Guest Speaker: Barbara Dickson
Barbara Dickson’s book, Bomb Girls: Trading Aprons for Ammo describing one such plant in Scarborough, Ontario, has remained in print since 2015. Her follow-on book, Courage and Grit: The Legacy of Canada’s Bomb Girls, scheduled for an October 2026 release, chronicles almost 100 Bomb Girls’ personal stories that helped save and reshape our nation.
In her presentation, Barbara delivers a dramatic and detailed review of their incredible contribution so long ago. What was it really like to work in a munitions factory? Did anyone die? What were working conditions like? How closely did bomb girls resemble “Rosie the Riveter”? Barbara draws from over 25 years of archival research and personal interviews to answer such questions.
Barbara Dickson is a sought-after, award-winning, best-selling author, historian, public speaker, and documentary film producer who has entertained and educated audiences for over 25 years.
Through her new Bomb Girls Legacy Foundation, Barbara strives to educate Canadians about the phenomenal work carried out by women across the nation whose invaluable contributions helped win the Second World War. The foundation wants to establish a museum, erect plaques, teach schoolchildren, and build a national monument in Ottawa, all to commemorate Canada’s bomb girls.
