It was six years ago that Esprit de Corps began the initiative known as Breaking Down the Barricades: Women in the Defence World. The genesis for this program of recognition was to profile those women who are role models within the defence sector.
It was meant to be a one-off feature story, but as soon as it published we were contacted by readers wishing to nominate their co-workers and colleagues. As a result the second year this became a peer nominated, committee selected process. As more people become aware of this award our annual list of nominations has steadily increased. Each of the Top 20 recipients is profiled in the March edition of the magazine and they receive a customized plaque featuring the montage design produced each year by artist Katherine Taylor. For the past three years, these plaques were presented at a Gala award ceremony in Ottawa wherein current and past winners and their guests were in attendance. This year was to be the largest such award reception yet and was to take place on Monday 6 April at the Beechwood Commemorative Centre. The Corps of Commissionaires was the main event sponsor which was to include exotic food and beverage donated by a number of Embassies in the National capital. As in previous years, the VIP guest list was to include politicians, ambassadors, senior military officers, military attaches and media. The keynote speaker was to be the CDS’ wife Mrs. Kerry Vance. We had confirmed the attendance of 18 of this year’s top 20 women and upwards of 60 previous winners. Most of the out-of-town guests had made their travel plans and booked hotel rooms.
Then COVID-19 hit Canada. When the lockdown was first announce on 17 March is was to be for 14 days and we breathed a sigh of relief. “The party will not be affected” we thought optimistically. Hindsight shows us otherwise and in early April the decision was made to first postpone and eventually to cancel the ceremony for 2020. The custom plaques still needed to be delivered to the winners and this posed a bit of a pandemic problem. However the Canadian Armed Forces rose to the challenge and offered to assist with the presentations and photos. As you will see in our photo feature on the following pages, a lot of creativity was used to create the social distancing required in order for the recipient and the presenters to remain safe. In one instance the plaque itself became misplaced so 8 Wing, Trenton improvised by framing the pages of the magazine to present Major Skye Simpson with a reasonable facsimile of the actual award.
Each recipient also got a red loot bag sponsored by the Corps of Commissionaires along with a bracelet and a signed congratulatory note from Harry Harsch, national Chief of Staff. The remaining 400 loot bags were stuffed with magazines and books courtesy of Esprit de Corps and distributed to the locked down veterans at the Perley Rideau Residence in Ottawa and distributed in support of an initiative led by Major (ret’d) Sandra Perron to support those troops of the CAF deployed into long term care facilities in Ontario and Quebec as part of Operation Laser.
It was unfortunate that the pandemic shut down this year’s cocktail reception, however what is important is that the incredible accomplishments of these 20 women did not go unheralded. Their profiles appeared in full in Esprit de Corps volume 27, issue 2 (March) and can be read online at www.espritdecorps.ca along with all the previous winners’ profiles. We wish to thank Major Mike Wiesenfeld for acting as our point of coordination for plaque distribution within DND. The image techs included Jean-Roch Chabot, Olivia Manville and Camden Scott. Esprit de Corps’ photography by Richard Lawrence.
Editor’s Note: Nominations for Top Women in Defence 2021 close 15 January 2021.
