It was back in the early 1980s when Bill Shields ended his three terms as a city alderman, but the work he did on council can still be felt in all corners of the city to this day.
Shields, who passed away on June 16 at the age of 84, offered his life to be one of service to his chosen home of St. Albert and to its people. His time in office saw many landmark moments in the city’s history, and he could be credited for his involvement in some of its biggest successes.
His own public life began in the mid-1970s when the quiet Forest Lawn neighbourhood he lived in was bordering a potential 75,000-sq.-ft. shopping centre. That land, where the Shell gas station strip mall still sits, was zoned for commercial development yet no public input was sought. Shields became the co-chairman of the still-nascent Forest Lawn Community League for the express purpose of funneling that input and encouraging new businesses to look downtown.
His outspoken leadership did not go unnoticed.
“A bunch of those citizens said, ‘Why don't you run for alderman?’ That was basically the very first time that my dad really thought about it,” explained his son, Jon Shields. “What kept him going the entire time? He truly cared about his community. It was something that was very important to him.”
That importance started from his civic-minded upbringing in Grande Prairie. He simply wanted that attitude of duty and civic-mindedness to continue in St. Albert.
That community league was what started him on his path – but what kept him there, Jon continued, was the potential annexation of St. Albert by Edmonton through the mid- to late-1970s. Upon gaining his alderman’s seat, he rebuffed that effort with his famous quote that Edmonton was playing at a “cloak and dagger routine.”
One of the side effects of St. Albert being awarded the 1979 Alberta Summer Games – a bid that Shields initiated – was that it helped to quell those capital city calls for annexation. Of course, it also brought two of St. Albert's most popular recreational and sports facilities into existence: Fountain Park Recreation Centre and the Fowler Athletic Track.
Enduring the tough with help from above
The Shields were a family of politicians and public servants in northern Alberta. Bill, born in the middle of the Great Depression, knew further hardship in his younger years after his father Clarence passed away from a failed stomach operation in 1956. His mother, Nora, was a nurse at the old hospital, and couldn’t afford to keep the family home. There was one option that was available to her and her three children: a shed.
“That's not an exaggeration: it was basically a shed ... that was connected to the hospital, where my grandmother worked,” Jon said.
The dirt floor shack didn’t have much for insulation against harsh Grande Prairie winters, but it was a roof and walls against the wind. They also had to use shower facilities inside the hospital.
“It was measurably tough. I didn't know how tough it was until after he passed away and I found some things that he had written. I think it had an indelible mark, not just on him but as well as his three siblings.”
Nora soon became the matron – an administrator position – of the new Grande Prairie City Hospital, but passed away a few years later, rosary beads firmly in hand. Bill, then barely 30, never forgot what the church meant to her. It came to mean as much to him.
“It was something that was very, very important. He was pragmatic; he was a very progressive-thinking Catholic in a lot of ways. But at the same time, I think it was something that grounded him. He was relentless when it came to the last week of Lent. He did a lot of retreats. I think it was his way of connecting with his mother in particular. He was a very proud French Canadian. He doesn't have a French name but he was actually very proud of his French Canadian roots. His mother was a Franco-Albertan."
His piety and pride in his roots and the importance he placed on family was later demonstrated when he was both involved in the stewardship and was one of the founding members of the Holy Family Catholic Parish in this city.
Though he received his diplomas in Commerce and Business Administration and worked for such recognizable and large companies as Imperial Oil and Hudson’s Bay Company, public service was his true calling.
“I don't want to call him the 'accidental politician.' It's really funny. He didn't have a lot of hobbies. When he moved into the Youville Home, an occupational therapist phoned me and said, ‘What are his hobbies?’ I go, ‘Well, his hobbies are people.’ He loved working on political campaigns. He loved meeting people. He especially loved meeting little kids and shaking their hand in a genuine way,” Jon said.
A man of the people
After moving around in the early 1970s first to The Pas, MB, and then to High Prairie with his new bride Colleen, Bill eventually came to St. Albert and worked for the Ministry of Advanced Education, meaning that he actually worked for both St. Albert’s municipal government and the provincial government at the same time.
While still on city council, he was instrumental in securing Douglas Cardinal as the architect for St. Albert Place. Bill knew of the splendor of Cardinal’s rolling lines in the Grande Prairie Regional College and was certain that vision would fit in with this city’s downtown and river valley.
He also had a vibrant history of serving on boards and committees around the city and province.“He just loved meeting new people and engaging with new people and sharing stories with people. That was his hobby, and so that's why he stayed. He worked until he was 76 years old when he finally retired. That's why he just remained involved in politics. Even after he was an alderman, he was still involved, managing other people's campaigns.”
Bill Shields managed Jerry Manegre’s successful campaign during a byelection in 1987. The two entered public service in the late '70s – Manegre was on the Catholic school board at the time – and became lifelong friends.
Manegre remembers his friend’s deep interest in planning important city matters and keeping the people involved in those matters.
“He really believed in citizen participation in planning, and proposed the creation of a citizens’ advisory committee to the new general plan at that time. He also worked hard to preserve the character of the old neighborhoods of Mission, Grandin and Braeside. There were a number of redevelopment proposals for the areas and he was very involved in working with the residents so that the issues would be resolved as much as possible to take their concerns into consideration,” Manegre said.
He added an anecdote about one particular location in the city that is another family recreational centre. The area of Sturgeon Road east of Boudreau Road was initially set for massive residential developments. Shields, Manegre continued, was a firm believer that people should have access to the beautiful Sturgeon River valley.
“He very much opposed it. The development wasn't suitable for that location. He prevailed and that site is now home to the skateboard park and the Woodlands Water Play Park, and importantly, I think from Bill's perspective, the Red Willow Park walking trail along the river valley, which is available for all to use.”
“If anybody enjoys those, that area right there, they have my father and another alderman named Rod Throndson to thank because developers wanted to take that and turn that into either a condo area or private residences that would go all the way to the bank of the river valley. That would have just eliminated that ribbon of green and that trail system,” Jon Shields added, pointing out the Legion Memorial Ball Park and the St. Albert Botanic Park are also located on that spacious tract of nature.
Some of Shields' many successes
Manegre added Shields was also an early advocate of the West Regional Bypass, an alternative for traffic that was clogging St. Albert Trail and a critical piece of infrastructure to enable future industrial growth for the city. The first phase of Ray Gibbon Drive was eventually opened in 2007, expanded in 2013, and is currently seeing further expansion.
He variously served as a member of the National Parole Board, the Criminal Injury Review Board, the Sturgeon General Hospital Board, the St. Albert Library Board, and on the Board of Trustees of Greater St. Albert Catholic Schools, among the many.
More recently, he was appointed to Catholic Social Services and was the chair of its Sign of Hope Campaign, was appointed vice-chair of the St. Andrews Senior Housing Authority, and was active in the Festival of Trees.
"He was undying ethical, and undyingly forgiving and always seeking forgiveness," Jon Shields continued. "He didn't always claim to be right but he also wasn't afraid to change his mind. But if there's one area where he was unwavering, it was his ethics. He always followed through."
A private family ceremony has already been held while a more open celebration of his life is being planned for next year.
