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John Richard Middleton Smith
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Physician, community activist.
Born at Nairobi, Kenya on 10 April 1943, son of Helen Jessiman Wilson (1909-2010) and Oliver Henry Middleton Smith (1910-1973), his childhood was spent in Egypt and Cyprus prior to moving to England. He graduated from the London Hospital Medical School in 1967 and immigrated to Canada in 1972.
He practiced for a time at Neepawa, Birtle, and Shoal Lake before moving to Winnipeg in 1976 as an internal medicine resident at the Health Sciences Centre. From 1979 to 1997, he operated the Fort Rouge Medical Clinic to serve lesbian and gay patients. Through the 1980s and 1990s, he was an active advocate for LGBTQ health care, especially when fears around HIV/AIDS were raised, and held testing clinics for sexually transmitted infections. He played a key role in founding the Winnipeg Gay Community Health Centre (later Village Clinic and still later Nine Circles Community Health Centre). He was a fellow and life member of the College of Family Physicians of Canada and served as President of its Manitoba chapter.
In 2007, he founded The Gay Men's Health Clinic, later renamed Our Own Health Centre, in Winnipeg and he served as its senior physician and medical director until retirement in 2019. In recognition of his community service, he received a Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal (2022) and was inducted into the Order of Manitoba (2023).
He died at his Winnipeg home, 66 West Gate, with medical assistance, on 7 November 2023 and was buried in the St. Vital Cemetery. He was survived by Douglas Arrell, his partner since 1977 and husband since 2009.
“Homosexuality: an addiction?” by J. R. M. Smith, D. J. Meen, and H. W. Backe, Canadian Medical Association Journal, Volume 132, 1 April 1985, pages 737-738.
“This doctor treated HIV/AIDS patients when no one else would. His advocacy continued as he prepared to die.” by Bryce Hoye, CBC News, 8 November 2023.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 10 November 2023.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 18 November 2023.
Obituary, Hunter Funerals.
We thank Jay Richthammer for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 22 January 2024
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