I was raised as "an army brat", moving with my parents, two sisters and a brother from one military residence to another,- from Germany to Newfoundland ,Victoria and Petawawa, until my teens. Spent my high school years in London Ontario, and received my Bachelor of Science (Kinesiology) at the University of Waterloo.
In 1980, I and three other women started Haven House for abused women in Nanaimo, and in 1981 I helped form the BC/Yukon Society of Transition Houses.
At the University of Waterloo I was President of the Birth Control Centre, and in1975 helped organize and run the Rape Crises Centre for Kitchener/Waterloo in Ontario.
I traveled extensively through Europe, Africa, S.E. Asia, Australia and the South Pacific over a two year period in 1988 and 2000, as well as traveling thorough much of North America.
Along with my husband of 38 years, Laurie Gourlay, I own 20 acres of Agricultural Land Reserve in Cedar. This farm was originally owned by Lynn Wallace, daughter of Barbara Wallace – the agriculture critic and MLA in the NDP Dave Barrett government.
In 2007 we were certified under the federal /provincial Environmental Farm Program, and we're noted by the BC Agriculture Council as one of two farms for our biodiversity program.
We also raise purebred collies, and run a B&B - www.thistledownfarm.ca
In 1980, I and three other women started Haven House for abused women in Nanaimo, and in 1981 I helped form the BC/Yukon Society of Transition Houses.
At the University of Waterloo I was President of the Birth Control Centre, and in1975 helped organize and run the Rape Crises Centre for Kitchener/Waterloo in Ontario.
I traveled extensively through Europe, Africa, S.E. Asia, Australia and the South Pacific over a two year period in 1988 and 2000, as well as traveling thorough much of North America.
Along with my husband of 38 years, Laurie Gourlay, I own 20 acres of Agricultural Land Reserve in Cedar. This farm was originally owned by Lynn Wallace, daughter of Barbara Wallace – the agriculture critic and MLA in the NDP Dave Barrett government.
In 2007 we were certified under the federal /provincial Environmental Farm Program, and we're noted by the BC Agriculture Council as one of two farms for our biodiversity program.
We also raise purebred collies, and run a B&B - www.thistledownfarm.ca