On Mother’s Day 2024, a slim little figure with a dramatic white band in the front of her dark hair adjusted her backpack, picked up her crutches and strode out of her Charlottetown hotel, PEI (Prince Edward Island), heading west. Some 33 days and 435 miles later, striding in from the east, she returned to her starting point, having circumnavigated PEI—Canada’s smallest province—on foot.
That would be a huge achievement for most people – but not for eight-year-old Barbados-born Betty Hope-Gittens. One could be excused for thinking it was just another notch on her belt. Five years earlier (“when I was young,” she laughs), Hope-Gittens had walked the legendary Camino de Santiago—a 498-mile journey over much more challenging terrain.
In both cases, the goal was to raise funds for one or another of her many charitable causes. “One person can make a difference,” she insists.
She proved this in 2019, when her Camino walk raised CND$225,000 (approximately US$166,000) for 13 non-profit senior care homes in Ottawa, where she lives, and one in Barbados. “All the money I raised in Barbados stayed there,” she explains. She went to St Phillip’s District Hospital to buy beds, wheelchairs and other necessities for poor elderly people.
“Betty is very determined,” recalls her sister, Lady Denise Douglas. “As a child, she had a mind of her own; she did her thing. She always got what she wanted.” (She adds, softly, “She was so spoiled!”)
Rosemary Betty Hope was born in 1939, in St Michael, Barbados. Beautiful, popular and stubborn, she chose to drop out of high school early. “Whatever she wanted to do was always fine with our mom,” sighs Denise. Hope-Gittens counters that she was dyslexic, so academia was a challenge.
In 1958, she accompanied another sister, Grace, to Trinidad to celebrate the short-lived West Indian Federation. While there, she met the man who would later become her husband: Rudolph Ormsby Gittens, a Trinidadian living in Canada.
After returning to Barbados, Betty entered and won a Jaycee beauty pageant, becoming the first Miss Barbados. Her prize included a trip to Canada where she reconnected with Rudy Gittens… the rest is history.
They married and moved to Toronto in 1959. He was a pharmacist who went on to medical school in Ottawa, becoming a highly respected orthopedic surgeon. Betty worked to support his studies. She jokes that she was the only person to be awarded a PhT—a real paper degree—from the University of Ottawa’s medical faculty (the papers are “Husband’s Vacation”).
“This walk gives me a lot of time to think; is to spend time with him. It’s like a meditation.”
Meanwhile—in addition to having two children—Betty was climbing the business world, starting as a clerk (“I got fired from my first job!”) and ending up as a business partner and president of a successful business. Human resources (HR) firm with lucrative government contracts. She then started her own company organizing travel incentive programs for marketing companies around the world, followed by a human resources consulting service. Rudy passed away in 2013.
But determination, faith and undying faith have always been the defining characteristics of Betty Hope-Gittens’ life. A founding member of the Women’s Business Network, she received the organization’s first Businesswoman of the Year award in 1983.
In 2014, she was presented with the Silver Crown of Merit at the 48th Barbados National Independence Awards (for her work in promoting Barbados in Canada); and in 2019, she received the City of Ottawa Builder Award for her outstanding record of philanthropy.
Her philanthropic work has always been closely linked to a deep religiosity that places God at the center of everything she does. “If you have true faith, you respond to the needs of others,” she declared in a 2019 interview. “God is with me every step of the way.”
Philanthropy brought him to Prince Edward Island: a desire to raise funds for two church-run programs feeding the homeless in Ottawa. Her focus is always to help those less fortunate.
The I meet Hope-Gittens a week before her PEI hike ends, on a cloudy, rain-soaked day. Her wide smile is irresistible. Wrapped in her waterproof hiking gear and trusty Merrell sneakers, she’s logged dozens of daily miles without fear. (“God was there to protect me.”)
Behind the steadfast fundraising lies a more personal and sad reason for this particular trip. Her eldest son, Simon, had died three months earlier after a grueling battle with cancer. Betty had been by his side every day.
“Simon was my priority,” she explains. She had learned about the walk about 18 months ago, and after the deep emotions of his death, her undertaking was good for the soul. “This walk gives me a lot of time to think; is to spend time with him. It’s like a meditation.”
In her daily life, Hope-Gittens is a vigorous walker, spending at least 90 minutes each day. “Walking is therapeutic for me,” she says. She has kept him fit and healthy: at 85, she “takes no medication except a daily glass of Mount Gay Rum with a squeezed grapefruit and two oranges. This is my vitamin — and at the same time I’m helping Bajan’s economy!”
The Island Walk – officialized by Bryson Guptill, who published a guidebook in 2021 – roughly circles the perimeter of Prince Edward Island, wherever possible following dirt roads, secondary roads and a re-used railway bed known as the Trail of the Confederacy.
“The walk is beautiful,” exclaims Hope-Gittens. “The island is beautiful. I walked with rabbits, beautiful wildflowers and most of the time there was a breeze. And the people are wonderful. I’ve seen more kindness here than I’ve seen in years.”
However, there were some unavoidable sections of open highway that Hope-Gittens didn’t like. “There were no benches to rest on,” she points out. “This Walk is still a work in progress.”
And since the action, not stuck, it is way of workingshe then wrote to Guptill detailing an Adopt-a-Bench program that would see farmers offer a small patch of land and donors sponsor a bench at strategic points along the way. Guptill’s enthusiastic embrace of the idea shows that, once again, Betty Hope-Gittens knows how to get her way!
I catch up with him a week later as he exits the last section of the Confederate Trail. This time, the weather is glorious. “I feel good,” she smiles, in response to my question. “It was absolutely worth it.”
She can’t wait to get back to her hotel, take a shower and fix her hair (for the whole walk, it’s been hidden under a big cap, a far cry from her usual chic).
Already, a new idea is blowing in her head. This time, her point is focused on the island of birth. “There should be a walk like this around Barbados,” she exclaims. “The terrain is similar and has its own [abandoned] train line. It is a money maker from tourism. The fastest growing sport is walking.”
She reflects for a moment. “Walk and cycle in Barbados. This will be my next project.” Heads up, Barbados; Hurricane Betty is coming your way!
