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Oakville pilot commemorated on Canadian stamp by David Lea Oakville Beaver Staff 9 | Thursday, June 2, 2016 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com An Oakville woman, who was Air Canada's first female pilot in 1978, was immortalized on a Canadian postage stamp earlier this month at a ceremony in Mississauga. Judy Cameron, who has called Oakville home since 1981, said she is honoured to have her image placed on a stamp, which was commissioned by the international organization of women pilots known as the Ninety-Nines. The recognition ceremony took place May 24 at the Air Canada Flight Operations facility. "I was absolutely shocked. I was really surprised," said Cameron. "This is the ninth year the Ninety-Nines have done this. If you look at the other stamps, there are some really deserving women there. Some who were in aviation much earlier, like Felicity McKendry and Vi Milstead." Cameron's flying career lasted 42 years, ending when she retired in 2015. During that period, she logged more than 23,000 hours in such aircraft as the DC-3, Twin Otter, Hawker Siddeley 748, DC9, Lockheed 1011, Airbus 320 and Boeing 767 and 777. In 2006, Cameron became the first female captain of a Boeing 767 and in 2010 the first female captain of the Boeing 777 in Canada. Looking back on her career, Cameron says she was in the right place at the right time. "Things were changing in the 1970s. When I was hired, you had to be 5-foot-7, which I just barely was," she said. "That did eliminate a lot of women. That height requirement has long since been dispensed with, but it really was an artificial Oakville's Judy Cameron is featured on a Canadian stamp. Cameron had a 42-year career in aviation. | submitted photo barrier. I think they believed you had to be that size, but the seats do adjust." Cameron credits her mother, Betty Evans, 92, with putting her on the path that led to so much success. She said Evans was a single mother at a time when that was not the norm and served as a positive role model and an example of a strong, independent woman, who told Cameron she could be anything she wanted to be. "She was, in fact, the first passenger I had when I got my pilot's licence (private licence) and she also used to ride behind me on my motorcycle, something a lot of mothers wouldn't have done," said Cameron. Evans was able to attend the May 24 ceremony much to Cameron's delight. With her career now behind her, Cameron is hopeful the stamp and her story will encourage other women to take up flying as a career. Cameron says there are still far too few female pilots with women making up less than five per cent of commercial pilots worldwide. "I'd like to say I had the best job in the world. I hope other people, particularly women, would consider it," said Cameron. "The best way to get started would be to network. There are some excellent organizations like the Ninety-Nines or Canadian Women in Aviation.... The best way to find out if you like it is to go up in a small airplane. That's what sparked my interest in 1973. I decided right away this was something I wanted to pursue. I just loved it." Anyone interested in ordering Cameron's stamps can do so through http://canadian99s/stamps. For more information about the Ninety-Nines, visit www. ninety-nines.org. Skyway Jewellers FRee LeATHeR BRACeLeT WITH YOuR $125 PAnDORA PuRCHASe June 2-19 2501 Third Line, Oakville (Third Line and Dundas) 905-827-0700 www.skywayjewellers.com