By Jack Wilson
Special to The Record
Luc Mathieu, president of the Ordre des infirmières et infirmiers du Québec, graduated from the
Cégep de Sherbrooke’s nursing program in 1978. Quebec’s first male nurse had started in 1974, making Mathieu one of the very few men in the profession. “I like women,” he joked, “but that’s not why I chose this career.”
Early in his employment, Matthieu said he was used to people asking why he chose to become a nurse instead of a doctor. “I’d tell them, I don’t want to be a doctor, I want to be a nurse. Those aren’t the same things.” He said he was attracted to nursing because “nurses are much closer to their patients.”
Since 1978, nursing’s role has evolved. Science has advanced. As has the average patient’s age. “A lot has changed,” Mathieu said.
When he started his career, Quebec had a surplus of nurses, Mathieu said. “We didn’t work much.” Seeking full-time work, he left for Switzerland, where he worked for three years, eventually managing other nurses. Upon return in Quebec, he obtained a bachelor’s degree in nursing at the Université de Sherbrooke and then a master’s degree in health administration at the Université de Montréal. He took various administration roles at the then Sherbrooke Hospital. In 2002, he became a professor at the Université de Sherbrooke, where he later became director of the nursing school. He’s been president of the Ordre des infirmières et infirmiers du Québec since 2018.
