“WCC is exceptionally well-situated to support participants of the research study, writing and sharing stories of their service as military women.” – Dr. Nancy Taber, author, professor, and WCC facilitator

Writers Collective of Canada (WCC) is partnering with Dr. Nancy Taber on a landmark research initiative supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). This study explores how writing illuminates underheard voices of women who have served in the Canadian military. 

Ongoing independent studies confirm the transformative impact that WCC workshops have on participants. Nancy experienced that impact during her time as a co-facilitator of Her Story: A Force for Women, writing workshops for women who served in the Canadian military. In fact, her experience as a WCC facilitator inspired Dr. Taber to undertake a funded research project in collaboration with WCC. 

“I was so inspired by [workshop participants’] heartfelt, emotional, and engaging stories that I wanted to learn more about how their experiences in the workshops might connect to their military service, as individuals and in relation to military organizational culture,” Dr. Taber says.

She describes her personal experience with writing and its role in her healing journey:

“I’m drawn to expressive writing because of my love of the written word as well as my experiences as a facilitator and a writer in WCC workshops. Responding to writing prompts in any way that came to me, and positioning all my stories as first draft fiction, enabled me to explore how my military service affected my life, past, present, and future. WCC workshops supported me in writing stories that reclaimed my experiences in a powerful and freeing way.”

Writing allows for self expression and reclamation of experiences. WCC’s unique workshop structure creates the framework for unraveling complexity and inner truth. This is something that Dr. Taber highlights as being a powerful tool:

“WCC’s focus on accessible and welcoming workshops creates space for writers to play with words and language in a way that celebrates each writer’s story and voice. Despite achieving much success in their military service, women often feel as if their voices and experiences are dismissed as unimportant—or even contrary—to the larger organizational collective. WCC’s work begins from the belief that everyone’s voice has inherent value. As such, WCC is exceptionally well-situated to support military women in writing and sharing stories of their service.”

The impact of writing as a tool for healing in combination with challenging systems, expanding understanding, and envisioning change, led Dr. Taber to establish this research project in support of women’s military service. She explains how:

“Women’s military service is often eclipsed by that of men’s, with the general public more familiar with masculine heroic ideals of combat warriors in popular culture. When military women are mentioned in military public relations and related documentation, it is often in a tokenistic way, with women viewed as trailblazers in a narrow focus on firsts (e.g., the first woman to serve in a specific trade, first to lead a specific unit). More recently, much attention in the news media has rightly focused on survivors of military sexual violence. But as a result, narratives of the complexity of women’s service and how their experiences intersect with military culture tend to be overlooked.”

The collaboration between Dr. Taber and WCC will begin in 2026. It invites Canadian women who have served in the military to participate in a series of WCC writing workshops and two short research interviews. Participants will have the opportunity to explore, (re)claim, and share their service experiences through the power of writing in an inclusive, confidential environment. The results of the project will be published in academic papers, an anthology of participants’ writing, and a book on creative writing as a transformative learning practice for Canadian military women.

We are deeply grateful to Dr. Taber for her leadership, and to SSHRC for recognizing the importance of acknowledging, supporting, and drawing attention to the stories of women who have served in the Canadian military. 

How to Participate

To participate in the research study, or to learn more, please contact Dr. Nancy Taber: ntaber@brocku.ca.

We look forward to sharing more about this project and its outcomes in the coming five years.

This study has been reviewed and received ethics clearance through the Research Ethics Board at Brock University file 25-008 – TABER.