Ontario Cadets Week launches in Simcoe

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Chris Abbott

Editor

The fifth annual Ontario Cadets Week opened in Simcoe with a Flag Raising Ceremony at Governor Simcoe Square on Friday, followed by an Official Opening Ceremony on Oct. 3, at the Royal Canadian Legion, Simcoe Branch 79, with dozens of cadets from across Southern Ontario in parade.

Ontario Cadets Week highlights the Cadet Program and the work of the Army Cadet League of Canada (Ontario Branch). It celebrates accomplishments and contributions of cadets across the province, and recognizes dedicated volunteers, instructors, sponsors, and community partners. Cadets are encouraged to participate in a week of training, leadership development, friendship activities and personal fitness.

Saturday’s official opening ceremony included the arrival of the Reviewing Party, vice regal salute, inspection by the Reviewing Officer, cadet keynote speaker, band demonstrations, speeches, and presentations, all in the Legion parking lot. It wrapped up with another vice regal salute, the royal anthem, marching off the flag, and a very, very large group photo, followed by a reception inside the Legion.

The Honourable Edith Dumont, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, was the Reviewing Officer.

“What a stirring parade,” said the Lieutenant Governor. “Thank you for hosting this inspiring event. Today, we witness what makes the great Cadet Program essential. For generations, it has given young people a way to discover what they truly are capable of. They learn to take responsibility, and rise to any challenge.

“I cannot stress enough how important it is… because leadership is not something that suddenly appears when you become adults. It is something we develop over time.”

As Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, Dumont said she has met many young people in the Cadet Program who exemplify leadership.

“Your experiences as a Cadet will help you shape the communities and country you serve. Today, we also recognize the people who help make your journey possible – the officers, instructors, volunteers, family, sponsors and community partners who give their time, energy and support to our cadets.

“As the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, I look forward to seeing the Cadet Program continue to grow and thrive in the years ahead, and to watching what these inspiring young people will achieve along the way – on land, in the air, and from sea to sea. Congratulations on five years, and have a wonderful Cadet Week.”

“I am inspired by the example that you provide for all of us,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Raphael MacKenzie, MSM, CD, Commanding Officer, Regional Cadet Support Group, on Saturday.

“Your dedication to discipline, to precision, to being here on a Saturday… to your ongoing commitment to each other, to strengthening the team, your courage, and providing the example in your humility, and continually pursuing learning opportunities. It’s amazing,” said MacKenzie.

“It is evident that the effects of the Cadet program are profound in Canada,” said MacKenzie, noting there are more than 22,000 cadets in the Central Region (Ontario) in almost 300 cadet corps and squadrons, based in more than 50 communities.

“Today, we are all celebrating you, your successes, and your rightful place within the community. Because the Cadet Program really is in and of the community, and this is an opportunity for your community to rally around you and celebrate your successes as a demonstration of their pride as well. The Cadet Program will not succeed without community investment, without community acknowledgment, and without community involvement.”

MacKenzie said some of the hallmarks of the Cadet Program include discipline, leadership, civic responsibility, healthy living, teamwork, and resilience, all of which are good for cadets, for families, for communities, and for Canada.

“You are participating in a nation-strengthening, a nation-building program. So thank you for that. You have something to be very proud of, and the communities that support you should be very proud as well – and I know that they are. So if youth represents the future, as I look out at this audience, I know that Canada’s future is bright indeed.”

“This is a great event,” said Haldimand-Norfolk MP Leslyn Lewis. “I remember being a Cadet myself, and the discipline that it instilled in me that carried on through adulthood. I think it’s great to see the continuation of that tradition.

“It’s great to see the young people - how dedicated, disciplined and serious they are - knowing that they are our future,” Lewis added.

Ontario Cadets Week has a special connection to Norfolk County. Toby Barrett, former Haldimand-Norfolk MPP, was the driving force behind it, championing legislation that recognizes the achievement of cadets and volunteers across the province.

Bill 45, the Ontario Cadet Act, 2021, a Private Member Bill introduced by Barrett, was passed in 2022, and upon receiving Royal Assent, it proclaimed the first Saturday in October as Ontario Cadets Week. 

“We are so proud,” said Barrett after Saturday’s ceremony. “It is exemplified, really, by having Ontario’s Lieutenant Governor and her husband here in Simcoe to see an incredible ceremony, put on not only by Haldimand Norfolk, but so many neighbouring cities. Cadets came in from all over, dignitaries, the military, and this is the Ontario launch held right here at the Legion grounds, and also yesterday with the flag-raising at Governor Simcoe Square.”

Conversations with his high school buddy, Rick Brown, had brought forward the need for Ontario Cadets Week.

“He’s a Simcoe boy, lives up north. He was leading the Ontario Army Cadets, and he said, ‘We have to pull together all the Cadet Programs, Army, Navy, Navy League, Air… and we think one way to do that is through the Ontario Legislative Assembly.’”

The first Ontario Cadets Week ceremony was held at Queen’s Park in Toronto.

“For me, Ontario Cadets Week has great meaning for Haldimand-Norfolk because it was Toby’s very last Private Members Bill,” said Haldimand-Norfolk MP Bobbi Ann Brady, who helped Toby draft the Bill’s preamble.

“I think it was Toby’s passion that got it across the finish line,” said Brady. “Captain Rick Brown and Charlene Orrell, president of the Army Cadet League of Canada – Ontario Branch, were very instrumental in helping our office move forward on that legislation.

“It’s nice that it’s here this year in Simcoe because it allows us to celebrate something that was created locally, and now other provinces are adopting. We hear a lot of negative in life, but when you see all these young people come together, so disciplined, it gives you hope.”

Brown, an Army captain who was involved in Cadets for 40 years, was honoured Saturday as a life member of the Ontario - Cadet League of Canada on Saturday.

“The first year was the hardest because the legislation had to be passed by Provincial government, and we got it in the very last minute,” said Brown, former C.O. of the 2853 Cadet Corps in Simcoe. “The third reading was squeaked in at the very end.

“(Simcoe) is where it started,” said Brown, who was on the Cadet League board of directors based in Toronto. “Next year… we haven’t picked where we’re going to do it, but it will be in Ontario.”

The review parade is significant, said Brown, because it shows what cadets have learned through the years.

“We showcase them, basically. And it’s not just Army. It’s Army, Navy, Air and Navy League Cadets - they are all incorporated in it.”

“It’s an excellent event,” said Bruce Wilson, president of Army Navy Air Force 255 in Simcoe, who was seated with the dignitaries.

“It’s only fitting that it’s here,” said Wilson, noting the involvement of Brown and Barrett. “They got together and made things work.”

James Christison, president of RCL Branch 79, said there were several Simcoe cadets (2853) in the parade, as well as volunteers who assisted in the background.

2853 Simcoe Royal Army Cadet Corps was represented in Saturday’s parade by Warrant Officer Kai Wu, Corporal Morgan Martin, Master Corporal Kira Fraser, Corporal Carson Dwyer, and Lance Corporal Asselin.

“We train year-round for these kind of events,” said Warrant Officer Wu. “We take what we learn from our home corps, and apply it here.”

“For me, it’s actually a really big honour (hosting it in Simcoe),” said Master Corporal Fraser, “because we can show how much Simcoe means to us.”

“I would say we are proud in what we do,” Wu nodded. “Volunteering, learning how to partake in the community.”

That’s one of the things Wu loves about Cadets.

“Being able to help others and really impact the younger cadets to become better people… with essential skills like leadership and communication.”

“We help people out, and we make sure everyone is included and no one gets left out,” said Fraser. “We do fun activities, but we also do drills, which is also really fun…

“Sometimes, yeah,” she added with a laugh. “When we have nothing to do, we make up fun ‘joke games’ and find something to do and we learn about stuff.

“For me, it has helped me find discipline and it’s improved my life,” said Fraser. “I absolutely love Cadets and I hope to stay in it until I ‘age out.’

 I want to grow up in the Cadet Corps where cadets can look up to me, they trust me and can tell me stuff, they think I’m a fun drill instructor, and I want to become a good instructor, a good teacher for them.”

“Cadets helped me find a lot of new friends,” said Corporal Martin.

“I would just like to be trusted by the younger cadets, respected,” Martin added.

“It was fun today,” said Corporal Dwyer. “Kind of nervous, kind of excited.”