The production of munitions during the Second World War at Defence Industries Limited (DIL) factories in Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec, made a major contribution to Canada’s war effort.

December 5, 2024                                          Ajax, ON                         Parks Canada

Today, the Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change and Minister responsible for Parks Canada, announced the designation of munitions production at Defence Industries Limited (DIL) factories as an event of national historic significance under Parks Canada’s National Program of Historical Commemoration. 

The massive arsenal of ammunition and components produced at Defence Industries Limited factories played an important part in the Allied victory and helped propel Canada to become the fourth-largest munitions-producing Allied nation during the Second World War. The development of DIL, a wartime public-private military contractor formed in 1939, shows the fundamental role that the government played managing the war economy during the Second World War. DIL factories in Pickering (now Ajax, Ontario), Saint-Paul-l’Ermite, and Sainte-Thérèse (Quebec), along with a General Engineering Company plant in Scarborough (Ontario) formed the heart of shell production in Canada. DIL plants in Nobel (Ontario), Transcona (Manitoba), and Salaberry-de-Valleyfield and Beloeil (Quebec) produced explosives to fill shells and small arms ammunition.

The Second World War saw a large shift of women into the manufacturing sector, expanding beyond work in textile factories. Thousands of workers were recruited from across Canada to work the assembly lines, and the large proportion of women in DIL’s factories show the important role that women played in munitions production. The efforts of the government’s National Selective Service agency brought more than a quarter of a million women from across the country into war industries in 1942–43. By July 1944, over 107,000 workers were employed in the munitions industry in Canada, with around 40 per cent of this workforce made up of women. They received lower wages than men, but many were proud of their contributions to the war effort.

The Government of Canada, through the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada and Parks Canada, recognizes significant persons, places, and events that have shaped our country as one way of helping Canadians connect with their past. By sharing these stories, we hope to foster understanding and reflection on the diverse histories, cultures, legacies, and realities of Canada’s past and present.

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