Saturday is Remembrance Day, so this week I would like to dedicate ‘Vintage Photo Tuesday‘ to the Canadian Women on the WW2 Home Front. This post is also part of a previous one I did last year, that you can view HERE.

Out of a Canadian wartime population of more than 11 million, 261,000 women worked in Canadian war industries, 400,000 in the civilian workforce, 760,000 on farms and countless others in the home and in the volunteer sector.

Women’s enthusiasm for helping out on the home front was anticipated by Alice Sorby of Winnipeg who recalled in 1940, “In September 1939 when the thunder of war first crashed about our ears, the immediate reaction was an almost hysterical desire to do something….” (Source).

1940’s Vintage Photos of WW2 Canadian Women on the Home Front

Here are those brave women in action….

Female loggers (‘lumberjills’) in the Queen Charlotte Islands, BC. April 1943.

Actress Mary Pickford posing with a group of employees during her visit to the General Engineering Company (Canada) munitions factory, June 5, 1943.

FURTHER READING: The Bomb Girls Of Scarborough, Ontario Canada-As Seen Thru Vintage Photographs from the 1940s

1940s Vintage Photo of Actress Mary Pickford posing with a group of employees during her visit to the General Engineering Company (Canada) munitions factory, June 5, 1943. — Source: Archives of Canada

Young woman working in the cabin of bomber being manufactured at the Fairchild plant in Montreal on May 19, 1941.

Three women in coveralls off to work in Edmonton in 1943.

1940s Vintage Photo Canadian Women arriving for work in Edmonton 1943 doing their part for WW2 Homefront effort in Canada. — Source: Legion Magazine

A welder works on a Bren gun at John Inglis Company Ltd., 1942.

FURTHER READING: The Canadian “Rosie the Riveter”-Veronica Foster -The Bren Gun Girl

Women volunteers from Canadian Red Cross assemble packages for prisoners of war in 1942.

Starting in 1942, Vancouver’s Burrard Drydock hired more than 1,000 women. Here we see the union’s shop stewards eating in the shipyard canteen, ca. 1942 (Source).

1940s Vintage Photo of Canadian Women taking a break from their shift from working at the Shipyard for the WW2 Canadian Home Front effort. 1942 Photo. — Source: Open Text BC

1940s photo of workers producing primers.

1940s canadian women on the homefront producing primers in a factory for the WW2 Canadian Home Front Effort. — Source: War Museum

“Start your Victory Garden today!” 1940s vintage propaganda sign from the ‘Health League of Canada’.

1942 photo of knitters working on the BC Telephone Co. War Effort Programme in Victoria. It was a group of ladies coming together to sit, talk, and knit scarves and socks for the men fighting overseas (Source).

1940s Vintage Photo in 1942 of knitters working on the BC Telephone Co. War Effort Programme in Victoria. It was a group of ladies coming together to sit, talk, and knit scarves and socks for the Canadian men fighting overseas — Source: Gulf of Georgia Cannery

“Come on Housewives SOCK HIM again!”. 1940s Canadian Fraser Valley Propaganda Poster for saving scrap from your home for the war effort.

While looking for photos to share, I came across a fantastic 10 min Canadian Documentary entitled ‘The Home Front‘ by Stanley Hawes (seen below).

This short documentary is part of the Canada Carries On series of morale-boosting wartime propaganda films. In Home Front, the various WWII-era social contributions of women are highlighted. From medicine to industrial labour to hospitality, education and domesticity, the service these women provided to their country is lauded. (Video Link)

Friends…If you are interested to read other posts I have created around the Canadian WW2 Home Front, the link is below.

FURTHER READNG: World War 2 Women’s Contributions & Homefront Posts

Liz

Today is Remembrance Day and I will be spending it acknowledging the courage and sacrifice of those who served their country. As for my blog today I wanted to supply you with a roundup of posts done about Canadian’s/Canada specifically during WW2.

Starting off, please head over to my friend Elinors Blog ‘Wartime Wednesday‘. I have mentioned her before on this blog (several times to be exact) because it’s a wonderful piece of Canadian History (and beyond) that needs to be read by everyone! All month she has been sharing blog posts on her Facebook (and other social media channels) on stories from her new book ‘My Favorite Veterans’ and they are fascinating. Please take the time to read some of them today.

2. Another friend Jessica from Chronically Vintage wrote a marvelous blog post on the ‘Canadian Ration Book of WW2‘. It’s a interesting read on how Canadians handled rationing.

3. Victory Gardens. “We urge every citizen to endeavour to grow more vegetables in order to make an appreciable difference in the situation that confronts us,”– Emily Schofield and Elizabeth MacKenzie

I personally have written various posts on Canada during WW2. Here are a few of them:

4. Tale of the Canadian Army Show. This idea behind the show was to entertain troops, promote recruitment by enhancing the army’s image, to increase the sale of war bonds, and to bolster civilian morale.

5. The Canadian ‘Rosie the Riveter’-Veronica Foster.

6. ‘WW2 Air Force Uniforms for Canadian Women‘.

This blog post is very special today, not just for the content (provided by Elinor Florence) but because of the below comment I recently received from Marie:

I served in the RCAF Womens’ Division during 1942-46 stationed in Ottawa at Princess Alice’s Barracks. I am now 92 yrs old and remember those years with much fondness. I just recently had my greatcoat cleaned and pressed and donated it to the Legion in Aurora, Ont. My family still enjoy my tales of my time as a WD.I am grateful that I was able to serve Canada during that stressful time.

Isn’t that comment incredible? I’m so glad that Marie reached out to share this with myself and my readers. Thank you for your service.

And with that comment, I’m going to end this blog post today so that I can go off and reflect.

Thanks for stopping by friends!

Liz

Tag: Canada ww2

Vintage Photo Tuesday: WW2 Canadian Women on the Home Front (Part 2)

1940’s Vintage Photos of WW2 Canadian Women on the Home Front

Remembrance Day-Roundup of Interesting Canadian WW2 Posts