She was the middle daughter of immigrants from a village named Kastri om Greece who lived in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
In December 2009, her second son, David Stratas, was appointed a judge of the Federal Court of Appeal, based in Ottawa.
Stratas represented the newly formed Ontario constituency of Scarborough Centre, which she won by a comfortable margin in the 1979 federal election.
After serving one term, the 31st Canadian Parliament, she was defeated in the 1980 federal election by Norm Kelly of the Liberal Party.
She felt uncomfortable accepting a "political patronage appointment" and that federal policy was presenting additional difficulties for refugees.