Sr. Gloria Keylor: 'They asked and I said yes'

'Natural leader' is religious orders spokesperson on residential schools

By BILL GLEN
WCR Staff Writer
Edmonton

Who knew that when novice teacher Gloria Keylor circled the bases during a game of pick-up baseball in northern Alberta she would eventually travel around the world in the name of the Sisters of Providence?

Keylor didn't. She just wanted her students to have some fun and get some exercise.

But the sisters running the school in Joussard observed the rare gifts the young Keylor displayed. They asked her to join their order.

"I had no thoughts of ever becoming a nun," said Keylor, provincial superior of the Western Canadian Holy Angels Province of the Sisters of Providence in Edmonton.

"But they asked and I said 'yes.' I loved what they were doing. I liked their spirit and the way they lived. It was 1964 when I entered the community."

Born and raised in Edmonton, Keylor, 64, enjoyed playing sports with her four brothers and other kids in the Ritchie neighbourhood. She obtained a bachelor's degree in education with a major in literature from the U of A.

Aboriginal students

After entering the order, Keylor did her formation and novitiate in Calgary and Edmonton. The congregation sent her to a troubled Argentina in 1969 where she spent 11 years. She returned to Alberta and taught aboriginal children in Desmarais for two years before being named provincial superior in 1982.

Keylor is fluent in English and French, which has helped her to teach and tend to the less fortunate in countries from Canada to Argentina, where she learned to speak Spanish. She has visited her sisters in the Philippines, Haiti, Egypt, Cameroon and Chile.

After 10 years as provincial superior, Keylor moved to Montreal taking the role of general superior of the congregation from August 1992 to July 2002.

She returned to Edmonton and has served as provincial superior since.

In 2002, Keylor was awarded the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medallion.

A natural leader, Keylor is proud of the work she and other sisters did some 20 years ago, establishing Wings (Women In Need Growing Stronger) of Providence, a second-stage home for women and children fleeing abusive situations, as well as Anawim, an inner-city ministry.

"That was very meaningful for me."

A highlight of her career was being present in Rome as general superior when Pope John Paul II beatified �milie Gamelin, foundress of the Sisters of Providence, in 2001.

"It was a magnificent ceremony. The pope looked frail and fragile, but as soon as you approached him, his warm eyes would sparkle."

Keylor was the representative of the religious men and women involved in the residential schools issue. She has been a comforting voice in discussions with the federal government and First Nations representatives.

The goal from the beginning was to re-establish the close relationship the Providence Sisters, Grey Nuns and Oblates had with First Nations people.

Re-establish friendship

"In light of all the adverse press and adverse comments, how do we re-establish the friendship that had been there? To accomplish this objective, we had to figure out how to come out of the litigation. We couldn't be in litigation while trying to resolve the reconciliation."

A proposal was presented to former Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan that, rather than the religious orders spending resources on litigation, the federal government would deal with the litigation and the religious would develop healing and reconciliation programs.

Keylor said 41 Catholic "entities" from across Canada had some involvement in residential schools, including dioceses and men's and women's orders. All came together to prepare the proposal.

"We are still working at it. We are working closely with First Nations Chief Phil Fontaine. He came to our house (in Edmonton) and met with our sisters. He is a very kind person," she said. "He told us he wanted to bring comfort and peace; that if there is anything needed to be done to reconcile, we will do it together. He has an open invitation to return."

Keylor was making significant inroads before the recent change in government. She is hopeful the new government will honour the steps that have been taken.

"It was a serious concern of ours and of First Nations. I saw (prime minister-elect) Stephen Harper on television recently and the question was put to him. He said he would honour the settlement that was reached with Indian residential schools. I believe he will do it."

ssimilation

Keylor said it was a difficult time when the federal government began implementing its rules to assimilate aboriginal children into a foreign culture through the schools. Sometimes, they were far removed from their parents.

Keylor said the recollections of many sisters as to what occurred at the schools are different from how the situation has been portrayed publicly. The sisters were ideologically opposed to the work they had to do.

"I never worked in a residential school, myself. I have been told that the sisters had recognized that the children were coming in from their farms and homes.

"They received the children who were lonely. Their whole role was to be welcoming and, if possible, help the children feel better about being there. They were caregivers, nurses and teachers. If you like, they were surrogate mothers," Keylor said.

Little isolation

The seven residential schools in Alberta existed largely in the centre of communities. The majority of the children were not isolated in the wilderness, as some people perceive. People came and went constantly, from government officials and doctors to nurses and bush pilots with supplies.

The school was like a hotel, Keylor said. "Now when the sisters look back, they wonder 'Was it that bad as some people say?' They don't see it that way. Of the people who visit us or that we visit in the North, it is the very few who have another memory.

"As Canadian citizens, we have to have learned a big lesson that you don't ever assimilate people. We are a multicultural nation and we need to recognize that."

Keylor agrees with First Nations people that the time for spiritual healing has not yet arrived. Their side of the story still has to be heard, she said.

"What is difficult to see is the religious men and women who have worked and given so much of their lives, have been brought into question," she said. "It's difficult because they gave the best years of their youth, their health; their education. These were fervent, young and eager-to-serve people, and they did. They served extremely well."

With the manager of the Big Stone Band in Desmarais, Keylor helped get the derelict residential school building demolished two years ago. It was a windowless eyesore on the shore of Wabasca Lake. Worse, it was a constant reminder of painful memories.

They raised more than $100,000. An elder blessed the building before it was removed. In its place is natural grass with unimpeded sunsets.

May the healing begin.

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