Women General Officers of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF)

Women General Officers of the RCAF

Lieutenant-General Frances Allen, RCAF

Lieutenant-General Frances Jennifer Allen, CMM, CD is a senior officer serving in the Royal Canadian Air Force. On 28 June 2021, she assumed office as Vice Chief of the Defence Staff, becoming the first woman to hold the position. Allen’s prior roles included serving as the Canadian military’s director general for cyberspace, the National Defence Headquarters director general for information management operations, the joint force cyber component commander, and deputy Vice Chief of the Defence Staff.

In July 2020, Allen was appointed as Canada’s military representative at NATO headquarters in Brussels. Allen was considered a contender to become Chief of the Defence Staff after the departure of General Jonathan Vance in January 2021, but that position was given to Admiral Art McDonald.

On March 9, 2021, it was announced that Allen would succeed Lieutenant-General Michael Rouleau as Vice Chief of the Defence Staff, making her the first woman to serve in that role. Allen’s appointment to the vice chief position came amidst increased public and political scrutiny of the senior leadership of the Canadian Armed Forces because of sexual misconduct investigations into the two previous chiefs of the Defence Staff (Vance and McDonald).

Allen was appointed an Officer of the Order of Military Merit on 6 March 2017,[6] and advanced to a Commander of the Order of Military Merit on 27 May 2019.

(DND Photo, Corporal Carbe Orellana, 2016)

Lieutenant-General Lise Bourgon, CMM, MSC, CD, Pilot, Senior Advisor RCAF, Acting Commander, Military Personnel Command.
Medals: General Service Medal – Expedition, Special Service Medal, Canadian Peacekeeping Service Medal, NATO Medal for Former Yugoslavia with Bronze Numeral 2, Article 5 Medal for Operation ‘ Active Endeavour’, Queen Elizabeth ll’s Diamond Jubilee Medal, and Canadian Forces Decoration with one Rosette.

Lieutenant-General Lise Bourgon, joined the military in 1987. under the ROTP training plan and was selected to attend Le College Militaire Royal de St-Jean where she graduated in 1992, with a Bachelor Degree in Business Administration. Following wings training in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan in 1994, she was posted to 423 Maritime Helicopter Squadron at CFB Shearwater where she served on HMCS Preserver, NCSM Ville de Quebec and HMCS Toronto. In 1998, she was transferred to No. 406 Maritime Operational Training Squadron, where she served as a pilot instructor.

Following her promotion to Major in 2001, she was posted to Ottawa in the Directorate of Air Requirements – Maritime as a Project Director working on projects such as the Maritime Helicopter Program and the Self-Defence Program. She was posted back to 423 Maritime Helicopter Squadron in 2004 to serve as the Detachment Commander on HMCS Montreal. Following her deployment, she was appointed as the Wing Plans and Tasks Officer in 2005. She graduated from the Joint Command and Staff Program at the Canadian Force College in Toronto in 2007.

Following her promotion to Lieutenant-Colonel, she was appointed the Commanding Officer of No. 406 Maritime Operational Training Squadron in 2007 and served at CFB Shearwater, Nova Scotia until July 2009 when she was chosen to be the Executive Assistant to the Chief of the Air Staff in Ottawa. In June 2011, she was promoted to Colonel and posted as the NATO Liaison Officer at the NATO Air Headquarters in Ramstein, Germany. After only two years in Germany, she was appointed as the new 12 Wing Commander in Shearwater, Nova Scotia. Following her tour as Wing Commander, she was promoted to the rank of Brigadier-general and deployed as the Joint Task Force Commander for OP IMPACT. Upon her return from deployment, she was assigned to Canada Joint Operational Command as the Chief of Operations.

In August 2016, she was transferred to the Strategic Joint Staff as Director General Operations. In 2018, she assumed the duties of Chief of Staff, Operations at the Canadian Joint Operations Command (CJOC).

Lieutenant-General Christine Whitecross, RCAF

(G&M Photo)

Christine Theresa Whitecross (born 7 July 1961), CMM, MSM, CD, is a Canadian retired lieutenant-general. A graduate of Queen’s University and the Royal Military College of Canada, she has served in Germany, Bosnia, and Afghanistan. Whitecross has twice been named one of Canada’s 100 most-powerful women. She was commandant of the NATO Defense College in Rome.

Chris Whitecross was born in Germany, where her father was posted with the Royal Canadian Air Force. The family followed her father to CFB Bagotville, North Bay, and Annapolis Valley, Canada. She was in the cadet pipe band as a child. She decided to become an engineer in ninth grade and her father, who was impressed by the uniforms of its engineers, advised her to attend Queen’s University. She enlisted in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) during her second year at university. She graduated from Queen’s University with a degree in chemical engineering and was posted as an engineering officer to Germany, Bosnia, Afghanistan, and across Canada. She also has a master’s degree in defense studies from the Royal Military College of Canada.

She has been made a commander of the Order of Military Merit, received the United States Meritorious Service Medal for service in Afghanistan and the Canadian Meritorious Service Medal for her role as secretary-general of the International Military Sports Council. Whitecross was the first female three-star general to be appointed in the CAF.

Whitecross has held several high-level staff posts including as Director of the Infrastructure and Environment Corporate Service, Chief of Staff for the Assistant Deputy Minister, Joint Engineer of Canada Command, Executive Assistant to the Chief of the Air Staff, and Chief Military Engineer of the Canadian Armed Forces. In Bosnia, she was head of logistics and manpower for the engineer contingent of UNPROFOR and was the Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications with ISAF in Afghanistan. Whitecross has commanded 1 Construction Engineer Unit and was deputy commander of Canadian Operational Support Command.

In February 2015 Whitecross became head of a team tasked with responding to allegations of sexual misconduct in the CAF.[2] She was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-general on 26 May 2015, becoming the most senior female Canadian military engineer. Whitecross was appointed commander of Military Personnel Command in June 2015.[4] In summer 2017 she became commandant of the NATO Defense College in Rome, Italy, being elected by representatives of the 28 NATO member states. She is the first woman and the third Canadian to hold the position. Whitecross retired from the military in December 2020.

Whitecross was named one of Canada’s 100 most-powerful women in 2011 and 2016. She was awarded the 2018 Vimy Award by the Conference of Defence Associations Institute for contributions to the security and defence of Canada. Whitecross’s husband was also in the Canadian military, but resigned to look after their children. The family have taken in 33 foster children, being inspired to do so by her parents, who were also foster carers.

Major-General Wendy Clay, RCAF, Surgeon General

(DND Photo)

Major-General W. A. Clay CMM, OStJ, CD, QHP, MD, MHSc (born 27 September 1942) was the 33rd Canadian Surgeon General. Wendy Arlene Clay was born in Fort St. John, British Columbia, 27 September 1942. She was educated at the University of British Columbia, where she received her medical degree in 1967. She also obtained a Master of Health Science Degree in 1980. In 1981, she was granted a certificate in Community Medicine by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. In 1995, Clay also “received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from the University of British Columbia.”

In 1970, she was promoted to major, and the following year, was posted as base surgeon to Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. There Clay underwent basic pilot training in 1972. Clay was next posted in 1973 to Training Command (subsequently Air Command) Headquarters (HQ) as staff officer, Aviation Medicine in Winnipeg, Manitoba. During this period, she took a six-month study break to complete the advanced aviation medical course with the Royal Air Force (RAF) in Farnborough, England. In 1974, she became the first woman in the Canadian Air Force (CAF) to receive her wings.

In 1977, Clay was promoted to lieutenant-colonel and joined the staff of the Canadian Forces Institute of Environmental Medicine in Toronto as the director of Medical Assessment and Training Division. During this posting, Clay completed a six-month tour of duty with the Canadian United Nations contingent to the Middle East in Egypt. She was promoted to colonel, and was appointed to the surgeon general’s staff, in Ottawa, as director of preventive medicine[8] from 1982 to 1986, and subsequently posted to Air Command Headquarters in Winnipeg, Manitoba, as command surgeon.

In 1989, Clay was promoted to brigadier-general,” and returned to Ottawa as commandant of the National Defence Medical Centre (NDMC). She held that appointment until 1992 when she was appointed deputy surgeon general. In 1994, Clay was promoted to major-general and was appointed surgeon general, the first woman [in the CAF] to hold that rank and appointment. She remained in the position until her retirement in 1998. It was during Maj.-Gen. Clay’s period in office that the medical and dental branches of the Canadian Forces were united to form a single administrative body, the Canadian Forces Health Services. During the period of amalgamation from 1995 to 1997, Clay’s staff authorities were elevated from those of director of General Medical Services to chief of Health Services.

After retiring, she moved to Victoria, British Columbia, where she served on several boards and committees, including the board of the Victoria Hospice Society, chair of the St. John’s Ambulance branch executive committee, chair of the board of governors of the Canadian Corps of Commissionaires, the board of directors for the Broadmead Care, and the Victoria Symphony.

Major-General Tammy Harris, RCAF, Deputy Commander RCAF

Major-General Lise Mathieu, RCAF, Chief CFHS

Major-General Marie Juliette Lise MATHIEU, CMM, CD, Commander Canadian Forces Medical Group and Director General Health Services, now retired, is an influential health care leader who led the transformation of the Canadian Forces Health Services (CFHS).

She brought about large-scale change as CFHS Commander from 2000 until her retirement from the Canadian Forces in 2005. She built lasting leadership capacity and a culture of service, oversaw revision of processes and infrastructure while rebuilding morale and the provision of care with outstanding vision.

Today, Mathieu inspires excellence in others as an executive coach and a consultant in strategic leadership and leadership development. Her experience of leading under fire fosters a sense of courage and responsibility among leaders and leadership teams in the private and public sectors.

Mathieu’s 31-year career in the Canadian Forces includes command, staff officer and health care management positions in Canada and abroad. She served as liaison officer during the 1990 Oka crisis and operations officer for the deployment of 1 Canadian Field Hospital to Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War. She served as a health services officer with gender integration her primary area of responsibility and also successfully managed the closure of the last Canadian Forces Hospital. Mathieu was executive assistant to the assistant deputy minister personnel, chief of staff for chief of health services strategic headquarters and executive assistant to the chief of defence staff.

Mathieu was executive-in-residence for the Royal Roads Master of Arts in Leadership program and chair of the School of Leadership Advisory Committee. In 2000, she was awarded the Order of Military Merit in the rank of officer and in 2005 she was promoted to the rank of commander in the Order of Military Merit. That same year, she received the Assistant Deputy Minister (Human Resources Military) Commendation for outstanding leadership, tenaciousness, vision and foresight in the successful transformation of the Canadian Forces Health System. In 2009, she received the Chair’s Award for Distinguished Service presented by the Canadian College of Health Leaders Board of Directors.

Mathieu holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration from the Université du Québec à Montréal (1978) and a Master of Science in Health Care Administration from the Université de Montréal (1990). Lise was made and Officer of the Order of Military
Merit (OMM) as per the Canada Gazette of 01 July 2000 in the rank of Colonel and was the third woman made a Commander of the Order of Military Merit (CMM) as per the Canada Gazette of 25 March 2006 in the rank of Major-General. She earned the certification of Certified Health Executive (CHE).

Major-General Jamie Speiser-Blanchet, RCAF, Deputy Commander RCAF

(RCAF Photo)

LGen Jamie Speiser-Blanchet was born in Chicoutimi but grew up moving around with her father’s career as a fighter pilot. Jamie Speiser-Blanchet joined the Canadian Armed Forces in 1990 at age 17 and graduated from the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC) Kingston, in 1994 with a Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Engineering. It was a happy coincidence that LGen Speiser-Blanchet became a pilot as she initially thought that since she wanted to study engineering that she would have to be an engineer. She went on to complete her pilot training in Moose Jaw, SK and Portage La Prairie, MB where she had the honour of having her father present her with her wings in March 1996.

Col Speiser-Blanchet joined the Tactical Helicopter community on the Griffon Helicopter with 430e Escadron Tactique d’hélicoptères (ETAH) at CFB Valcartier, QC where she was the first female pilot. In 2001, LGen Speiser-Blanchet was employed at 1 Wing Headquarters, Kingston, as the A3 Operations Task Officer before her posting to No. 403 (Helicopter) Operational Training Squadron (403 (Hel) OTS), at 5 CDSB Gagetown, New Brunswick, in 2003. There, she was employed as a line pilot and Aviation Tactics Flight Project Officer prior to her appointment as Squadron Operations Officer. Operational deployments include UN and NATO peacekeeping tours in Haiti (Op STABLE) and Bosnia (Op PALLADIUM), and domestic missions in response to forest fires, floods and other regional emergencies.
Moving on to National Defence Headquarters in Ottawa in 2007, she served as a Military Assistant to the Minister of National Defence until 2010. At the Canadian Forces College in Toronto, she completed the Joint Command and Staff Program (JCSP 37) and earned a Masters in Defence Studies in 2011 before proceeding to 1 Canadian Air Division (1 CAD) Headquarters in Winnipeg, Manitoba. As the Senior Staff Officer Tactical Aviation, she coordinated operational level support for the generation of the Canadian Armed Forces’ tactical aviation capability and was the operational airworthiness authority responsible for the CH146 Griffon and CH147F Chinook fleets.
BGen Speiser-Blanchet assumed command of No. 403 Helicopter Operational Training Sqn in July 2014 and remained in Gagetown until 2016. As the Commanding Officer of 403 Sqn, she oversaw all Bell CH-146 Griffon operational aircrew training (pilots and flight engineers) for 1 Wing and other RCAF units while personally contributing to flying instruction and other training missions. She subsequently worked as a Senior Staff Officer for the Canadian Forces Aerospace Warfare Centre prior to selection for the Defence and Strategic Studies Course (DSSC) at the Australian Defence College in Canberra, Australia. She graduated from DSSC in December 2017 with a Masters in Politics and Policy from Deakin University.
BGen Speiser-Blanchet served as special advisor to the chief of the defence staff at NDHQ before deploying to Kuwait in the autumn of 2019 as the Deputy Commander (Operations), Joint Task Force – IMPACT which is Canada’s training and capacity building mission in the Middle East. Colonel Jamie Speiser-Blanchet was promoted Brigadier-General in July 2021 and appointed Commander National Cadet and Junior Canadian Rangers Support Group Headquarters.
On 01 July 2023, she was promoted to Major-General and became the Deputy Commander of the Royal Canadian Air Force. In July 2024, she became the Commander of the Royal Canadian Air Force and was promoted to Lieutenant-General.
Her impressive career has not stopped her from building a wonderful family. Her husband, Major (ret’d) Janin Blanchet also served as a Griffon pilot and the two of them have three children Emma (19), Zachary (17), and Samuel (14). Building a family in a demanding career that takes you across the country and on operational missions abroad takes a strong team at home.

Major-General Nancy Tremblay, RCAF, Chief Material Program

Major-General Nancy Tremblay was born in Normandin, Lac St-Jean, QC and enrolled in the Canadian Armed Forces in 1987. She served as an Aerospace Engineer in the Royal Canadian Air Force in the following positions: Squadron Aircraft Maintenance
Engineering Officer of 438 Tactical Helicopter Squadron, St-Hubert QC; Deputy Commanding Officer of 3 Air Maintenance Squadron, Bagotville QC and Aircraft Maintenance Standards at 1 Canadian Air Division, Winnipeg.
Major-General Tremblay commanded 3 Air Maintenance Squadron and worked with the Canadian Special Operations Forces in Ottawa as the Command Headquarters Commanding Officer. During her posting with the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command Headquarters, she had the opportunity to deploy to Jordan to support the capacity building activities with the Jordanian Armed Forces.
She held numerous positions within the Aerospace Equipment Program Management Division of the Materiel Group in the National Capital Region: Integrated Logistics Support Officer within the Utility Tactical Transport Helicopter Project; Aircraft Engineering Officer for the CH-146 Griffon; Director of Fighters and Trainers; Chief of Staff and Acting Director General for a continuous period of 14 months.
Major-General Tremblay held other staff appointments, including Analyst for the Director of Force Planning and Program Coordination within the Chief of Program organization; and Executive Assistant to the Chief of the Air Staff at National Defence
Headquarters. In January 2019, Nancy Tremblay was promoted to Brigadier-General and attended the Canadian Armed Forces College in Toronto. She graduated on 21 June 2019 and assumed the position of Director General of Aerospace Equipment Project
Management. She had been the Deputy Commander of 3 Air Maintenance Squadron (CF-188 Hornets) prior to her promotion.
In June 2021, she was promoted to Major-General and appointed to a new temporary position Chief Material Program.
She holds a Bachelor degree in Physics and Mathematics from the Collège militaire royal of St-Jean-sur-Richelieu and a Masters of Defence Studies from the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston. She is a graduate of the Joint Command and Staff Program and the National Security Program, both conducted at the Canadian Forces College in Toronto. She did a Master’s degree in Defence Studies at Royal Military College from 2008 to 2009 and also did her Canadian Forces College Joint Command and Staff
Program 35 in that period. She did her Canadian Forces School of Aerospace Technology and Engineering Aerospace Officer Basic Course in 1992 to 1993. Prior to that, she attended Collége militaire royal de St-Jean from 1987 to 1992 completing her BSc degree
in mathematics.
She retired from the RCAF in June 2022. In September 2022, she transferred to the public service and was appointed to the position of Associate Assistant Deputy Minister (Materiel). In July 2024, Ms. Tremblay was appointed to the position of Assistant Deputy Minister of the Materiel Group. In her role, she supports Canada’s military by leading the Maritime, Land, and Aerospace Equipment Acquisition and In Service Support Programs.

Brigadier-General Dominique Brais, RCAF, Director-General Cadets and Junior Rangers

(Jenny Lamothe Photo)

Brigadier-General Dominique N. Brais, CD, RCAF, Commander of the Cadets and Junior Canadian Rangers Group. BGen Dominique Brais enrolled in the Canadian Armed Forces in 1991 through the Regular Officer Training Plan at the Collège militaire royal de St-Jean. Following completion of the Bachelor of Administration in 1995, she was commissioned as an Air Combat Systems Officer and completed training at the Canadian Forces Air Navigation School in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Upon receiving her Navigator’s Wings in 1996, she was posted to 14 Wing’s 405 Long Range Patrol Squadron in Greenwood, Nova Scotia, where she served in CP-140 Aurora flying positions as an Acoustic Sensor Operator and Squadron Deputy Flight Commander. In 2001, she was posted to 404 Long Range Patrol and Training Squadron as an Instructor, Simulator Operator, and Squadron Deputy Operations Officer.
Following a transfer from the Regular Force to the Supplementary Reserve in 2004, BGen Brais moved to Ottawa and returned to full-time service, this time as a reservist in 2008. She served within the Military Personnel Command’s (MILPERSCOM) Director Reserve Support Management in a variety of roles supporting the administration and career management of the members of the National Defence Headquarters and MILPERSCOM Primary Reserve.
In 2014, she was selected to attend the Joint Command and Staff Programme following which she was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel and selected for employment within the Directorate Force Management of the Canadian Special Operations Command (CANSOFCOM). She held three simultaneous roles, appointed as the Commanding Officer of the CANSOFCOM Primary Reserves, and responsible for both the CANSOFCOM Selection program, occupation management, and during which she led the creation of a SOF occupation.
Promoted to Colonel in 2019, BGen Brais was appointed to the position of CANSOFCOM’s Director Force Management, where she assumed the wide portfolio and responsibilities for the Command’s military and civilian personnel management. BGen Brais was promoted to her current rank in 2023 upon completion of the National Security Programme at the Canadian Forces College in Toronto. BGen Brais is from Chapleau and Sudbury Ontario. She currently resides in Ottawa with her spouse where they enjoy
spending time with their blended family of five adult children and two granddaughters.

Brigadier-General Patricia Brennan, RCAF, COS 1 Canadian Air Division

Brigadier-General Patricia (‘Pat’) L. Brennan, CD Chief of Staff (Reserves) – 1 Canadian Air Division. BGen Patricia Brennan was promoted to the rank of Brigadier-General in July 2001 and appointed the Chief of Staff (Reserves) and Chief of Personnel (A1) at 1 Canadian Air Division’s Headquarters in Winnipeg. She remained in these positions until July 2004 when she was replaced as Chief of Staff (Reserves) by Brigadier-General Robert Clark. However, she remained as the A1 Personnel Chief of Staff until July 2006.

Brigadier-General Linda Colwell, RCAF, Director-General Military Human Resources Policy and Planning

Brigadier-General Linda Juanita Colwell, OMM, CD, Director General Military Human Resources Policy and Planning. In June 2006, then Colonel Linda Colwell was promoted to Brigadier-General and appointed Director General Military Human Resources Policy and Planning at National Defence Headquarters in Ottawa. She was one of only three women out of 73 people with the rank of general in the Canadian Forces at this time, she commanded a staff of 250 as director general of personnel generation policy.
While a Brigadier-General, every Sunday morning she attended the Ottawa Citadel, where she was the corps sergeant-major, the senior lay position in a Salvation Army church. She also put in many hours of service with the Salvation Army from wiping down tables to leading bible studies. She wears a uniform during the week and a different one during the weekends and many evenings of volunteering.
While a member of the Canadian Forces, Brigadier-General Linda Colwell served on bases and wings across Canada, at National Defence Headquarters, on secondment with the Treasury Board Secretariat and on deployments with the United Nations and the Multinational Force and Observers in the Middle-East. She is an Officer of the Order of Military Merit (OMM), awarded as per the Canada Gazette of 16 March 1997 in the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel.
Linda holds a Bachelor of Science from Mount Allison University, an MBA from the University of Western Ontario and the designation Certified Human Resources Professional (CHRP). Upon retirement from the Canadian Forces, she established L J COLWELL & ASSOCIATES LTD, and has since undertaken private and public sector contracts related to governance, strategic review, business planning and change management.
She is currently serving as President of the Friends of the Canadian War Museum, the first woman to hold the post. She is a member of the Pensioners’ Dental Services Plan Board (the dental plan for retired members of the Public Service, the Canadian Forces and the RCMP), the Commissionaires Ottawa Council of Governors and the Board of Trustees of Booth University College. She is single.

Brigadier-General Stephanie M.M. Godin, CD, RCAF, Director-General Issues

Brigadier-General Stephanie M.M. Godin, CD, RCAF, Director General Issues – for the Assistant Deputy Minister Public Affairs. In October 2023, she was promoted to Brigadier-General and appointed as Director General Issues in Ottawa. She attended McGill University from 1994 to 1998 and obtained her Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Political Science.
She joined the Royal Canadian Air Force as a Public Affairs Intern at 22 Wing (Canadian Forces Base North Bay) in May 1999 and stayed there for 9 months. Then it was off to 1 Canadian Air Division Headquarters in Winnipeg as a NORAD Public Affairs officer
from August 2000 to July 2002. She was working there during the 11 September 2001 attack on New York and Washington.
Then it was off further west to Moose Jaw Saskatchewan to a prize position as the RCAF Snowbirds Public Affairs Officer for a 3-year term from July 2002 to June 2005. In June 2005, she was posted as the Public Affairs Officer and National Spokesperson at the Media Liaison Office in Ottawa until March 2007. During this time, she acted as Head MLO during a period of 10 months, during the busiest recorded period, leading a team of military and civilian Public Affairs Officers and duty officer.
She was then posted as the Plans and Operations Public Affairs Officer at Land Forces Quebec Area and Joint Task Force East Headquarters in Montreal from March 2007 to April 2009 while Canadian Forces were fighting in Afghanistan. While in this position, she planned all public affairs aspects, including media Embedding and media simulation, for a multi-agency military exercise. Then it was off to Kandahar Province, Afghanistan in April 2009 as the Public Affairs Officer at Kandahar Provincial Reconstruction Team for 7 months. She was responsible for media Relations with Canadian embedded media and Afghan local media as well as monitoring of Afghan governance Communicators.
Returning to Canada, she was back in Montreal as the Senior Public Affairs Officer at Land Forces Quebec Area and Joint Task Force East Headquarters from October 2009 to July 2012. As the senior advisor, she led her team through the public affairs aspects related to the deployment of troops in Haiti following the devastating earthquake of 2010, which earned the team the National Defence Assistant Deputy Minister Public Affairs’ Communications Award of Excellence. Lead the public affairs efforts during a domestic
operation: the CAF intervention during the Quebec floods of 2011. She also started and completed her masters of Arts in Communications, Media and Public Relations (with Merit) at the University of Leicester finishing in 2014.
Following this appointment, she became a Student at the Joint Command and Staff Programme in Toronto from August 2026 to June 2016. The aim of the Joint Command and Staff Programme is to prepare selected senior officers of the Defence Team for command and staff appointments in the contemporary operating environment across the continuum of operations in national and international settings. She completed a Master of Defence Studies while at the Canadian Forces College in Toronto.
In June 2016 to July 2017, she was the J9 (Public Affairs) for the Canadian Joint Operations Command in Ottawa acting as the Branch Head responsible for coordinating external engagements for the senior leadership of the Command. Staying with the Canadian Joint Operations Command from July 2017 to July 2019, she was the CJOC Chief Public Affairs Officer responsible for advising the CJOC Commander on Public Affairs matters related to the Canadian Armed Forces Operations. Staying in Ottawa from July 2019 to January 2020, BGen Godin was the Military Personnel Public Affairs Section Chief responsible for providing public affairs support to the Military Personnel Command, the Judge Advocate General (JAG), as well as the Canadian Forces Legal Advisors.
And finally, still in Ottawa from January 2020 to June 2020, she was Canadian Forces Public Affairs Branch Advisor and the Director Public Affairs (Operations). She Provided support to the Director of Staff and Strategic Joint Staff (SJS) Operations. Concurrently, she was the Director Public Affairs Planning (Operations) from January 2020 to August 2021. Her duties included providing support to CAF operations at strategic level; providing point of coordination of public affairs products and activities for ADM(PA), commands and environments; providing Defence-wide communications lead in support of national crisis communications matters and issues and provided situational awareness to Commands and SJS, and coordination support to media relations/issues management. In July 2021 she was promoted to Colonel.
After this, she attended the National Security Programme at the Canadian Forces College in Toronto from August 2021 to June 2022. The aim of the National Security Programme is to prepare selected military, public service, international and private-sector leaders for future responsibilities within a complex and ambiguous global security environment.
In July 2022 she became the Director of Personnel Strategies for the Chief of Military Personnel in Ottawa responsible for: the development of the CAF Recruiting Strategy; the launch of the Retention Strategy Program Office, the development of the CAF People Strategy, the Total Health and Wellness Strategy Program Office, the Suicide Prevention Strategy, and the Seamless Canada initiative. In October 2023, she was promoted to Brigadier-General and appointed as the Director General Issues for the Assistant
Deputy Minister Public Affairs in Ottawa.

Brigadier-General Sheila Hellstrom, RCAF, Director-General Officer’s Careers

Brigadier-General Sheila Anne Hellstrom CD (January 15, 1935 – December 7, 2020) was a Canadian Forces officer who became the first woman in the regular force to achieve the rank of brigadier-general in 1987, as well as being the first woman to graduate from Canadian Forces College.

Sheila Hellstrom was born in 1935 and is a native of Bridgewater (or Lunenburg), Nova Scotia. She joined the Royal Canadian Air force in 1954 while attending Mount Allison University. In 1956, Sheila was promoted to the rank of Flying Officer and started off her RCAF career in Manitoba as Gimli Station Services Officer.
In 1973, then Major Hellstrom became the first military woman to attend the Canadian Forces Staff College in Toronto. Her career included administrative appointments at military establishments in Gimli, Winnipeg and Rivers, Manitoba, Senneterre and Montreal, Quebec, North Bay and Toronto, Ontario as well as Baden-Soellingen, Germany and Metz, France.
In 1975 she went to the National Defence Headquarters in Ottawa. In 1980, she became the Deputy Director Women Personnel and supported and monitored the Service Women in Non Traditional Employment and Roles (SWINTER) trials. In 1986, she was the Personnel Officer in charge of female staff in the Canadian Forces.
In 1988, then Colonel Sheila Hellstrom, was the first woman to graduate from Canada’s National Defence College. On 27 January 1987 she became the first female Regular Force member to achieve the rank of Brigadier-General. Her new job was Director-General of officers’ careers. At age 52, she joined 115 Male Generals, Admirals and Commodores. At that time women made up 8.8% (7,400) of the Canadian Forces 84,000 members.
After retirement from the Canadian Forces in 1990, Brigadier-General Hellstrom resided in Ottawa where she was the former chair of the Board of Governors of the Ottawa Division Canadian Corps of Commissionaires, and a member of a number of defence related organizations. She died on 07 December 2020 in Ottawa at the age of 85. An Interment Service was also held in Lunenburg, NS on
16 October 2021.

Brigadier-General Darlene Quinn, RCAF, Chief of Staff to the Chief of the Defence Staff

(DND Photo)

Brigadier-General Darlene Olga Quinn, OMM, CD, RCAF, Chief of Staff to the Chief of the Defence Staff. BGen Darlene Quinn graduated from the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC) Kingston, in 1988 with a Bachelors of Engineering in Civil Engineering. She has served in the Construction Engineering section in Winnipeg, and as Base Construction Engineering Officer in Chilliwack, 14
Wing Greenwood and CFB Esquimalt. Early in her career she deployed to Pakistan to teach mine awareness to Afghan women and children, later with UNDOF in the Golan Heights as Troop Commander, and then to Indonesia with the interdepartmental team from DND, DFAIT and CIDA following an earthquake there. She has been the Facilities Engineer on a major Crown project, the Engineer Advisor for the Disaster Assistance Response Team at the Joint Headquarters, Engineer Operations Officer on the Strategic Joint
Staff in Ottawa and Director of Defence Force Planning with Chief of Programme. Colonel Quinn has commanded at every rank from Captain to Colonel, culminating in her appointment as the first Commander of the Canadian Forces Real Property Operations Group in 2014.
Brigadier-General Quinn has a Masters in Defence Studies from the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC) Kingston and is a graduate of the Joint Command and Staff Course in Toronto, as well as the Senior Course of the NATO Defense College, finishing DP 4 with her colleagues at the Canadian Forces College. Then Colonel Quinn was appointed to the Order of Military Merit, and was awarded the Deputy Minister/Chief of the Defence Staff Innovation Award for her work on the Manley projects team that saw the
acquisition and deployment of helicopters and UAVs to Afghanistan. She was awarded a Chief of Defence Staff Commendation for her work in the effort to centralize Real Property Management in the DND/CAF.
In June 2017, then Colonel Quinn was posted to the NATO Defense College in Rome, Italy as the Military Assistant to the Commandant. On 07 June 2018 at the NATO Defense College in Rome, Italy, LGen Whitecross promoted Colonel Darlene Quinn to the rank of Brigadier-General.
At a ceremony at NATO’s operational headquarters in Belgium on 07 September 2018, Brigadier-General Darlene Quinn assumed
command of Canada’s Formation Europe – an appointment that includes the accompanying duty of National Military Representative to Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE).
In the Summer of 2021, BGen Quinn was appointed as Chief of Staff for the Chief of the Defence Staff. Brigadier-General Quinn retired on 30 November 2022 but left the RCAF in June 2022. BGen Quinn is retiring at the same time as her husband Pete, a
consulting engineer and former military Construction Engineer; they plan to travel extensively for as long as health and savings will allow, carrying with them the spirit of their son John, deceased in 2016 at the age of 25. Brigadier-General Yve Thomson, RCAF, Director General Military Careers.

Women of the RCAF

(DND Photo)

Airwoman, control tower, 3 (Fighter) Wing, RCAF Station Zweibrucken, Germany, 15 June 1954.

(DND Photo)

RCAF Airwomen undergo training on radar scopes at the Radar and Communication School, RCAF Station Clinton, Ontario.

(CF Photo)

Surgeon Cadet Wendy Clay in Cockpit of a de Havilland (Grumman) CS2F Tracker Aircraft on her visit to CFB Shearwater, Nova Scotia.

(CF Photo)

Maj W.A. .Wendy Clay in the cockpit of a Canadair CT-114 Tutor Jet Aircraft in which she took her final test to qualify for her wings, Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, 19 Aug 1974.

(CF Photo)

Maj Clay inspecting the aircraft maintenance record set before a flight in a Canadar CT-114 Tutor.

(CFPhoto)

Maj Clay being presented with her pilot’s wings.

(CF Photo)

Maj Clay being congratulated after her pilot’s wings presentation.

(DND Photo)

Canada’s first female fighter pilots, Capt Jane Foster (left) and Capt Deanna (Dee) Brasseur, posing in front of a Canadair CF-116 Freedom Fighter in 1988.  In 1979, Captain Deanna Brasseur, Captain Leah Mosher and Captain Nora Bottomley were the first women selected for pilot training in the CAF.  The first female pilot in the modern CAF was actually Major Wendy Clay, a medical officer, who qualified as a pilot in 1974, six years before the pilot classification was opened to women.

In 1981, Second Lieutenant Inge Plug became the first female helicopter pilot, the same year that Lieutenant Karen McCrimmon became the first female air navigator.  Major Dee Brasseur and Captain Jane Foster qualified as McDonnell Douglas CF-188 Hornet fighter pilots in 1989. Major Brasseur has since accumulated more than 2,500 flight hours as a fighter pilot, flying in both North America and Europe, and was inducted into the Women in Aviation International Hall of Fame on 17 Feb 2007.

Major Deanna Brasseur posing in front of a McDonnell Douglas CF-188 Hornet fighter.

(ADSUM newspaper Photo)

Corporal Alexandra Roy is the first woman to serve with No. 430 Tactical Helicopter Squadron, RCAF, as a door gunner on board Bell CH-146 Griffon helicopters.

The Royal Canadian Air Force enrolls women in all occupations, which includes operational trades such as pilot, air combat systems officer, aviation technician, and aerospace control operator. In all of these occupations, airmen and airwomen are selected for training and promotions, postings and all career opportunities in exactly the same way, which is based on rank, qualifications and merit.

Lieutenant-Colonel Tammy Harris became the first woman Wing Commander when she assumed command of 9 Wing Gander in Newfoundland in 2006. And, of note, Chief Warrant Officer Linda Smith became the first woman in the CAF to be named Wing Chief Warrant Officer at 17 Wing Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1995.

There have also been several female leaders appointed at the Squadron level: Lieutenant-Colonel Karen McCrimmon was appointed commanding officer of 429 Transport Squadron in Trenton, Ontario, in 1998, and, in 2010, Lieutenant-Colonel Maryse Carmichael became the first female commanding officer of 431 (Air Demonstration) Squadron, whose members are best known as the Canadian Forces Snowbirds.

(DND Photo)

Lieutenant-Colonel Julie Callacott, Commanding officer of 2 Air Expeditionary Squadron (2 AES) at 2 Wing Bagotville, Quebec, March 2017. In 2022 she was promoted to Colonel, and serves as the Assistant Chief of Staff Support, Canadian Forces Intelligence Command Headquarters, in Ottawa.