It is part of the Centre hospitalier universitaire de Québec (CHUQ), a network of five teaching hospitals and several specialized institutions.

[1] The hospital was officially founded in 1637 in order to meet the colony's need for healthcare by Marie-Madeleine de Vignerot, the Duchesse d'Aiguillon (1604-1675), a niece of Cardinal Richelieu.

She entrusted the task to the Canonesses of St. Augustine of the Mercy of Jesus, the Hospitaller Sisters, whose spiritual vocation was nursing.

Three young canonesses left their monastery in Dieppe, on the coast of the English Channel, and arrived in New France on 1 August 1639 with the goal of opening the hospital.

By 1644, however, they had to abandon the site due to repeated attacks by Iroquois warriors, and the community moved to the town of Quebec.