In 1944, she became president of the Saskatchewan Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), the first woman to occupy the position for a provincial party in Canada.

Gladys was a fierce proponent for Canada taking in more European refugees affected by World War II, especially children.

She would often state these views during meetings in the House of Commons, and publicly denounced the significantly lower number of refugees Canada housed in comparison to Great Britain, who faced more grievances than Canada did during the War.

[1] Gladys married school board chairman Warner Strum in 1929 at Vanguard, Saskatchewan.

The other ten children, two from Spain and eight from Czechoslovakia, were all refugees adopted through the USC Canada (now SeedChange) between the years 1945 and 1947.