Associations, Labour
Angela Gismondi January 29, 2021
When Lillianne Dunstall was working in the roofing industry she sometimes felt like she was on an island on her own, despite being surrounded by supportive men.
That all changed when she went to her first National Women in Roofing (NWiR) event.
“When I walked into the room and started speaking with other people, there was this feeling of safeness and of comfort and of just feeling that I wasn’t alone,” she said.
“That’s what struck me the most.”
Dunstall, who retired from Tremco Roofing and Building Maintenance in 2019 after working in the roofing industry for 17 years, will lead the board of directors as chairperson for the newly formed National Women in Roofing Canada council, which is gearing up to launch this spring.
“My parents would be downstairs, ‘Where are you? Come down and visit with your grandmother! ” she said.
Something about those saints and the stories pulled her in.
When Bourque was 4 or 5, she remembers draping white nylon curtains over her head and her mother telling her she was a beautiful bride.
“I stamped my foot and said, ‘I am not, I’m a nun! ” said Bourque. “She tried to talk me out of it, all the way through to when I entered (the convent). It didn’t work.”
Bourque didn’t join her order, Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, and start her formal training until her 30s. Soon turning 72, she’s in what she considers her fourth and favorite career, a chaplain at St. Mary’s d’Youville Pavilion.