Wendy Jocko

Jocko was born in Pembroke, Ontario.[3] While living in Petawawa, at age 4, Jocko decided she wanted to be a soldier.[3]

At age 15, Jocko began working for the post office as a sorter for mail and packages.[1]

In 1979, at age 19, Jocko joined the Canadian Armed Forces, where she served for 23 years.[1][2] She trained at Canadian Forces Recruit School Cornwallis before being posted to CFB Edmonton as a supply technician.[3] She served two tours in Bosnia and Croatia in 1993 and 1998,[3] where she worked as a United Nations peacekeeper.[1][2] Her final deployment was in Haiti.[3]

After leaving the military in 2002,[3] Jocko moved to Scotland, where she worked as a funeral director and embalmer. She eventually became a regional director of the British Institute of Funeral Directors.[1]

In 2013, Jocko returned to Canada.[1] She worked in Saskatchewan as a tractor truck driver.[1] In 2015, she reconnected with the Algonquins of Pikwakanagan First Nation.[3]

She was elected chief of the Algonquins of Pikwakanagan First Nation in 2020.[1] She was defeated in the 2023 tribal elections by Greg Sarazin.[4]

Jocko is married and has four children.[1] Her son, James McMullin, served with 1st Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment (1RCR).[3][5]

In 2023, Jocko was awarded an honorary degree from Algonquin College.[1] That same year, Elaine Goble painted a portrait of her as part of a series on Indigenous military veterans.[5]