Pelonik (Veronica) Matthews Brassard was born on October 6th, 1902. She was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William and Bridget (Fowler) Matthews, originally from Newfoundland. The Matthews family came to the King’s Road Reserve some time at the beginning of the 20th century.
Veronica’s family lived at the King’s Road Mi’kmaw Reserve and as a young woman she attended Holy Angels High School. Her family moved to Montreal when she was a teen and here she continued her education and eventually graduated from Columbia University with her nursing degree in 1929.
When the World War II conflict began, Veronica enlisted in the services with the Medical Core of the Armed Forces. During the war she brought newly trained nurses overseas with the Red Cross Hospital ships and returned with the wounded personnel to Montreal. She then nursed them at the Montreal Veteran’s hospital, as her unit was stationed in Montreal and headquartered at the Mount Royal Hotel. She served in the military for 7 years. It was during her military service that Veronica respectfully earned the title and rank of Colonel Veronica Brassard.
After the war ended Veronica continued to work as a nurse and with her husband, Louis Brassard and raised their four children. Veronica was multi-lingual and spoke English, Mi’kmaq, Inuit, Iroquois and French. Veronica worked for Indian Affairs for many years as a field nurse, and during this time she worked in many First Nation communities, including the Listuguj First Nation.
Veronica also worked at the Montreal General Hospital until she was 65, where she was a member of the Nurses Registry and did special private nursing duties for some very prominent Canadians including Mrs. Grace Elliot Trudeau, the mother of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. She later moved to Ottawa and worked with the Ottawa Civic Hospital until she was 75.
Veronica Matthews Brassard passed away on March 14, 1992 at the age of 89.
