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Rosies of the North

They raised children, baked cakes... and built world-class fighter planes. Thousands of women from Thunder Bay and the Prairies donned trousers, packed lunch pails and took up rivet guns to participate in the greatest industrial war effort in Canadian history. Like many other factories across the country from 1939 to 1945, the shop floor at Fort William's Canadian Car and Foundry was transformed from an all-male workforce to one with forty percent female workers.
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Details

They raised children, baked cakes... and built world-class fighter planes. Thousands of women from Thunder Bay and the Prairies donned trousers, packed lunch pails and took up rivet guns to participate in the greatest industrial war effort in Canadian history. Like many other factories across the country from 1939 to 1945, the shop floor at Fort William's Canadian Car and Foundry was transformed from an all-male workforce to one with forty percent female workers.

History - Canada - 1920-1945 Transportation Women - Portraits War, Conflict and Peace All subjects
History All channels
  • director
    Kelly Saxberg
  • editing
    Kelly Saxberg
  • producer
    Joe MacDonald
  • executive producer
    Graydon McCrea
  • script
    Bob Lower
  • cinematography
    Ian Elkin
  • sound
    Dino Schiavone
  • sound editing
    Saul Henteleff
  • re-recording
    Bruce Little
  • music recording
    Howard Rissin
  • online editing
    Tony Wytinck
  • narration
    Martine Friesen
  • music
    Greg Lowe
  • cast
    Randy Wilson
    Corinne Little
    Jadwiga Kondakow
    Nina Godecki
    Mary Riddoch
    Irene Fedell
    Lorna Marsden
    Elizabeth Schneewind
    Gordon Burkowski
    Muriel Bailey
    Alice Taylor
    Jim Carmichael
    Alan Norton
    Helen Gural
    Lauretta Breckon Jones
    George Bicknell
    Ann Soulsby
    Kaylee Busniak
    Tracey Busniak
    Marilyn Bellin
    Jack Little
    Margaret Gandier
    Don Gandier

Education

Ages 12 to 17

Notes

This documentary traces the vital role played by Canadian women in the war effort , as they began replacing the men at war, in the building of the world's much-needed fighter planes. Several of the women who built the "Hurricanes" are interviewed and provide insight into their work at Canadian Car at Fort William, Ontario. The first female engineer and designer, Elsie MacGill, is included as a pioneer in aviation design.

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Rosies of the North
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