He performed Quebec’s first pediatric bone marrow transplant. At 87, he still has some impostor syndrome

Even at 87, Dr. Yvette Bonny sometimes struggles with imposter syndrome.

A pioneering hematologist who performed the first pediatric bone marrow transplant in Quebec in 1980, he has since received much praise.

She was working with her head down – leading Provincial Pediatric Bone Marrow Transplant Unit for almost two decades – She says, when the waves of recognition started coming.

She was Haematologist of the Year in 1996, Professor of the Year in 1999, and a Merit Physician the following year. In 2007, Bonnie was named a Knight of the National Order of Quebec, a Member of the Order of Canada in 2008, and received the Order of Montreal in 2025.

She said, “The more I get, the more… I question if I’m worth it.”

“I have done it, but why did they single me out instead of others? Because they have done a lot too.”

She doesn’t like attention, but this year, she has been featured by the Government of Canada as one of the Black History Month Nine notable figures Who have helped shape Canadian heritage and identity.

Sitting in her living room in her Montreal apartment, Bonnie says she feels the responsibility that comes with recognition — especially when aspiring physicians tell her they hope to be like her one day.

‘If I was able to do it, others can too’

The successful pediatric bone marrow transplant that shaped her career in 1980 filled Bonnie with pride – mostly because of what it meant for the future of medicine.

Whenever she receives an honour, she says she often thinks of her youth, when she first came to Canada in 1962.

He had an education – and a medical degree from Haiti’s Faculty of Medicine – but he didn’t have much practical experience as a budding pediatrician and soon-to-be hematologist.

“If I was able to do it, other people can do it too,” she said. “You have to put in…energy, time. But it’s worth it.”

Initially she was one of the only black people at Saint-Justine Hospital. He said people have questions.

“Are you sure you can do this?” Bonnie had heard something.

“The more I listened to it, the more it inspired me, the more I learned, the more I wanted to be better and better.”

She says black women doctors can say they paved the way. But Boney says that she cannot take such credit.

“They tell me, ‘If we’re here, it’s because of you.’ I say, ‘No, not because of me – it’s because of your own personal ability,’ she said.

“You are here because of your value, now go and prove it.”

‘Black history incarnate’: Former patient

Putting her clinical knowledge aside, Bonnie’s humor and compassion stood out to Ulises Guerrier, who became Bonnie’s former longtime patient friend.

“You may be at your lowest… but she’ll say something clever to make you laugh,” he said.

“He is the embodiment of black history,” Guerrier said.

“He is a living legend and we need to acknowledge him and give him flowers while he is still alive.”

Lying in a hospital bed being treated for a recent health crisis, Guerrier remembered the first time Bonnie came into her life – when she was just a baby.

At the time, he was suffering from an unknown illness, which some doctors misdiagnosed as growing pains.

He was on a trip from Toronto to Haiti, his parents’ birthplace, when a family friend put him in touch with Bonnie. He diagnosed her with sickle cell anemia.

When his family moved to Montreal years later, Bonnie, then a physician at the Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital, became his primary physician.

He said, “I look at Dr. Boney like my second mother.”

Not only did she provide thoughtful care to Guerrier, but she says she helped her become an advocate for herself and others suffering from sickle cell anemia.

“There’s been a lot of misrepresentation about the disease and labeling it as something that’s bad, that’s contagious,” he said.

“That stigma made a lot of people afraid to talk about it.”

But Bonnie encouraged Guerrier to pursue a career in advocacy, culminating in her becoming the current president of the Sickle Cell Association of Ontario.

“He made me understand that I had to speak up for myself and educate other people,” she said. He added that Boney was also present at his recent 50th birthday party in Montreal.

“I was blessed to meet her and be a part of her life and she was a part of mine.”

Bonnie calls Guerrier her son, “her Ulysses.”

“I hope he goes far in life, because he deserves to,” she said.

to advise Black women will take up professional space

Hearing from former patients – many of whom she still remembers – affects Bonnie deeply.

But she also loves hearing that some Black women medical professionals can take inspiration from her story.

“That’s the kind of thing that brings me joy. To think that I was all alone, that I got to say, ‘Yeah, I’m here, I’m here, look at me.’ And now, they’re finding their place,” Bonnie said.

“The message I often give these girls is… ‘You’re home. So, take whatever space you’re given. Do it well, don’t crush others, but take it – it’s yours.'”