Servicewomen
Women fought in the Women's Division of
the RCAF, the Canadian Women's Army Corps and the Women's Royal Canadian
Naval Service.
Great Britain began recruiting women to
the services in 1938, but Canada did not. Only when the RAF "proposed to
send members of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force, the WAAFs, to Canada to
work at air training schools, [did] the Canadian government act to avoid
embarrassment." "The Women's Division of the RCAF was authorised in July
1941, and quickly enlisted thousands of young women; 17,000 by 1945. In
August, the Canadian Women's Army Corps was announced and training bases
were established at St. Anne de Bellevue, Quebec; Kitchener, Ontario; and
Vermilion, Alberta. More than 21,000 served in the "CWACs." The "Wrens,"
or Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service, did not begin recruiting until
1942, and grew more slowly. Training establishments at Galt, Ontario, and
St. Hyacinthe, Quebec, enrolled 6,718 recruits. All the women who served
were volunteers, and many sought to play an active role in the "real" war."
(Copp: 63) |
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