The Whitney Pier, N.S., branch of the Royal Canadian Legion has elected its first female president.

Myrtle MacKinnon, a former treasurer for the legion, was sworn in this month. "My father was in the services, my brother was in the services. My husband's people, my uncles, were all in the services, so it's a big part of my life," she told CBC News.

"I think it's great. It's nice to serve the vets that we have here now and to fight for these vets that really need people to be behind them. We have a lot of sick vets and they really need our support," MacKinnon added.

She may be the branch's first female president, but she's not the only woman at the top.

Call for new members and volunteers

"I have five women who are on my executive, I have six men on my executive, so a lot of women are coming aboard. They're kind of excited about the first female here and we're hoping to give our best shot," MacKinnon said. "There's women here that thought it's a man's world, but it's not; it's a woman's world, too."

Bonita Corbett said it's exciting to see new ground broken. (CBC)

Bonita Corbett will serve as first vice-president. "It's exciting, because to have a woman break through? It's just a pleasure," she said.

Corbett said their recruiting drive is already a hit. "We had about seven [join] this month, we had a couple join last month. We're waiting to get two more sworn in. They're gradually coming in and helping."

MacKinnon said one of the keys to success for the legion is reaching out to the larger community. "We open our legion to a lot of other organizations that are struggling — the same as anybody else — to have their meetings, to have their functions, and we do that free of charge here."

She wants to recruit new members and volunteers in her term.

"The legion itself, it's here because of our volunteers," she said. "The legion is for all organizations to help everybody."

MacKinnon said recruitment is not such a challenge when you consider why legions were created.

Vets 'make you want to be here'

The Whitney Pier branch of the Royal Canadian Legion. (CBC)

"We remind them that the vets we are here for are the people who fought in the wars — not just in the past, but in the future, today, and for those people we need to keep the doors open and for those people we need people to get involved," she said.

"When you walk in here and you look at these vets and you talk to these vets and they help you remember what they went through, it makes you want to be here."

Tom Kennedy, president of the Glace Bay legion, said women are changing their roles in the organization. "Women are playing a bigger role in the legion today than they ever did. They're breaking ground."

He offered his congratulations and support to MacKinnon.