Gail Turner has recently retired from a 25-year career in Christian popular education with a focus on social advocacy and witness. Prior to this vocation, she worked as a teacher of language and literature (English and French) in the Ontario secondary school system and as housemother in an emergency shelter for women and children in Hamilton, ON. While taking time at home to raise her children through their early years, she became active with the Burlington Association for Nuclear Disarmament and the Interfaith Development Education Association (IDEA), Burlington, ON, serving on the Board of Directors of both organizations. “IDEA was where I took my apprenticeship as a popular educator. Like most people in the field, I had no formal training, but was fortunate to find exemplary mentors. The faith focus of IDEA also attuned me to social action as a gospel ministry. ”

After three years on the Board of Directors, Gail was hired as IDEA's Program Coordinator, a position she held for four years. She also began working regionally in ecumenical networks as a volunteer representative of The Presbyterian Church in Canada and from 1997-2007 was the Program Assistant in Justice Ministries at the PCC. Her primary responsibility was to put the concepts of research and policy formation documents into accessible-language resources to be used by the average lay volunteer leader in local and regional settings.

Theology has always been an avocation. She counts herself privileged to have met and worked with theological leaders from all over the world, especially guests from Palestine, Mexico, Nigeria and India. She hopes retirement will offer opportunities for a more systematic study of theology and Christian education. Gail currently resides in Toronto where she attends Epiphany-St. Mark's Anglican Church and enjoys working in the HOPE Community Garden.