When Bruce Poulin received the Benemerenti Medal on April 24 in his hometown of Ottawa from Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Ivan Jurkovič, he said he accepted the papal honour, established in 1832, on behalf of the entire Ontario Knights of Columbus.

Poulin, who served as state deputy from 2023-25, became the first Ontario Knight to receive this award for exceptional service to the Catholic Church since James J. “Gardenia Jim” Gaffney in 1957. Gaffney joined the Hamilton Council #1454 in 1923 and devoted decades to the Catholic fraternal organization, culminating in a term as state deputy from 1955 to 1957.

Indeed, Poulin, who joined the Knights in 2007 and has served terms as grand knight, district deputy, state warden and state advocate before ascending to the top job, is spot-on in designating the medal as a collective triumph for the Ontario Knights rather than an individual accomplishment.

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But above all, Poulin says, the credit is God's. In fact, the Lord’s authorship of Poulin’s journey to this special moment is extraordinary, especially March 9-20, 2022, when the Holy Spirit revealed His miraculous healing power and deepened the resolve of a then-59-year-old man who had already demonstrated a steadfast and joyful commitment to service.

After suffering a heart attack, Poulin was advised by doctors to undergo an angiogram and for a stent to be placed to restore blood flow. He heard very disquieting blockage percentages from doctors looking at his visualized arteries on the monitors.

“He said, ‘This one is 90-per-cent blocked. This one is 80. Here’s another 90,” recounted Poulin. “By the time he was done, I said, ‘I’m losing track. These are different arteries?’ He said, ‘yeah.’ I asked ‘how many are blocked’ and he replied, ‘five.’ He said, ‘you were getting 20-per-cent blood supply.’

“I then said, ‘I was playing hockey,’ and he said, ‘you shouldn’t be alive. I don't know why I'm having this conversation with you because you shouldn't be here.' ”

God was already preserving Poulin without him knowing, and He was about to save him again.

On March 15, Poulin went into hospital for emergency quadruple bypass open-heart surgery, and complications arose. His condition worsened to the point where he asked for a priest to come visit him.

“I said, ‘it's not last rites, but it's certainly confession time’ because I don't want to go to sleep tonight because I don't think I'm going to be waking up,” said Poulin.

FoOn the night of March 17, St. Patrick’s Day, Poulin said a miracle happened.

“I was refusing to go to sleep because I didn't think I was going to wake up. There came a point when I was spiritually falling,” said Poulin. “I was walking around this hole, and the conversation was ‘you have to trust Me, and you have to let go.’ And in my mind, this conversation in my mind was ‘I’m letting myself fall into this hole because I don't know where the hole's going.’ I am not. And I kept circling and circling, and finally I did let go.”

The following morning, Poulin felt the strength to get out of the hospital bed by himself, and he could remove the oxygen mask. Beforehand, he couldn’t really move at all.

These remarkable developments stunned the attending nurse and the doctor.

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“The doctor came in, and this would be right up there with the old cartoon cliche where you got the doctor looking at a clipboard walking in, and then he looks, and I'm standing up with the Cheshire smile,” said Poulin with a chuckle. “He literally stops walking, looks again at the clipboard, fumbles with some pages, looks back and says, ‘what happened to you?’ I said, ‘it's a miracle.’ ”

While ruminating on this amazing occurrence, Poulin asked God what He wanted him to do with this new lease on life. The road ahead became clearer to the member of St. Patrick’s Basilica Ottawa Council #485, and the following year, when he assumed the state deputy role for the Ontario Knights of Columbus, he devised an ambitious slate of initiatives.

At first, the envisaged plans appeared daunting to his fellow Knights, but then Poulin sold his vision. He told The Catholic Register the message he imparted in early 2023.

WWe can do more, and I'm there with you,” said Poulin. “I will march with you guys, and I will show you that we can do much more. The Knights of Columbus is not just the largest Catholic organization in the world, but in my mind, it’s the greatest. I'm going to show you, and before my two years are over, we're going to do a year in review, and we are going to be beating our chest at our 125th anniversary convention.”

There was indeed a lot to celebrate and smile about at that convention in April 2025.

After 11,004 winter coats were collected and distributed through the Coats for Kids program in 2023, the Knights under Poulin’s leadership shattered that record with 18,996 coats in 2024. This impressive growth trajectory carried over to 2025 under current State Deputy David Gelinas, with 20,736 coats collected and distributed in 2026.

Poulin’s love for Canadians who step up to serve their country through military service shone through in multiple initiatives. He himself is a disabled veteran with over 40 years of experience who spent half of his adult life as an officer in the Canadian Armed Forces. He served as manager of media relations and public relations for the Royal Canadian Legion for a time. Later, he worked for the Conference of Defence Associations Institute (CDA Institute) and Lockheed Martin Canada.

Under his leadership, the Knights secured $75,000 to erect a cenotaph at Veterans’ House Canada in Ottawa, a setting where hundreds of homeless veterans can solemnly reflect upon their service.

“It is an area and place of reflection so that these veterans who have trouble travelling because they don't have a car, who are afraid of crowds and going to the Remembrance Day ceremony in Ottawa because, for instance, there are cannons firing and it's just not conducive,” said Poulin. “They're still fragile and vulnerable. So, by having a cenotaph there, they could go whenever and have that opportunity to reflect.”

Poulin, who also serves as a senior service representative with the Canadian Wheelchair Foundation, has organized trips to Puerto Rico, Panama and other destinations on behalf of the Knights to donate wheelchairs.

“The gift of a new wheelchair is so much more than providing mobility, a gift which more often than not was beyond people’s dreams. We witnessed how touched Bruce was by making dreams come true, restoring hope and faith,” said Christiana Flessner, executive director of the Canadian Wheelchair Foundation.

The Knights also raised over $30,000 to donate an ultrasound machine to a hospital in Sudbury.

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Of all these accomplishments that earned Benemerenti Medal recognition, Poulin said, “it was only because of the Knights of Columbus, 50,000 members that are doing a little bit extra.”

“We all win. Everybody should feel very good about themselves.”