Background
Sheila A. Hellstrom was born in 1935, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Canada. Little is known about her early life.
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Gallery of Sheila Hellstrom
62 York St, Sackville, NB E4L 1E2, Canada
Sheila A. Hellstrom graduated from Mount Allison University.
Gallery of Sheila Hellstrom
215 Yonge Blvd, North York, ON M5M 3H9, Canada
Sheila A. Hellstrom was the first woman to graduate from the Canadian Forces College.
src="/web/img/loading.gif" data-src="/web/show-photo.jpg?id=2667622&cache=false" alt="Other photo of Sheila Hellstrom" class="gallery__img" height="167"
Other photo of Sheila Hellstrom
62 York St, Sackville, NB E4L 1E2, Canada
Sheila A. Hellstrom graduated from Mount Allison University.
src="/web/img/loading.gif" data-src="/web/show-photo.jpg?id=2667625&cache=false" alt="Other photo of Sheila Hellstrom" class="gallery__img" height="167"
Other photo of Sheila Hellstrom
215 Yonge Blvd, North York, ON M5M 3H9, Canada
Sheila A. Hellstrom was the first woman to graduate from the Canadian Forces College.
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Sheila Hellstrom
Edit ProfileEducation
Sheila A. Hellstrom graduated from Mount Allison University. She was a graduate of Canadian Forces College.
Career
Hellstrom enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) approximately two years after the RCAF was authorized to accept women volunteers in March 1951. She became a colonel and then director of women personnel in 1983. Concurrent with her promotion to brigadier general in 1987, she became director-general for personnel, dealing with careers for officers in all three services of the Canadian armed forces.
In 1989, as Canada's highest-ranking female officer, she was appointed the chair of the Committee on Women in the NATO Forces. Throughout her long career, Hellstrom saw herself as a role model for women as valuable members of the CF and as proof that the CF would be stronger with women personnel.
Achievements
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Hellstrom, who retired in 1990 after thirty-six years in the CF, established her military career path before the Servicewomen in Non-Traditional Environments and Roles (SWINTER) and Combat-Related Employment for Women (CREW) programs were implemented to integrate Canadian women into combat- and non-combat-related positions.
References
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Born
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Nationality
Canadian