Shellie Bird is a mother and grandmother and came into childcare advocacy by serving on the Board of Directors of her son’s childcare centre.

Shellie was an early childhood educator for more than twenty years working with infants and toddlers attending Centretown Parent’s Day, a non-profit centre in downtown Ottawa.Shellie became active in her union as an advocate for early learning and childcare and has led numerous campaigns to improve the working conditions of early childhood educators. Today she works for the Canadian Union of Postal Workers as the National Child Care Coordinator and is a sitting member of the National Child Care Working Group of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, and as a board member of Child Care Now.