In 2004 the foundation was renamed the Grace Dart Foundation. It has its roots in part in two of Montreal’s east end institutions: the Montreal Protestant Home, at the end of St. Catherine Street East, and the Grace Dart Hospital on Sherbrooke Street East.

To study the evolution of the Grace Dart Foundation is to become immersed in the historical growth of two Montreal charities. It all began in 1863 with the creation of the Montreal Protestant House of Industry and Refuge. Brothers William and Thomas Molson, along with John Redpath, William Workman, William Murray and other influential Montrealers of the time joined forces to provide food, clothing and shelter to Montreal’s poorest.

In the early 1900s, Henry Dart, a Montreal pharmacist, founded the Grace Dart Hospital in honour of his daughter Grace, who had died of tuberculosis. The hospital’s mission was to help poor people suffering from that disease.

Throughout the 1990s the Grace Dart Hospital Foundation and the Montreal Protestant Homes Foundation continued to target funds to help their respective centres. However, it was becoming clear that having separate foundations supporting separate centres meant that much effort was duplicated. The two centres were formally merged in 1999, and the strongest argument for unifying the two foundations was to create a focused environment with one board carrying out a clear mandate.

In 2015, with the adoption of Bill 10, the Foundation realized that it was the only independent body with the mandate and capacity to implement the vision that had been established over a century and half earlier by its founders. The Grace Dart Foundation had become the principal custodian of the Grace Dart values and identity.

Today the Foundation’s mission continues to ensure the wellbeing of the elderly in the Greater Montreal area. To meet this objective, the Foundation is establishing new offices on Greene Avenue in Westmount. Centrally located and able to serve not only long-term care facilities like the Grace Dart Centre and St-Anne’s Hospital, but also programs and services that benefit the elderly in all areas of the city. This is the beginning of a new and exciting chapter for this storied foundation.