Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, the daughter of Edgar Douglas Richmond Bissett, she served in the Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service during World War II retiring as a lieutenant commander.
She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Mount Allison University and was called to the Ontario Bar.
A lawyer, she was summoned to the Senate of Canada for the Ontario senatorial division of Peel on the advice of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in 1972.
Served as a Team Member of The Dalhousie Health Law Institute End of Life Project.
In 2006, she was appointed by Premier Dalton McGuinty to the Citizens Panel on Increasing Organ Donations.