Canadian Armed Forces Base (CFB) Shilo is a history-making military facility when it comes to women’s full integration in the Canadian Armed Forces.

While women had been serving in the CAF for more than 100 years in limited occupations, females were not fully integrated in all environments and roles in the CAF until 1989.

It took four members in 1988 to file a Human Rights Tribunal case to be found as equals to their male counterparts before full female integration occurred.

However, a little-known fact is CFB Shilo actually led the integration a year earlier with McNaughton Troop 8809 (F).

It was in September, searching through archives and photographs, that Royal Canadian Artillery (RCA) Museum Director Andrew Oakden dusted off a significant find of information, golden to bolster Women’s History Month in October.

Buried in the museum records was a worn black binder, four inches thick, containing more than 140 images of recruits, training at the RCA Battle School in the fall of 1988.

Oakden said at his first glance, the portfolio appeared to be just a “typical record” of field exercises, but one fantastic nugget immediately stood out to him.

“These photographs captured the arrival of the first female Gunners in the Canadian Artillery,” he said.

The pictures recite the story of McNaughton Troop 8809 (F) and narrate their 12-week training journey at CFB Shilo, from Aug. 15, to Nov. 4, 1988.

“For the first time, female candidates completed a combat arms qualification course alongside their male peers in the Canadian Artillery,” he said.

Thirty-two French-speaking co-ed recruits completed the “demanding” Field Artillery QL3 course.

The five women candidates mastered small arms, such as the C7 rifle and C9 machine gun, advanced through grenade ranges and anti-tank weapons, and finally stood on the gun line of the C1 105mm howitzer.

The printed nostalgia shows the women completely integrated with their male team members, marching, digging, firing, and always being intrinsic soldiers in the troop.

The three-month training did not become easier as it moved forward. The photos show ammunition handling, combat simulations, live fire exercises and long ruck marches under the frigid prairie skies.

“They carried the same loads, faced the same risks, and proved beyond a doubt that they belonged in combat arms,” the museum director explained.

While the binder is quintessential in the history of CAF women’s full integration, it preserves moments of vital history.

The black and white photos announce the occasion when, during the troops’ first live fire exercise with the Howitzer, Lieutenant-Colonel Hoyland presented the first female graduates with their RCA cap badges.

“The images depict both ceremony and celebration with men and women united, no longer recruits, but Gunners,” Oakden said.

All five women, in the midst of their 27 male comrades, graduated and marched off the parade square on Nov. 4, 1988.

“Rediscovering these photographs reminds us that history often hides in plain sight.”

In 1989, the Canadian Armed Forces officially opened all combat arms trades to women, although the historic moments captured on film show the precedent had been set a year earlier at CFB Shilo.

“[The success of these women] proved that integration was both practical and effective. These women were not bystanders or symbols – they were soldiers, trained, tested and full members of the gun line.”