting that it was all she needed to access care – no credit card required. Cheers erupted.
Over 20 years, Ms. Connors grew the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions' membership from 20,000 to 125,000. Ms. Connors holds up a copy of the the Liberal party's campaign booklet in 1995.Fred Chartrand/The Canadian Press
Ms. Connors wasn’t one for confrontation. Instead, she used her legendary networking skills, deep understanding of healthcare policy and calm, but forceful-when-it-mattered, approach to push for change and encourage nurses to join the movement. She was in her element with a bullhorn in her hand.
She was always willing to pick up the phone, her daughter said, so much so that the once-curly cord attached to their kitchen telephone in the 1990s was “straight as a whip.” Her loved ones said she was never flustered and that she was thoughtful in every aspect of her life, even spending hours in a Hallmark store to find the perfect card for an occasion.
And, just as she had the backs of nurses, they also had hers. At Ms. Connors’s funeral service on April 7, Debbie Forward, the former president of the Registered Nurses’ Union of Newfoundland and Labrador, shared a story about a 1999 rally in Saskatchewan. Ms. Connors had been threatened with arrest if she spoke to the crowd.
“Well, no one threatens our Kathleen Connors. Every nurse in attendance – and there were thousands of them – wore a name tag saying: ‘Hi, my name is Kathleen Connors,’” Ms. Forward recalled. “I can see her now, saying, ‘Well, we’ll see about that,’ and then promptly reaching for the microphone.”
Kathleen Jean Ching was born on May 5, 1952, in the quaint community of Darlingford in southern Manitoba to farmers Gordon and Ruth Ching. She had two younger sisters, Sandra and Beverley.
The sisters were all involved in the 4-H agricultural club in Manitoba, but had different interests: Sandra and Beverley showed cattle while Kathleen participated in home economics club and honed her skill at public speaking – a talent that would later shine on stages, picket lines and in nursing stations across the country.
She was proud to have graduated from Nellie McClung Collegiate, in nearby Manitou, a school named after a Canadian suffragist. She then completed a two-year registered nursing program at Winnipeg’s St. Boniface Hospital. Her activism took root there as she fought for administrators to reinstate the cap-and-gown tradition for graduates.
She donned both at her graduation in 1972.
“The motto of the first nursing school was: ‘I see and I am silent,’” Ms. Connors told The Globe and Mail in 2003. “That never really worked for me.”
Her career began at a hospital in Thompson, Man., where she first became involved with her local union. She met Cyril Connors there, married him in 1974 and later gave birth to Kara, their only child. Working out of their basement, she also began her two-decade stint as head of the national federation.
In 1987, when the organization opened an office in the nation’s capital, the family moved there.
When she was diagnosed with ovarian and bowel cancer in 1999, she took a step back as she went through surgery, chemotherapy and radiation for 18 months before her disease went into remission. Being a patient in the very system she was fighting to improve only reinforced her commitment to bring about change.
She continued that fight until 2003, when she retired from the CFNU, moving to Pouch Cove, a tiny town in Newfoundland. Her husband died three years later, around the same time her first granddaughter, Kyleigh, was born. A second, Gracie, came later.
Ms. Connors’s family said she was “met with a new energy in life,” sharing her passions, such as baking and needlepoint, with her grandchildren and turned her focus to politics. Twice she ran for the provincial NDP, and she served as leader of the party from 2011 to 2016, all while volunteering with seniors’ groups in the community.
“Kathleen was a true social democrat, feminist and advocate for good health care everywhere in Canada,” said Lorraine Michael, former Newfoundland NDP leader, in a public tribute to Ms. Connors.
In March, Ms. Connors received Newfoundland and Labrador’s 75th Anniversary of Confederation Medal and the King Charles III Coronation Medal. Kara Connors hopes to keep her mother’s legacy alive by creating a scholarship program for aspiring nurses from rural Newfoundland, an idea they discussed before her death.
“It’s important for her story to be shared,” Kara said, “so she can inspire others.”
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