Skip to content

TIME TRAVELLER: the Second World War workforce, 1945

During the Second World War, Burrard Dry Dock was the first Canadian shipyard to hire women. Their work was essential for the war effort. From 1942 until the end of the war in 1945, women made up about seven percent of the company’s workforce.
dd

During the Second World War, Burrard Dry Dock was the first Canadian shipyard to hire women. Their work was essential for the war effort.

From 1942 until the end of the war in 1945, women made up about seven percent of the company’s workforce.

This photo, taken by photographer Jack Cash, features all the Burrard Dry Dock Company’s female employees posing for a group photograph on their last day in August 1945.

At the end of the war, all women working in shipbuilding and other wartime industries lost their jobs to returning men.

The weekly Time Traveller feature offers a weekly glimpse into the North Shore's past, courtesy of North Vancouver Museum and Archives.

Want to know more about the history of the North Shore? Visit nvma.ca or drop in the Archives of North Vancouver at 3203 Institute Rd. in Lynn Valley.