The Dionne Quintuplets National Historic Event
North Bay, Ontario
Dionne sisters, Mme Dionne, and frère Sauvé, 1947
© National Film Board of Canada | Office national du film du Canada. Photothèque / Library and Archives Canada | Bibliothèque et Archives Canada / PA-155518
Address :
North Bay, Ontario
Recognition Statute:
Historic Sites and Monuments Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. H-4)
Designation Date:
2018-02-27
Other Name(s):
-
The Dionne Quintuplets
(Designation Name)
Research Report Number:
2016-18
Importance:
Birth and survival of five identical, premature and undersized infants
Plaque(s)
Existing plaque: 181 Oak Street West, North Bay
On 28 May 1934, Yvonne, Annette, Cécile, Émilie, and Marie were born to a Franco-Ontarian family in this house, when it was located in Corbeil, Ontario. Midwives Douilda (Donalda) Legros and Mary-Jeanne Lebel, and Dr. Allan Roy Dafoe delivered the quintuplets. The premature birth of five identical, undersized infants was complicated by limited access to medical equipment and facilities. Their birth and survival was an international sensation, bringing intense attention to the “Quints,” who were separated from their parents Elzire and Oliva by the authorities for most of their childhoods and exhibited to tourists from around the world.