34 Combat Engineer Regiment inaugurates its women mentorship program: Génie au Féminin

May 19, 2023 – Defence Stories

By Lieutenant-colonel Dan A. Doran and Corporal Ouiam Meftah

On March 16th, 2023, 6 members of 34 Combat Engineer Regiment (CER) inaugurated their brand-new women mentorship program Génie au Féminin, in partnership with the unit’s honorary colonels: Colonel (Hon.) Jennifer Stoddart, OC, CQ, Lieutenant-colonel (Hon.) Gina Cody, CM, PhD and one of the unit’s most respected patrons, Dre. Anne-Marie MacLellan.

The event took place at the Royal Montreal Regiment’s Sergeant’s mess in the form of a social evening. The goal of this project is to create a safe space for women to exchange, network, and help each other with common challenges associated with being a woman in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) as well as within their respective civilian professions.

It was Corporal Ouiam Meftah, a sapper at the unit, who took the initiative in creating this program following a brainstorming session with senior members of the unit leadership. She noticed that women sappers were few and far between within the unit’s ranks with little growth due to high turnover. The group concluded that the absence of visible senior women leaders caused young women to not see themselves in these senior roles and thus releasing. This was in addition to other contributing factors relating to women having a limited voice within the regiment.

The 34 CER Génie au Féminin initiative allows women to not only further develop professionally through networking but also better support and enable women as mentors to new recruits. Through meetings, activities, and social events, the junior members are given time and space to spend with more senior members and learn valuable lessons from each other’s experiences.

Corporal Meftah hopes that this will encourage more women to join and stay at the unit as well as foster a culture of greater inclusivity. “It was time,” Ouiam noted, “to create a community of women that will help in the recruitment and retention of fellow female members.”

Although it is still early days, Corporal Meftah remains energetically optimistic that the creation and fostering of this group will encourage others to join and be a part of the engineer family.

It is worth underscoring the incredible support received from the unit’s amazing honorary Colonels and Dre. MacLellan in bringing this program to life. This program shows the engagement and efforts of young CAF leaders who are driven to lead change both from the front and from the bottom-up, transforming their military towards one of greater equity, diversity, and inclusion.

CHIMO!