Film

WE LEND A HAND: THE FORGOTTEN STORY OF ONTARIO...

WOMEN OF WIFF | WE LEND A HAND: THE FORGOTTEN STORY OF ONTARIO FARMERETTES

1940. It is a time of national emergency. Hitler’s army ruthlessly sweeps Western Europe. In face of invasion, Britain suffers devastating bombing raids. The U-Boats wreak havoc in the Atlantic. Desperate food shortages seem to foreshadow imminent invasion. The Old World seeks help from the New.

2018. Bonnie Sitter, an author based in Exeter, Ontario searches through some of her family photographs. She finds a captivating little black and white image: a group of smiling young women on the running board of a vehicle. When she flips the photo, an intriguing caption reads: “Farmerettes 1946”. This moment sparks a compelling research journey that eventually leads her to co-author an entire book on a forgotten subject.

Told from Bonnie’s perspective, We Lend a Hand reveals the true and forgotten story of the Ontario Farm Service Force, which put 40,000 volunteer teenage girls to work between 1941 and 1952. Arriving from different parts of Ontario and Quebec to many locations in Southwestern Ontario, the young women began this work with no prior farming experience. Their job: to ensure critical food production during the most perilous period of modern history. The remarkable contingent of young women who were called to replace the men on Canadian farms were known as the Farmerettes.

Their hardships were tremendous. For long months, they worked under relentless weather conditions and schedules. Yet they single-handedly managed to produce hundreds of thousands of tons of food that were shipped off to the frontlines to feed starving European populations and even prisoners of war.

As they fulfilled their duty, their bond grew stronger. The girls were coming of age and figuring out their place in the world, while humanity endured one of the most destructive conflicts of the 20th century.

Through reenactments and unique archival images, We Lend a Hand recounts the story of these magnificent young women, now in their late 90s, bringing back their most cherished memories while reminding us– perhaps for the last time - that service comes in many forms.