Famous Canadian Women's Famous Firsts

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The names appearing below are just a fraction of the Canadian women of accomplishment. Check out The Famous Canadian Women 's section ON THE JOB which contains mini profiles of 1000 Canadian Women of Achievement.

Military Leaders

Elizabeth Lawrie Smellie. Born Port Arthur (Thunder Bay), Ontario March 22, 1884. Died March 5, 1968. A nurse who served in both world wars. She was a builder of the Victoria Order of Nurses, helping it to become a nationwide organization and was its chief superintendent from 1923-1947. She was granted leave from the VON to serve as matron in chief in the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corp from 1941 till 1955. In 1941 she laid the foundations for the establishment of the Canadian Women’s Army Corps. In 1944 she was the first woman to become a colonel in the Canadian Army.

Jean Flatt Davey . Died March 13, 1980. She Graduated as a medical doctor from the University of Toronto in 1936. She was the first Canadian woman doctor to enter the Canadian Armed Forces. From 1941-1945 she served in the Royal Canadian Air Force as squadron leader forming a unit that provided medical care. For her war time services she was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 1943. After the war she became the first Canadian woman to receive the fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons. In 1959, while working at the Women’s College Hospital, the hospital was accredited as on of the teaching hospitals, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto and she was the first woman to be appointed to a department of medicine in a teaching hospital. In 1973 she retired and was awarded the order of Canada.

Gail Toupin. Corporal Toupin becomes the first woman member of the Skyhawks, the skydiving demonstration team of the Canadian Army in 1978.

Sheila Hellstrom. In 1988 Colonel Sheila Hellstrom is the first woman to graduate from Canada's National Defence College. She will also become the first woman Regular Force member to achieve the rank of Brigadier-General.

Wendy Clay. Dr. Clay was the first woman officer cadet in the Royal Canadian Navy. She the first woman medical officer in the Armed forces and the first Canadian woman to receive her degree in aviation medicine. She was the first woman to graduate from the military's basic pilot training and in 1974 she qualified for her pilots wings six years before the pilot classification is opened to all women In 1994 she became the first woman in the Canadian Forces promoted to the rank of Major-General .

Maryse Carmichael. Born Quebec City, Quebec May 29, 1971. A captain with the Canadian Air Force, Maryse had the job of VIP pilot flying the Prime Minister or the Governor General of Canada. In November 2000 she became the first female pilot to fly with the Canadian Forces’s national aerobatic team, the Snowbirds. In 2001 she was promoted to the rank of Major. She is married to Major Scott Greenough, who is also a pilot with the Canadian Forces.

Marta Mulkins. Lieutenant-Commander Marta Mulkins is the first woman to serve as captain of a Canadian warship, the HMCS Summerside in 2000.

Colleen Beattie. Master Seaman Colleen Beattie is the first woman in the Canadian Forces to qualify as a submariner in 2003. It was announced in 2000, by the Chief of the Canadian Forces Maritime Staff , that women may serve in submarines.

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