The Lethbridge Military Museum is launching a new tour to highlight the women from southern Alberta who enlisted to keep Canada free.
There is a long history behind women and war. Despite providing support in the first World War and conflicts before it, Canadian women were never granted the right to enlist until the second World War.
“It took a while, but the army, navy and air force, eventually by 1941, were convinced they should be allowing the women to serve and had valuable roles for them to take on,” said Wendy Aitkens, the assistant curator of the Lethbridge Military Museum and the mastermind behind this new tour.
The tour is called “Highlighting Herstory” and it all began when Aitkens read a second world war era booklet.
“The “Chinook” was a little magazine that was published here on then number eight bombing and gunnery school.”
The booklet was all Aitkens needed to launch the new tour.
“Just before the school closed in 1944, they produced this booklet. The booklet is full of these incredible pictures, here’s the mess hall. You would expect to see women in the mess hall. You would expect the women to be in the canteen. But this is where I discovered the women who were packing the parachutes and the number of women in almost every division in this booklet was phenomenal.”
One veteran says all military members are equal and serving should be for all.
“A soldier’s a soldier, an airman’s an airman and a sailor’s a sailor, whether they’re a man or a woman,” said Lee Willoughby, projects coordinator with the Lethbridge Veteran’s Association.
However, certain roles were still kept out of reach until the cold war was nearly over.
“It wasn’t until 1987 in Canada that there was even a pilot program to introduce women working in the combat units,” said Aitkens.
The Lethbridge Military Museum will be launching this new tour next week.
“I’m glad they’re getting the recognition that they need,” said Willoughby. “Some of them could run circles around me or work circles around me. I was impressed with a lot of the women that worked with me.”
The tour also honours those who stayed home to protect and keep Canada running from within.
“They fundraised in huge ways, all across the war, both World War one and World War two. The women were very involved through the IODE and other organizations. They volunteered with the Red Cross, and with the Salvation Army and other organizations that were going to work for the war effort.”
The tour officially launches on Nov. 13, 2024.