History Browser

In this 1943 radio speech, Mary Churchill describes her favourable impressions of a recent visit to a CWAC training centre.

In 1941, for the first time in Canadian history, women were recruited for Canada's Armed Forces. This television clip features scenes from the NFB recruitment film "The Proudest Girl in the World" and interviews with two women who answered the call to enlist in World War II.

A report on the history and tradition of the Van Doos' mascot goat, Batisse.

This 1942 episode of the radio program "Comrades in Arms", entitled "The Wrens are Here," describes the duties of servicewomen in the Royal Canadian Navy, whose jobs on shore freed up men for service at sea during WW II.

Major Vince Buonamici, a Military Police Officer, testifies at the Somali Inquiry that he investigated two shooting deaths of Somalis by Airborne soldiers in 1993. He reports that the military chain of command deliberately delayed his work - work that could have prevented Shidane Arone's death.

The First World War sees Canada make enormous contributions, with more than 600,000 Canadians serving in that conflict. A conscription crisis divides French and English Canadians, and Canada emerges as a stronger and more autonomous nation, with its own seat at the League of Nations. From the television series "Canada: A People's History." Includes links to educational resources, bibliography, games, puzzles, and video clips.

Reporter Bill Beattie asks new recruits about their reasons for wanting to serve in the Korean War.

In this 1972 CBC television interview, Cardinal Maurice Roy recounts his experiences and role as military chaplain during World War II.

From 1939 to 1945 Canadian soldiers, sailors and air force personnel lived and died in lands far from home. CBC Radio was one of the few links friends and family in Canada had to their loved ones abroad. Through reports from the front, dramatizations and direct greetings from soldiers, CBC revealed what life on the battlefront was like.

Radio clip from 1943 describes how Canadian women serving as Wrens, CWACs, WDs and Nursing Sisters make the most of rough conditions away from home.