Sheila Hellstrom, Canada’s first female General Officer
Photo Credit: DND/CAF
Esprit de Corps Magazine November 2021 // Volume 28 Issue 10
Let's Talk About Women in the Military – Column 32
By Military Woman
Question:
Who was Brigadier General Sheila Hellstrom?
Answer:
BGen Sheila Hellstrom was a trailblazer who “charted a smoother flight path for others to follow.” We dedicate this month’s column to her memory.
Born in 1935 in Lunenburg, NS, BGen Hellstrom’s lifelong commitment to the military was first ignited upon seeing Norwegian WWII sailors who were living nearby at “Camp Norway.” After graduating from high school in 1953, she immediately tried to volunteer for the Korean War – only to learn that the enrollment age for women was higher than for men. Also finding herself unable to join the Royal Military College, she enrolled into the RCAF University Reserve Training Program at Mount Allison University. She was welcomed in 1954 into the Personnel Administration classification – one of the few non-medical trades open to women at that time.
Her first military summer job was at RCAF Station Senneterre, which was part of the Pinetree Line radar defence network. This first DEW Line station had both a ground-control intercept and early warning mission mandate. Future summers were spent at Canadian Joint Air Training Centre at Rivers, Manitoba and at 4 Fighter Wing in Baden-Soellinger, Germany.
In 1956, with a science degree in hand, Hellstrom was promoted to Flying Officer and was finally able to join the Regular Force — three years later than her male peers. She went on to serve for over three decades throughout Canada, including Winnipeg, Gimli, Toronto, Kingston, Ottawa, North Bay, and St. Hubert. Her one beloved overseas posting (1959) was to the RCAF Support Unit in Metz, France. Her duties in Metz included acting as a courier delivering classified material and being the officer in charge of the decontamination centre for service women and dependents in the event of nuclear attack.
Her often-cited career first is to have been first woman promoted to the rank of Brigadier-General in 1987. Her passion, however, was to promote the expansion of employment opportunities for women in the military – an aspiration she shared with her colleague and life-long friend, LCol Shirley Robinson.
Among her many roles promoting the advancement of uniformed women, Hellstrom worked in the Directorate of Women Personnel (1980-1985) in support of the Service Women in Non-Traditional Environments and Roles initiative (aka the SWINTER trials). Hellstrom also chaired the Committee on Women in the NATO Forces (1987-1989) and post retirement she served as Deputy Chair of the Minister of Defence’s Advisory Board on Gender Integration (1990-1995) and was a member of the Ottawa Police Service advisory committees for women, race relations, and employment equity (1990-1995). She also sat on several Defence Minister’s Monitoring Committees (1997-2003). BGen Hellstrom’s lifelong dedication to CAF and the integration of women into the military was recently recognized by an Esprit de Corps Top 20 Women award (2020).
BGen Hellstrom is remembered as someone that did not demand perfection but supported and inspired those around her to do better and to be better. VCDS LGen Frances Allen’s Beechwood memorial service eulogy, aptly described Sheila’s relationship to the military as being, “Unconditional. Unreserved. Unfailing.” BGen Hellstrom will be remembered as someone “compelled to push the institution and its people to continually grow and evolve.”
Not blind to the flaws of the military, BGen Hellstrom nonetheless always wore her medals with tremendous pride. Her career was living proof that military women have come a long way, but she would have been the first to say there is more work yet to be done. We hope she can rest easy in knowing that the next generation are working together to pick up the baton she has handed us with the expectation that we will keep moving her beloved institution in the right direction.
Especially now, women’s history month, let’s all take a moment to reflect on the work and sacrifices of those that have served before us and upon whose shoulders we now stand.
Per Ardua Ad Astra Parati Vero Parati Vigilamus Pro Te
