Fonds P113 - Jennifer Keck fonds

Jennifer Marguerite Keck (1954-2002) was born in Sudbury on January 12, 1954 to Lyle Keck and Jacqueline Fournier Keck. She died on June 12, 2002 at Sudbury Regional Hospital at the age of 48. Dr. Keck was survived by her father, her sister Leslie Keck, her partner Don Kuyek, her son David, a special (step) son Devlin, and special daughter (niece) Jordan Keck.

Jennifer Keck moved to Ottawa to pursue post secondary education at Carleton University and received a BA in Political Science in 1975 and MSW in Social Work in 1981. She received a PhD in Social Work in 1995 from the University of Toronto.

Dr. Keck worked in a legal aid clinic in Toronto in the late 1970s before moving to Northwestern Ontario as a Field Research Coordinator with the Anti-Mercury Ojibwa Group in White Dog and Grassy Narrows in 1978-79. She returned to Sudbury in 1979 and worked as Coordinator of Children's Services at the Native People of Sudbury Development Corporation until 1980. From 1980 to1982, she worked as an intake social worker at the Manitoulin-Sudbury District Children's Aid Society and as Project Officer for the Job Development and Training Program at the Canada Employment and Immigration Commission in Sudbury. She began working as a lecturer in the School of Social Work at Laurentian University in 1982 and became an Associate Professor in 1989. She taught specifically in the subjects of community development, AIDS, child abuse, and social work theory/practice.

Dr. Keck has been described as a writer, academic, activist, organizer, and an active researcher. She was President of the Myths and Mirrors Community Arts group, a founding member of Sudbury Women's Centre/Centre des Femmes de Sudbury, a former board member and Northern Ontario representative for the National Action Committee on the Status of Women, a member of advisory committee for Better Beginnings, Better Futures, an executive member of Circle of Strength – The Sudbury Breast Cancer Support Group, and a founding member of Justice with Dignity – The Committee to Remember Kimberley Rogers.

Dr. Keck's research and publications concerned the themes of women, poverty, women in blue collar jobs (chiefly at INCO), call centres, care for children with special needs, community development/organizing, government employment grants and projects, welfare/workfare, and labour in Sudbury. Her memory is preserved through the Dr. Jennifer Keck [Memorial] Lecture Series on Social Justice, sponsored by the School of Social Work, Laurentian University.