Iona Kennedy

Canadian Women’s Army Corps

Iona Kennedy was born and raised in Douglastown, Gaspé, Quebec. Being raised bilingual, job opportunities were plentiful. As a young woman, she perfected her communication skills while working for Bell Telephone in Montreal.

When Iona enlisted in the Canadian Women’s Army Corps during the Second World War, she worked as a switchboard operator. This was a natural fit due to her previous experience working for Bell Telephone. She said, “we were sworn not to tell what we were listening to.” Although she felt that most of the information was not particularly important, she never divulged the information she handled.

Iona served in the army for three years and was attached to the military police for a portion of her service. She dealt with many troublesome female soldiers while working with the military police. This included those who went absent without leave, she recalled, “this dear little girl, she didn’t want to be in the army anymore. She was living with her grandmother and when I came to get her, she was insistent that she didn’t want to go back. Her grandmother said, ‘She seems like a good person, you should go with her.’ I took her back and she got her discharge the next day.”

After the war, Iona met and married Morris Kennedy in 1947. He had served with the Royal Canadian Air Force as a member of their ground crew. He served in Alaska, testing planes and parachutes. They settled in Gaspé, Quebec, and raised four children. Wanting to be closer to family, Iona and Morris moved to Victoria, British Columbia in the early 1990’s.

Morris moved into Broadmead Veteran’s Memorial Lodge in 2018 and Iona visited him regularly. The pandemic posed significant challenges, making it difficult for her to spend time with her husband one-on-one. In April 2021, at the age of 100, Morris passed away. Iona subsequently moved into the Lodge in the summer of 2022. As of 2025, she is still living at Broadmead.