Issue 2/05 – 23 February 2005
Women throughout Canadian military history
International Women's Day, March 8, celebrates
the story of women as makers of history, through time and throughout
the world. It marks more than 90 years of lobbying to achieve equality
and justice, and a voice to carry women's messages to the
world. It represents some 2000 years of struggle to participate
in the world on an equal footing.
 We can look back across more than
100 years to see women contributing to and making their mark on
Canadian military history.*
1885 Women serve as nurses for the first time in Canadian military
history during the Northwest Rebellion.
1901 A permanent Canadian Nursing Service is created.
1898-1902 Female nurses support Canadian military forces with the
Yukon Field Force in 1898 and with three Canadian contingents participating
in the South African (Boer) War. During the South African War, women
become a permanent part of the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps.
1906 Female nurses are admitted to Canada's Regular Forces.
1914-1918 More than 2800 women serve with the Royal Canadian Army
Medical Corps during the First World War, on board hospital ships,
and overseas in hospitals and with field ambulance units in combat
zones.
The First World War also sees the first organization of women in
a military capacity other than nursing. Canadian women form paramilitary
groups, outfit themselves in military-style uniforms, and undertake
training in small arms, drill, first aid and vehicle maintenance
in case they are needed as home guards.
1939-1945 About 5000 female nurses serve in the Navy, Army, and
Air Force Medical Corps during the Second World War. Women serve
overseas in hospitals, at casualty stations near combat zones, and
in mobile field hospitals – in many theatres of war. They
are not, however, permitted to serve in warships, combat aircraft
or combat arms units.
 Canadian Women's Army Corps Vehicle Technicians, 1942
From www.collectionscanada.ca/archivianet
1941 The Canadian government decides to enrol more than 45 000 women
for full-time military service other than nursing. The Navy, Army,
and Air Force establish women's divisions, and over the course
of the Second World War the range of roles open to women expands
from the traditional trades—clerks, cooks, drivers and telephone
operators—to mechanics, parachute riggers, and heavy mobile
equipment drivers.
1950-1953 When Canada is called upon to participate in the Korean
War, women are once again recruited for service. By 1955, more than
5000 are enroled.
1965 The government of Canada decides to continue to employ women
in the Canadian armed forces. A ceiling of 1500, to include women
in all three services, is established. The limit represents about
1.5% of the total force of the day.
1970 The Royal Commission on the Status of Women recommends changes
necessary to provide a climate of equal opportunity for women in
Canada. Recommendations aimed specifically at the CF call for:
- the standardization of enrolment criteria;
- equal pension benefits for women and men;
- the opportunity for women to attend Canadian military colleges;
- the opening of all trades and officer classifications to women;
- the termination of regulations prohibiting enrolment of married
women, and;
- the termination of the required release of servicewomen upon the
birth of a child.
1974 Medical doctor Major Wendy Clay qualifies for her pilot's
wings six years before the pilot classification is opened to all
women.
1978 Corporal Gail Toupin is the first female member of the SkyHawks, the Army's skydiving demonstration team.
1979-1985 Trials take place as part of the Servicewomen in Non-Traditional
Environments and Roles (SWINTER) project.
1979 Military colleges open their doors to women.
1981 Second-Lieutenant Inge Plug is the first female CF helicopter
pilot, and Lieutenant Karen McCrimmon is the Forces' first
female air navigator.
1982 The Canadian
Charter of Rights and Freedoms is signed. It prohibits discrimination
based on race, national/ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age
and mental/physical disability.
Combat-Related Employment of Women (CREW) trials are announced for
selected Army units and naval vessels. The Air Force announces that
no further trials are required, and all areas of Air Force employment,
including fighter pilot, are opened to women.
1986-1988 Following a discrimination complaint, the Canadian Human
Rights Tribunal orders the CF to:
- continue the CREW trials as preparation for the full integration
of women in all CF occupations rather than as a trials program;
- fully integrate women into the Regular and Reserve Forces (excepting
on submarine service);
- remove all employment restrictions and implement new occupational
personnel selection standards; and
- devise a plan to steadily, regularly and consistently achieve
complete integration within ten years.
1988 Colonel Sheila Hellstrom is the first woman to graduate from
the National Defence College. She becomes the first female Regular
Force member to achieve the rank of Brigadier-General.
As part of the CREW trials, the first female gunners
in the Regular Force graduate from qualification 3 training and
are posted to 5e Régiment
d'artillerie légére du Canada (5 RALC) in Valcartier,
Quebec.
Private Shannon Wills wins the Queen's Medal for Champion
Shot of the Reserve Forces at Connaught Ranges in Ottawa.
1989 Pte Heather Erxleben is Canada's first female Regular
Force infanteer.
Maj Dee Brasseur is the first female pilot of a CF-18 Hornet.
1990 The Minister of National Defence establishes the Ministers
Advisory Board on Women in the Canadian Forces to monitor the progress
of gender integration and employment equity in the CF.
1991 HMCS Nipigon
is the first Canadian warship crewed by men and women to participate
in exercises with NATO's Standing Naval Force Atlantic.
Lt Anne Reiffenstein (née Proctor), Lt Holly Brown and Captain
Linda Shrum graduate from artillery training as the first female
officers in combat arms.
Cpl Marlene Shillingford is the first woman selected to join the
Air Force's aerobatic demonstration flying team, the Snowbirds.
She serves as a technician during the 1993-94 show season.
1993 Lieutenant (Navy) Leanne Crowe is the first woman to qualify
as a clearance diving officer, and to serve as Commanding Officer
of the Experimental Diving Unit.
1994 Major-General Wendy Clay is the first woman promoted to that
rank.
1995 Chief Warrant Officer Linda Smith is the first woman to be
named Wing CWO in the CF, at 17 Wing Winnipeg.
1997 Col Marcia Quinn assumes command of 41 Canadian Brigade Group.
Col Patricia Samson is appointed CF Provost Marshall; she is later
promoted Brigadier-General.
1998 Lieutenant-Colonel Karen McCrimmon is appointed Commander of
429 Transport Squadron in Trenton, Ont.
Chief Petty Officer, 2nd Class Holly Kisbee is the
first woman Combat Chief of a major Canadian warship (HMCS Iroquois).
2000 The Chief of the Maritime Staff announces that women may serve
in submarines.
Maj Micky Colton is the first female pilot to complete 10 000 flying
hours in a CC-130 Hercules.
Lt Ruth-Ann Shamuhn of 5 Combat Engineer Regiment is the first female
combat diver.
2001 Capt Maryse Carmichael is the first female Snowbird pilot.
2002 CWO Camille Tkacz is the first woman appointed to a Command
Chief position as Assistant Deputy Minister (Human Resources – Military)
CWO.
2003 Maj Anne Reiffenstein is the first woman to command a combat
arms sub-unit. She is currently a Battery Commander at 1st Regiment
Royal Canadian Horse Artillery at CFB Shilo.
Lieutenant-Commander Marta Mulkins is the first woman
to serve as captain of a Canadian warship (HMCS Summerside).
Maj Jennie Carignan of 5 Combat Engineer Regiment (5 CER) is the
first female Deputy Commanding Officer of a combat arms unit.
Leading Seaman Hayley John and LS Marketa Semik are the first female
clearance divers
Master Seaman Colleen Beattie is the first woman to qualify as a
submariner, followed shortly by MS Carey Ann Stewart.
The first all-female CF team to complete the four-day Nijmegen March
in The Netherlands carrying the same weight as male teams comprises
team leader Lt Debbie Scott, second-in-command Capt Lucie Mauger, Lt Jody Weathered,
Cpl Elizabeth Mutch, Warrant Officer Nathalie Mercer, WO Jackie
Revell, Master Corporal Denise Robert, Cpl Danette Frasz, LCol
Teresa McNutt, Lt Donna Rogers, Cpl Melissa Cedilot and Cpl Anne MacDonald.
2004 Chief Petty Officer, 1st Class Jan Davis, appointed
Coxswain of HMCS Regina, is the first
female Coxswain of a major Canadian warship.
Canada's theme for International Women's Week 2005—March
6 through 12—is "You Are Here: Women, Canada and the
World". Visit Status of Women Canada to
learn about International Women's Week events.
Visit the Dominion Institute's Memory Project for Canadian women's
war stories.
*This is not intended to be a definitive list of all the achievements
or accomplishments of women throughout Canadian military history.
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