STACK STEERS SISTERHOOD
Director helping vulnerable women and their families
The seed for Sandra Stack’s desire to be involved in the community was planted by her Aunt Pat. Patricia Tremblay, who had Down syndrome, worked in a hair salon. She would volunteer her time washing customers’ hair and dusting. She was also involved with the Advocacy in Motion (AIM) Society, which works towards including people with developmental challenges in the community. “(Pat’s) unwavering sense of humour just inspired me and it stays with me because when things get tough — and they get tough in our community and things seem like we’re on an uphill battle — I look at her and say ‘What would Pat do?’ And she would make someone laugh,” says Stack, who now serves as the executive director of the Elizabeth Fry Society of Saskatchewan, which advocates for women and girls who are incarcerated or otherwise vulnerable. Pat’s example of treating the person in front of her as the most important person is something Stack tries to emulate. Stack became the executive director of the Elizabeth Fry Society of Saskatchewan last March. She had previously been the executive director of the Friendship Inn. Before moving into community service, Stack found early success in the hospitality industry after earning diplomas in theology and hotel management. She received the Calgary White Hat Award for excellence in customer service in 1997. Around that time, Stack was working at a hotel in Calgary when a family from Denmark showed up looking for a place to stay during the Calgary Stampede. The hotel — and all other accommodations in the city — were booked. The family had nowhere to go and so Stack invited them to stay with her. The experience moved Stack in a different direction. She wanted to help people and began working as an advocate for the AIM Society in High River, Alta. “Advocacy became second nature to me. I could speak for people that couldn’t speak for themselves,” Stack said. Stack moved to Saskatchewan in 2009 and began working at the Friendship Inn, a community centre that offers drop-in services to vulnerable people.
That’s where she met Sheri Benson, the former chief executive officer of the United Way in Saskatoon and NDP member of Parliament for Saskatoon West from 2015 to 2019. Benson said that, under Stack’s leadership, the Friendship Inn engaged in broader issues facing the people who accessed its services. Benson said this was new ground for the inn and signalled the organization was not only committed to helping people in the moment, but that it was also part of addressing larger issues such as poverty, addictions, housing and homelessness. The Friendship Inn became more than a safe place to which to turn; it started offering employment opportunities to clients. When Stack spoke to the Starphoenix in 2015, she explained that a steady job at the Friendship Inn could provide valuable experience to clients and lead to other opportunities for them. “I appreciated her leadership especially when, as the CEO of United Way, we began to build broad leadership and community support for a plan to end homelessness,” Benson wrote in an email. “And she is now continuing that leadership ensuring as a community we address and support women and families involved in the criminal justice system. I admire her commitment and dedication to being on the front lines of helping in our community. She cares.” When Stack was working in the city’s core, she said she felt at home. “I felt like this was where I was meant to be and so that journey led me through different positions within the city,” she said. Stack eventually met Sue Delanoy, who was then the executive director of the Elizabeth Fry Society. Stack noticed Delanoy’s passion and “unwavering enthusiasm” for the women with whom she worked and Stack felt it was something of which she wanted to be a part. So when Delanoy retired last year, Stack stepped into the position. She saw leading the Elizabeth Fry Society as an opportunity to work with staff who she described as “fearless.” “In court, they’ll stand up for a woman and are fearless social workers. And our reintegration program is just something I feel so proud to be a part of,” Stack said. Elizabeth Fry Society staff visit women who are incarcerated — something Stack says plants “seeds of hope” with the women. “Women are often forgotten in prison,” she said. When staff go to women’s correctional facilities, the visiting areas are often empty. When women who are the sole providers for their families are incarcerated, Stack says the family unit breaks down. The Elizabeth Fry Society supports women so they can reunite with their families, reconnect with the community and regain their strength as women in society. Stack sees her role as educating the public about the women with whom the Elizabeth Fry Society works and encouraging compassion towards them.
She says the community needs to see that, when women who are mothers and providers are incarcerated, more children are at risk of being placed in care and subsequently at risk of offending themselves. She says the high representation of Indigenous women behind bars is a societal problem. Right now, one of Stack’s most urgent concerns is ensuring the calls to action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission are answered, particularly those calling on the federal government to provide more supports for Indigenous programming in halfway houses and parole services and develop a national plan to collect and publish data on the criminal victimization of Indigenous peoples. There’s also a call for all levels of government to commit to eliminating the overrepresentation of Indigenous youth in custody over the next decade. Stack wants to see the Elizabeth Fry Society have a greater reach provincewide so that if women who have been incarcerated return to their communities, they will have access to services regardless of where they live. This doesn’t necessarily mean the Elizabeth Fry Society would be providing these services, Stack said. Rather, the organization could partner with or advocate for another organization. Stack sees the Elizabeth Fry Society in Saskatchewan as being a broader sisterhood, and her branch as one with “fierce” women. “Certainly I’m proud to steer the Elizabeth Fry Society of Saskatchewan, I’m proud to lead this team, but I can’t say I do this without a fierce team of women that are all very versed in their roles,” she said. One of the women she works alongside is Beverly Fullerton, who was once a client of the organization. Fullerton first encountered the Elizabeth Fry Society in 2012 while she was an inmate at the Okimaw Ohci Healing Lodge near Maple Creek. Fullerton said that, at the time, she felt like a broken woman stuck in a cycle with no hope of success. Then, on a Saturday before Christmas, staff from the Elizabeth Fry Society visited the inmates, four of them dressed as elves. Fullerton felt the women brought an energy that was non-judgmental. They exuded love and compassion. “I wanted more of what they had,” Fullerton said. The women asked her what she needed to do to get where she wanted to be. Fullerton didn’t have an answer but, from that moment, she decided she was worth something in life. When she returned home, she had a new perspective. She reconnected with supports she had pushed away in the past and reached out to the Elizabeth Fry Society. She started sharing her story and was hired by the organization first as a receptionist, then as a facilitator of sharing circles where women smudge, pray and speak out in the presence of an elder. Fullerton is now an integration worker who supports women returning to the community. She said she’s honoured to work alongside Stack. “I’m tearing up because she has that passion, she has that drive. She also gives us enough encouragement to be able to do our work and she helps us grow. At the end of day, she always has our backs,” Fullerton said. Stack’s Aunt Pat died a few years ago. Before she passed away, she got to witness Stack, the niece she’d inspired, working at the Friendship Inn. She saw Stack’s passion for working with vulnerable people and connecting with people who have disabilities. “She really felt that,” Stack said.