Paddy St. Loe
Paddy St. Loe was born in Britain at the start of the second world war. As an adult, Paddy moved to Winnipeg and then Vancouver, but she had a reserved quietude that was forever British despite a huge sense of humour. She was loyal, forgiving, generous, unassuming and independent. And being British, she considered it her responsibility to always behave calmly. She was a good friend, a mother, and grandmother, divorced, and then a lesbian.
Paddy was there, in Canada, in the 1970s when feminism was just becoming a realization. There too, in the 1980s when equal rights for women and other minorities was the burning issue. Paddy had the opportunity of working towards those goals while she worked for the Human Rights Commission. Those were exciting times for her seeing the Chapter 15 section of the Constitution translated into laws. In the 1990s, Paddy was one of a team of human rights “experts” invited to Ottawa to meet with representatives of the Indonesian government. They were there to discuss the introduction of human rights to Indonesia.
Paddy retired in 2000. She spent her time enjoying retirement by writing memoir, travelling, and spending time with her family and friends. She visited 15 countries from Europe (including Britain of course) to Africa. Not for her the nightlife, she far preferred talking in the marketplace to local folk about their lives. Being a storyteller, she could then spread the word about the plight of others when she got home. And Paddy was an excellent storyteller. Her writing appears in several Quirk-e anthologies. She continued to write, speak and perform with Quirk-e to the end of her life.
