International Women’s Day: Warrant Officer (ret’d) Sue Guerin, CD.
International Women’s Day (March 8) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating women’s equality. IWD has occurred for well over a century, and IWD is not country, group or organization specific. It is also a good time to pause, reflect and learn more about the distinguished service of women who have served or continue to serve in The Royal Montreal Regiment (RMR). In honour of IWD, the RMR Foundation is publishing profiles of service of some of the women who have served (and continue to serve) in our ranks.
Westmount, Quebec – 08 March 2022: Warrant Officer (ret’d) Suzanne Guerin, CD., grew up in Pointe St. Charles and joined the RMR in 1979, serving until 1998. In her life outside the RMR she works as a Material Engineering Specialist for VIA Rail, and resides in St-Lazare, Quebec.
Comrade Sue Guerin is the President of the RMR Association (Branch 14) of the Royal Canadian Legion, a demanding volunteer position that she has held for several years. The RMR Association is a critical component of the RMR Family, and Comrade Guerin’s views are best summarized as “I did many things with the RMR, some were fun and some not so fun but all in all we are a family, and this marks my 43rd year of being part of this big family.”
She got her start with the RMR Family as an Air Cadet with Number 1 Squadron (Westmount), and throughout her nearly 20-years of service in the RMR, she performed a large variety of interesting tasks and activities, ranging from serving in a NATO headquarters in Germany at the height of the Cold War (1985), to rappelling from helicopters with the PPCLI in Wainwright, AB.
While she’s the first to admit that ‘grunt work’ in the field wasn’t her favourite activity, no one should ever think that Comrade Guerin is shy about hard work and getting her hands dirty. She has a strong reputation of leadership over her four decades of service, having been the PMC of the Junior Ranks Club, and having been involved in the planning and execution of numerous significant anniversary celebrations. This has involved countless hours of tireless volunteering and collaborating on organizing committees. This is probably why she reflected that her favourite memories of serving with the RMR was our 75th anniversary (1989) and then representing the RMR Association in France at the 100th anniversary of the battle of Vimy Ridge (2017).
The advice she has for young soldiers serving in the Regiment today is “Stay true to yourself and when you become a leader and you will lead by example”. This has certainly been true about Comrade Sue Guerin’s legacy of contributions to the Regiment and regimental family.
