The Volunteers

The Volunteers is the first monument with life sized bronze figures of women in Halifax’s history. It honours the work of thousands of women who volunteered during the Second World War. Their work was extensive, varied, and vital. The monument, a project of the Nova Scotia Women's History Society (formerly known as the Halifax Women’s History Society), was unveiled on November 16, 2017, on land provided by the Halifax Port Authority.

The design, by well-known Canadian artist Marlene Hilton Moore, was chosen in a national competition. The three figures represent an African Nova Scotian canteen worker with her tray, an older woman with her Mi’kmaq basket containing knitting supplies, and a young girl with her wagon piled with salvage items. Each figure rests on Nova Scotian granite base.

The seated statue exemplifies one of the most consistent of volunteer activities, knitting for the soldiers. Margaret Pelletier, a renowned basket maker from Whycocomagh, created a basket for Marlene to use when creating this statue. Hundreds of thousands of women supported the troops by knitting massive quantities of socks, caps, sweaters and other badly- needed comfort items. The Canadian Red Cross estimates that 750,000 volunteers knit 50 million articles during the Second World War.

The standing statue of a young African Nova Scotian woman carries a tray serving mugs of coffee and hearty sandwiches for the soldiers. Women fed more than 100,000 servicemen who passed through Halifax on their way to the war in Europe. Meals were one of the most important services women provided. The woman figure is helping serve meals to black servicemen. Canteens and clubs were segregated.

Children were also part of the volunteer war effort. The young girl statue is part of a salvage drive and is hauling her wagon full of pots, pans, and broken toys. The Federal Government encouraged Canadians to salvage materials for conversion into airplanes, tanks, and other weapons.

[plaque]

• The Volunteers
• Thousands of women and children volunteered during the
  Second World War. They provided nursing care, respite,
  entertainment and meals. They knitted and quilted, made
  clothing for overseas victims of war, ran blood donor
  clinics, collected salvage, added war brides and their
  children when they arrived in Canada and carried out
  countless other services.
• To honour those volunteers, the three figures represent
  females of all ages: an older woman with her Mi'kmaw
  basket and knitting, a volunteer at an African-Canadian
  canteen and a young girl gathering salvage items for
  recycling.
• In addition to the generous support from the private,
  corporate and government sponsors listed below, we wish
  to acknowledge our thanks to the many donors from
  within the Halifax Women's History Society membership
  as well as interested citizens from across Canada.
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• Les bénévoles
• Durant la Seconde Guerre mondiale, des milliers de
  de femmes et d'enfants se participèrent activement à l'effort de
  guerre, en offrant des soins infirmiers ou de répit, des
  divertissements ou des repas. Ces bénévoles
  s'employerent à tricoter et à confectionner des vêtements
  et des courtepointes pour les victimes de la guerre à l'
  étranger, à organiser des collectes de sang, à récupéré la
  ferraille, à soutenir les épouses de guerre et leurs enfants
  à leur arrivé au Canada, et à fournir d'innombrables
  autres services.
• Nous rendons hommage à ces bénévoles, représentées ici
  par ces trois personnages; une femme âgée avec son
  panier micmaque, en train de tricoter; une bénévole à une
  cantine afro-canadienne; une jeune femme récupérant de
  la ferraille pour recyclage.
• Outre le généreux soutien des secteurs privé et public et
  du milieu des affaires, nous tenons également à souligner
  la générosité des membres de la Halifax Women's History
  Society et des personnes intéressées de partout au
  Canada. Nous adressons nos sinceres remerciements à
  toutes ces personnes qui ont rendu cet hommage possible.

Marjorie A. Lindsay   The Hounourable Margaret Norrie McCain, C.C., O.N.B.    The Honourable Nancy Ruth, C.M.
Louise Abraham-Pace    CN    Scotiabank    Halifax Foundation    Halifax Regional Municipality
Government of Nova Scotia   Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency/Agence de promotion économique du Canada