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The Business Women of Moose Jaw celebrated International Women’s Day by hearing from Const. Jayme Hoffman from the Moose Jaw Police Service and firefighter Brittany Schofer from the Moose Jaw Fire Department.
Business Women of Moose Jaw (BWMJ) is a networking organization that connects professional women in the city to promote co-ordination, co-operation, entrepreneurship, leadership, and giving back to the community.
The organization meets about once a month, usually at Grant Hall, for a luncheon to catch up, meet new members, discuss current events, and hear from guest speakers.
Crystal Froese, the current president, noted that the next annual general meeting of the BWMJ is on April 21 over Zoom, and its primary purpose will be to elect a new leadership team. Froese invited every member to make sure their membership was current and to put their name forward for a position.
More information on the BWMJ is available from their website at www.businesswomenmoosejaw.com.
Const. Jayme Hoffman
Jayme Hoffman graduated from A.E. Peacock Collegiate in 2016, obtained a bachelor’s degree in human justice from the University of Regina in 2020, and joined the Moose Jaw Police Service (MJPS) in 2021 at the age of 22. She is currently a member of the Community and Strategic Services Unit.
“I’ve always wanted to be a police officer,” Hoffman said. “It’s important to have women in this role because policing has always been a male-dominated profession, and it still is. I believe there’s 10 female officers here in Moose Jaw (out of) 62 officers total.
“Women are just as capable of doing the job, and I believe that we can bring a different perspective and reasoning to certain situations.”
Hoffman addressed some of the challenges she personally faced on her journey to her chosen career. Some of her family members didn’t want her to be police, as they felt it was too dangerous, and during her university days revealing she wanted to be a police officer sometimes prompted sexist remarks about her looks, resilience, and/or physical abilities.
Hoffman said she still faces gendered discrimination on a regular basis while doing her job, but her male colleagues always have her back.
She admitted that it was challenging for her to pass the fitness exams for the MJPS, as females are held to the same standard as males. It meant spending extra hours in the gym. Such difficulties didn't put her off, and Hoffman said she'd love to see more women on the force. She loves her job and said her co-workers and supervisors have been nothing but supportive and encouraging.
Moose Jaw Firefighter Brittany Schofer
Brittany Schofer has been firefighting for about eight years all together. She began as a volunteer firefighter in Melville, inspired by the volunteer firefighting service of her father. She then worked as a part-time firefighter in Yorkton for three years and has been a member of the Moose Jaw Fire Department for the last five years.
Like many firefighters, Schofer is also a fully trained and licensed primary care paramedic. Wearing many hats and responding to numerous categories of emergencies are part of the firefighting job.
“As a firefighter, we aren’t just fighting fires,” Schofer explained. “We do many other things, from responding to car accidents, hazardous material calls, lots of medical calls, lots of different types of rescues … really the types of calls that we go to goes on and on.”
Schofer noted that fewer than five per cent of Canadian firefighters are female. In Moose Jaw, Capt. Richelle Grocott was the first woman hired as a firefighter. Schofer was only the second, and she and Grocott remain the only two women in the department.
“(Capt. Grocott) is actually a very well-respected captain at our department, so I’m lucky that she kind of paved the way for females in my fire service and she’s someone I look up to,” Schofer said. “I am also very fortunate that I work with an amazing group of guys who are also super supportive of female firefighters.”
Like Hoffman, Schofer found the physical requirements of training more difficult than her male colleagues did. However, it was doable, and she believes most of the attributes of a successful firefighter — such as work ethic, competence, and drive — don’t have anything to do with gender.
“At the end of the day, I do believe that if you’re male or female, it doesn’t really matter, doesn’t make a difference,” she added. “Every member of our team has a different, unique set of skills and brings a different perspective to overcome all the challenges we have day to day.”
The organization’s next luncheon will be at Grant Hall on Wednesday, April 26, with featured speaker Janelle Bookout.
