Wendy Jocko (MBC NEWS FILE PHOTO)
A local effort to keep the spirit of Remembrance Day alive beyond November 11 will bring the stories of some of Canada’s often-overlooked wartime contributors into focus later this month.
The Bromley Historical Society is welcoming retired Canadian Armed Forces sergeant and former Algonquins of Pikwakanagan Chief Wendy Jocko to the Cobden Legion on November 22 for a presentation and discussion titled Women & War.
The presentation will explore the important roles Canadian women, particularly Indigenous women, played during wartime throughout the 20th century.
While some contributions are well known, including those of Elsie MacGill, Canada’s first female aeronautical engineer, Jocko wants to highlight women whose wartime service and contributions have received far less recognition.
Her research also reaches beyond the battlefield to the home front, where women in communities across the Ottawa Valley helped keep the war effort moving. Local manufacturing, labour and agriculture were redirected to support soldiers overseas, creating important roles for women in their own communities.
The subject also has a personal connection for Jocko, whose family has a long history of military service dating back to Grand Chief Pierre-Louis Constant Pinesi, who fought alongside British forces during the War of 1812.
While those conflicts may seem distant, Jocko says there are still stories of women who helped pave the way for future generations that deserve to be preserved and recognized.
Jocko and the historical society invite the public to attend the presentation at Cobden Legion Branch 550, 43 Main Street, beginning at 2 p.m. on November 22.
(written by Kasey Egan)