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From the Smoky Lake Signal, December 19, 2001. Sheila Greckol - Queen's Bench Judge Sheila Greckol, born and raised in Vilna, has been appointed Justice to the Court of Queen's Bench in Edmonton. Sheila Greckol, a partner in the Edmonton law firm of Chivers, Greckol and Kanee has been a strong voice for the rights of workers, women and the disadvantaged since she was admitted to the bar in 1976. She has practiced mainly in labour law and human rights. Her clients have included the Morgantholer clinic, the United Nurses of Alberta, the Alberta Federation of Labour and a large number of public and private sector unions and faculty associations. She has served as counsel on significant human rights cases and was honoured for her principles in 1991 when she received the Suzanne Mah Memorial Award. She received the award again in 1998 when she was the lead lawyer of the legal team which took the Delwin Vriend case on sexual orientation rights to the Supreme Court of Canada. Mr. Vriend, a homosexual was fired from his Edmonton Christian College teaching job. When he tried to complain to the Alberta Human Rights Commission he found they don't hear complaints based upon sexual orientation and the case was launched. If gays and lesbians could not make a complaint, it's discrimination. The Supreme Court, in 1995, ruled that the charter prohibits discrimination against homosexuals even though it doesn't specifically state it. At that time only Alberta, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland did not include protections for gays in their human rights legislation. Sheila Greckol as Vriend's lawyer, stressed that deliberate exclusion amounts to discrimination. In 1998, Sheila Greckol won the Bertha Wilson Touchstone Award from the Canadian Bar Association. It is presented to women who make a significant contribution to the nation in the area of equality in the legal profession. In 1998, she won the YMCA Woman of the Year Award. In 1997, the Alberta Social Planning Council Award for community service was presented to her for advocacy in reinstating kindergarten funding. Ms. Greckol served as president of the Canadian Association of Lawyers from 1996-1998. Her practice has included advocacy before labour boards, arbitrition boards, professional disciplinary tribunals, human rights tribunals, as well as Provincial, Queen's and the Supreme Court. In the early years, her practice included criminal law, but has since consisted almost entirely of labour law and human rights cases involving the charter and human rights legislations. Important labour cases have included appeals before the Supreme Court concerning whether the freedom of association includes the right to strike, and whether the common law change of criminal contempt, as a charge, is contrary to the charter. Important human rights cases before the Supreme Court have included mandatory retirement at the University of Alberta, paid maternity leave cases and sexual harassments. She's a member of the National Action Committee for the Status of Women, the AIDS Network, the Canadian Association of Labour Lawyers, the Council of Canadians and the Parkland Institute. She teaches church school at the Robertson-Wesley United Church. She has appeared on CBC Radio political panels. She has been a member of the Edmonton Police Commission, chaired the Glenora Elementary School Parent Teachers Association, been a board member of Planned Parenthood and the Alberta Civil Liberties Research Centre, as well as the Advisory Council to AIDS Network of Edmonton. She is a board member of Abortion by Choice and the Individual Rights Protection Act Disability subcommittee. She has come a long way from her roots in Vilna. Her father, Bill Greckol, and mother Lu moved to Vilna in 1946 when Bill was hired as manager of the Hayward Lumber Yard. He continued with this job until 1952 when he became post master, with Lu as assistant post master. In 1955, he was appointed supervisor post master, supervising the rural offices between Smoky Lake and Ashmont. In 1961, Lu resigned her position at the post office, and went to the University of Alberta to become a teacher. She began teaching grade 1 at Vilna School in 1962 and continued until 1979. She was an active member of many community organizations and the United Church as well. Bill Greckol helped found the Vilna Golf Course in 1966, and later managed it. He served as village councillor and mayor. He served as justice of the peace, president of the Fish and Game Association, the Chamber of Commerce and the Vilna Curling Club. The Greckols had five daughters: Bonnie, who died in 1993; Monica and Alison, who are teachers; Debbie, who works for the post office; and Sheila, now a judge. Bill Greckol died in 1994. His wife Lu Greckol has now moved to Edmonton. Why has Judge Greckol chosen to champion so many leftist causes? My Dad was a Liberal all his life, said Sheila Greckol. Occasionally he voted even NDP. His father before him, ran for Liberal when they lived in Vegreville. Sheila married Alex Pringle, and they have three children: Thomas, 14; Anna, 11; and Sarah, 8. The hardest and most worthwhile job, said Sheila Greckol, is being a mother. For the last week she has watched other judges on the bench, and this week will have her first case. As a Queen's Bench judge, there is nothing very political about the decisions, it's all family and criminal law. So much life from the streets, at the court house. "I really didn't have a sense of it until last week." There will be lots of opportunities to be involved. 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