US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth recently posted an image mocking Canada’s Cadet Training program. His petty body shaming insult should be rejected, but the Cadets are a powerful tool for drawing teens into reactionary militarism.
To familiarize young people with the Canadian Forces (CF) the military spends more than $300 million a year on the Royal Canadian Sea Cadets, Royal Canadian Army Cadets and Royal Canadian Air Cadets. The largest and oldest government-funded youth program, over 50,000 kids are part of the free afterschool initiative. Participants may receive school credits and the government offers up hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in post-secondary scholarships to cadets. They sometimes also receive cash bonuses for attending. According to the Canadian Forces’ description, “it is a national program for young Canadians aged 12 to 18 who are interested in participating in a variety of fun, challenging and rewarding activities while learning about the Sea, Army and Air activities of the Canadian Armed Forces.” Nine- to 12-year-olds are also eligible for the Navy League Cadets.
The National Defence Act authorizes the minister to establish cadet chapters. Serving personnel, reservists and individuals given a military commission train the cadets. Part of the CF Reserve, the Cadet Instructors Cadre is the largest officer branch in the CF.
Military officials say the program is designed to teach teens how to become good citizens, but cadets learn about the CF’s procedures and traditions and are taught to appreciate its emblems and symbols. According to an official description, one aim of the cadets is “to stimulate the interest of youth in the sea, land, and air activities of the Canadian Forces.”
The program instills reverence for warfare. Cadets often attend Remembrance Day celebrations and other military commemorations. “Growing up as a Canadian cadet,” explains Kelly Jarman in “The Cost of Canada’s Militarist Culture: Perspectives From a Former Cadet”, “I was taught that the military is the most important aspect of society and that it deserves unquestioned respect. Trips to museums, Remembrance Day parades and even school assignments were all designed to instill in us the idea that soldiers are noble and that wars are fought for democracy and freedom. The very idea of citizenship is linked to military culture, something that became evident when we toured the HMCS Fredericton naval war ship during a so-called ‘Citizenship Trip.’”
The cadet program develops obedient soldiers rather than politically active citizens. Participants are subject to the military’s hierarchical rank system. The CF boasts that cadets “develop a great sense of pride and discipline through their involvement in a hierarchical system that allows them to hone their leadership skills as they grow older and they learn to care for younger cadets.”
Along with socializing members into its rank system, cadets can learn marksmanship, parachuting and other military skills. Much of the training takes place at summer camps on bases. Historically, the base training simulated warlike scenarios. In a horrific training mishap, six teens died and dozens were injured when a live grenade exploded at a cadet camp in Valcartier, QC, in 1974.
The cadets began as a paramilitary group explicitly designed to prepare youth for war. The first “drill association” was set up to train boys to fight in 1861. Expanding its support to schools providing military training, Ottawa issued a Militia General Order that authorized the formation of 74 “Associations for Drill in Educational Institutions” in 1879. Two decades later Ontario granted $50 ($1,500 today) to schools with more than 25 boys in the cadets. In 1908 the Department of Militia and Defence provided instructors, arms, books and exams to school-age males to standardize the different cadet training programs in Ontario and Québec secondary schools.
Conflict spurred drill activity. The 1860-65 US Civil War, 1866– 67 Fenian Raids, 1869–70 Red River Rebellion and 1885 Northwest Rebellion sparked interest in “drill associations”. During WWI 64,000 children were in the Cadet Corps. Some 40,000 former cadets fought in the First World War.
Girls weren’t officially admitted to the cadets until the 1970s. In 1975 Parliament changed the word “boys” to “persons” in the cadet legislation. But patriarchy dies hard. Controversy erupted in 2016 over a code-of-conduct pamphlet given to cadets that referred to the four Bs — “boobs, belly, bums, boxers”. In what some viewed as shaming female cadets, the pamphlet said girls should not wear shirts that “reveal their developing bits” (breasts).
A series of reports suggest that sexual abuse is a problem in the organization. In 2016 VICE News “obtained documents that prove that the Canadian Forces’ cadet program has grappled with hundreds of cases of sexual assault, harassment, discrimination, and abuse” over the decades.
In 2006 Ottawa agreed to pay $8 million to 35 former sea cadets who were sexually assaulted. Several other sexual abuse lawsuits are pending. A suit launched in 2016 from former cadets in the Atlantic provinces alleged the organization created an environment “which encouraged or fostered silence and obedience” when abuse took place. Some suggest that abusers are attracted to cadet training positions since it puts them in contact with children and the hierarchical structure — having to obey commanding officers — enables abuse.
Young Canadians deserve better than the Cadets.
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