On the second Monday of each month, the Rev. Canon Allen Box celebrates the Eucharist in the hospital’s beautiful chapel, assisted by a team of Anglican volunteers led by Sheila Ruban and Tom Delsey who bring the patients to and from their rooms for the service, in wheelchairs or on gurneys. A choir led by Frances Macdonnell leads the congregation in singing four hymns and a psalm and all the service music by Merbecke; the choir also sings a choral prelude to the service as the patients are gathering.

As well as celebrating the monthly Eucharist, Canon Allen visits all the Anglican patients weekly, as do some of the volunteers. In these days in which more and more elderly people live in long-term care, this year-round Anglican ministry is of enormous value.

On Monday, Jan. 8 in the chapel, a particularly special service took place, since as well as celebrating the Epiphany, we were also celebrating the 60 years which Garth Hampson, Ottawa’s favourite bass-baritone, has spent volunteering at St. Vincent’s Hospital. When Garth first came to Ottawa in 1964 as the bass soloist with the RCMP Band, he joined the Cathedral Choir and started leading the music at the Anglican service at St. Vincent’s Hospital—and has continued doing that for 60 years, an unmatched period of service! In the last dozen years, this volunteer choir has been singing along with him—but Garth has been there faithfully every month since 1964!

For all his many kinds of  volunteer work, Garth has also been awarded the Sovereign’s Medal for Volunteerism, the Queen’s Silver, Gold, and Diamond Jubilee Medals, and the Governor General’s Commendation for Volunteerism.

At this special service, Canon Box was joined by Bishop Peter Coffin who has long been involved with the Anglican ministry at SVH, and we were thrilled to see Sister Louise Charbonneau return from retirement; she was the last of the Roman Catholic Sisters of Charity, the original founders of SVH, to serve in the chapel.

During the service, Garth sang the solo part in The Lord of the Dance, the choir and congregation joining happily in the chorus after each verse. Sheila Ruban had kindly organized a celebratory luncheon after the service, and many of Garth’s extended family and friends were there.

Fr Allen Box spoke during the service of Garth’s lifetime of volunteerism, and in his remarks at the luncheon, Bishop Peter thanked Garth and also Garth’s wife Eleanor for all her years of support.

Lacking a 60-year-volunteer-service pin, Rebekah Hackbusch, manager of spiritual care at SVH, presented Garth with two 30-year-volunteer-service pins!

Canon Box’s ministry at SVH is funded through the Prayer Book Society, Ottawa Branch, and is supported by several parishes such as All Saints, Greely, St. Mary the Virgin, Blackburn, and St. Barnabas, Ottawa, as well as by many individuals. All donations are tax-receiptable; cheques payable to “PBSC Ottawa Branch” can be sent to Frances Macdonnell, 303-3099 Carling Avenue, Ottawa K2H 5A6.

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 In June 2021, during the pandemic when it was impossible for the congregation to travel to Iqaluit, the Rev. Canon George Kwari suggested that the congregation of St. Stephen’s might follow up with the people of Iqaluit by asking if there was some project the congregation could assist them with. Frances Macdonnell contacted her friend Darlene Nuqingaq, the co-ordinator of the Iqaluit Music Society, to ask about such projects, and Darlene came back to us at once to say that one thing there was a great need for — but never any money for — was the provision of child-sized Inuit drums for the children of Iqaluit.
 All the children of Nunavut aspire to be drum-dancers when they grow up! But because of the expense and the scarcity of materials, Inuit drums have only been built in adult sizes, and so the children have had to wait years before they were tall enough to be able to learn the ancient Inuit skill of drum-dancing.  “Could the congregation perhaps provide some funds to pay an Inuit craftsman to build such in smaller sizes for the children?” asked Darlene.

“Of course!” replied St. Stephen’s, and a fundraising drive began, raising approximately $6,000 from within the congregation. The craftsman in question was to be David Serkoak, a very well-known elder, drum-dancer, and craftsman; David has drummed in Iqaluit for the Pope, and in Ottawa for Governor-General Mary Simon. 

In October, the parish has received a letter from Charlene Paterson, the vice-principal of Joamie School in Iqaluit (the Inuktitut-speaking Junior school), saying:  “It was our honour the week before last to have our beloved friend, cultural advisor and former school leader, David Serkoak, come to Joamie School. I want to thank St. Stephen’s Anglican Parish, Ottawa, for this wonderful gift of music and cultural sharing between a much-respected elder and the youth of Joamie School. Our new drums are hung in each of the K-5 homeroom classes to be integrated into daily programming when possible.  Please come visit us next time you have the chance, and thank you for bringing us this good fortune and showing generosity and action towards reconciliation. It is through these friendships we forge a new path.”
David Serkoak has initially made 12 of these smaller-sized drums for the children and will make more. It is important to remember is that these drums are not toys; they are hand-crafted musical instruments, and they will last the children of Joamie School for many years. In the pictures below, you can see how much smaller the new drums are than the adult-sized drum David himself is playing.

As Charlene Paterson said, this is another way of expressing friendship and action towards reconciliation.  And as the world opens up again, the congregation of St. Stephen’s Anglican Church, Ottawa, look forward to another Arctic visit soon!

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