In 1921, in response to a request from Bishop Ryan for teachers to staff the rural areas of the Ottawa Valley schools, twenty-seven Sisters of St. Joseph of Peterborough from three mission houses located in the diocese of Pembroke, formed into a new congregation with the motherhouse in Pembroke. In 1946, they opened their first hospitals and Homes for the Aged in western Canada. By 1964, they were able to establish a mission in Peru which is still operating today with a growing community of Peruvian Sisters. The Sisters of St. Joseph of Pembroke sponsor the Stillpoint House of Prayer In January 2020, the Pembroke convent was for sale and the eight remaining sisters preparing to move to a local retirement residence.