Maisie Shiell became involved in anti-nuclear

Anti-nuclear

The anti-nuclear movement is a social movement that opposes the use of nuclear technologies. Many direct action groups, environmental groups, and professional organisations have identified themselves with the movement at the local, national, and international level...

 issues in 1976 when public concern developed about a new uranium mine in Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....

. At sixty-one years of age, Shiell began learning how to translate highly technical issues about radioactivity into something she could understand and pass along to other lay people.

In 2002, Shiell received the Saskatchewan Eco-Network award for Environmentalist of the Year and also shared the Lifetime Achievement Award given by the Canadian Environmental Network

Canadian Environmental Network

The Canadian Environmental Network is an umbrella organization for environmental non-governmental organizations located across Canada. This non-profit organization was mainly funded by Environment Canada and helped to facilitate networking and communication between environmental organizations,...

. In 2004, the Canadian Environment Awards

Canadian Environment Awards

The Canadian Environment Awards were established in 2002 through a partnership between the Government of Canada and Canadian Geographic Enterprises. The national program recognizes dedicated Canadians who act locally to help protect, preserve and restore Canada’s environment...

 honored her with another prize. Shiell was internationally recognized in 1998 when she received the first Lifetime Achievement prize from the Munich-based Nuclear-Free Future Award

Nuclear-Free Future Award

Since 1998 the Nuclear-Free Future Award is an award given to anti-nuclear activists, organizations and communities. The award is intended to promote the opposition to uranium mining, nuclear weapons and nuclear power....

.

In May 2008, Shiell died at her Saskatoon home, aged 92.