During World War II, the courageous efforts of Canadian women, known as the "Bomb Girls," played a crucial role in supporting the Allied war effort. These women worked tirelessly in munitions factories across Canada, producing bombs, bullets, and other essential war materials. At a time when the nation called upon every citizen, the Bomb Girls stepped into roles traditionally held by men, showing exceptional skill, dedication, and resilience. Their contribution not only helped secure victory overseas but also paved the way for women's greater participation in the workforce in the decades to follow. The legacy of the Bomb Girls remains a proud and inspiring chapter in Canada's history.
Courage and Grit: The Legacy of Canada’s Bomb Girls, a follow-on book to best-selling award-winning Bomb Girls: Trading Aprons for Ammo, offers scores of unique Canadian bomb girl stories from every corner of society. You can pre-order the book here with its release due October 20, 2026.
The Bomb Girls Legacy Foundation seeks to commemorate the invaluable contribution made by hundreds of thousands of war workers in Canada during the Second World War. If you have a loved one who worked at a factory from 1939 – 1945, we would be honoured to prepare a commemorative scroll recognizing their war effort for “King and Country.” Prices include shipping and a donation to the Bomb Girls Legacy Foundation. Learn more here
Please help us build a National Quilt to honour and commemorate the women of the Second World War who supported the fight for peace here on the home front, by working in wartime factories across Canada.
As a contributor to our quilt, you are welcome to prepare a patch to remember or honour a family member who served in this capacity or simply to say thank you to these brave women. We ask only that you follow a few simple specifications so that we can put this quilt together in a meaningful and aesthetically pleasing manner for eventual display in our museum. Patches can be from individuals, families or other groups.
Please see here for more information as to how to prepare and ship a quilt square. We are also soliciting quilts created by Canada’s school children. In a pilot project, the students at Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Elementary School in Scarborough, Ontario created a hand-made quilt in April 2025. It proudly will hang in our museum one day. We encourage other schools in Canada to create Children’s Bomb Girls Quilts. Please contact (bombgirlslegacy@gmail.com) for more information.
Currently, there is no standard Canadian school curriculum promoting work carried out on the home front during the Second World War. We are working with all levels of the Canadian government to update the syllabus for all tiers of education – from kindergarten to high school.
The Bomb Girls Legacy Foundation is working to produce a series of books geared towards young adults – twelve to eighteen years of age. “Diamond Girls Adventures” will feature stories of actual Canadian Bomb Girls who served their country on the home front. The first book in the series, tentatively entitled, “Loose Lips Sink Ships” will tell the story of a 16-year-old girl who dropped out of high school to work at the Scarborough factory as their first secretary in March 1941.
We are also working with a graphic designer to produce a series of comic books, tentatively titled “The (Miss)Adventures of Canada’s Bomb Girls.” These comic books will depict a typical day in the life of a bomb girl, working in a wartime factory.
We are excited to announce the creation of “Diamond Girls,” an endeavour that will celebrate and further empower young women and men of Canada who epitomize the same strength, tenacity, courage and leadership qualities shown by Canadian bomb girls. Diamonds were worn over the heart of all bomb girls who worked at the Scarborough factory. These diamonds not only recognized their employment but came to symbolize strength and Canadian pride. When 2022 Canada’s History National Young Citizens Award winner, Mannat – who prepared her heritage project on Canada’s Bomb Girls – was asked what such an endeavour should be called, without hesitation, replied, “Diamond Girls.” Such is a brand born. To learn more about Mannat’s amazing submission,
Our mission is to support and nurture these phenomenal youth, promoting volunteerism, entrepreneurism, leadership, social action, and peacemaking through a school-based curriculum at all levels of education – from kindergarten to post-secondary/university. We are currently running a Diamond Girls pilot program with elementary students in a Scarborough school. We plan to roll out a more formal program in 2026. If your school is interested in participating in our pilot program, please reach out. It will be a privilege to work with you.
Currently, there several heritage plaques erected throughout Canada honouring the legacy of Bomb Girls who worked at various wartime factories. We celebrate the efforts of municipal governments who have remembered our forebears’ contribution to winning the Second World War. However, there’s much work to be done. With no “official” list of war plants in Canada, and with most factories torn down, there is an inherent difficulty in discovering long lost factories, let alone erecting plaques. If you know of a wartime factory in Canada, please let us know. We are eager to build a list of plants whose war materials production to help win the war.
Most wartime factories in Canada have been razed for the sake of progress, neglect, or indifference. Remarkably, there are still 20 original building standing on the old GECO lands in Scarborough; a rare phenomenon that should be safe-guarded. However, these buildings are not protected under any of the three levels of government in Canada. If nothing is done to preserve at least one building, its history too will be lost for the sake of progress. The Bomb Girls Legacy Foundation is working with municipal, provincial and federal governments to protect the lands.
The Bomb Girls Legacy Foundation actively is collecting artifacts for Canada’s new National Home Front Museum, to be established in Scarborough in the next 3 – 5 years. Our current collection includes fuses, bullets, stamps, pins, munitions boxes, factory newspapers, books, photographs, posters, and letters. If you have an artifact from a war plant in Canada, we hope you will consider donating it to our collection. Perhaps they are tender love letters written between a bomb girl and her beau fighting overseas. Perhaps, it’s a photo of your loved one working at a plant. Perhaps, it’s a handkerchief or apron that your loved one wore. All artifacts are welcome. Your contribution will be noted as to its provenance, donor, dates, and any other pertinent facts to honour your loved one. We are grateful for your contribution.”
In addition to collecting WWII artefacts, we actively are collecting vintage recipes that date back to the 1940s or before. These are favourite time-tested classic recipes that families enjoyed time and again. Do you have a family recipe that’s been passed down from your parents, grandparents, or even your great grandparents? If so, we’d love to hear about it. Our intention is to produce a Bomb Girls Recipe Book which will be available for purchase to help raise funds to further our important work.
During the Second World War, the folk at the Scarborough munitions factory published recipes that supported the rationing of foodstuffs such as sugar, meat, and flour. Dishes such as delicious, scalloped corn with sausages, baked cheese omelette, scalloped potatoes with ham, hot cabbage, casserole of curried vegetables, hashed brown potatoes, corn and cheese pudding, and casserole of beef with vegetables were suggested. We’re not convinced that “hot cabbage” will appeal to the masses, but it speaks to the necessity of rationing and making do with what was available either in a food store or from a “victory garden.
To submit your family recipe for possible inclusion in Canada’s Bomb Girls Recipe book, Please see here for more information
The Bomb Girls Legacy Foundation is working with the City of Toronto to establish a Canadian Home Front Museum and Education Centre near where the old GECO munitions factory once stood in Scarborough, Ontario. Our foundation is committed to creating spaces that honor the resilience and dedication of Canada’s war workers, ensuring their stories are not forgotten. By fostering a deeper understanding of their sacrifices, we aim to inspire future generations to value community, innovation, and unity. Furthermore, these projects serve as a bridge to connect the past with the present, demonstrating how history shapes identity and societal values.
Of course, there is much work to be done to make this happen, including a major fund-raising campaign. The museum will allow Canada’s public including school children, to learn more about what it was like to work in a war-time factory. A mock-up fuse-filling workshop, media displays, and a gallery wall of bomb girl biographies and quilts are just a few of the endeavours we are pursuing.
There is currently no national monument in Ottawa to remember the vital work carried out by Canada’s war workers, especially women. There is a tremendous monument in Pat Bayly Square in Ajax, Ontario to remember the bomb girls who filled shells at the D.I.L. plant in East Pickering during the Second World War.
However, this memorial is local to Ajax residents. The public must know where to look to find it. There needs to be a more formal national equivalent in Ottawa to honour Canada’s war workers. London, England erected “Monument to the Women of World War II” located on Whitehall beside the Cenotaph at the end of Downing Street. It is a fitting, poignant reminder of the women who served on the home front in Britain.
Please see Here for more information.
