Parents Night Parade (October 2024)

3045 Army Cadet Corps held its first Parents Night Parade of the 2024-2025 Training Year on October 23.  It was a great opportunity to invite parents, guardians, friends, & community members and show them what the cadets had achieved since the start of the year.

The cadets & I arrived at Inuujaq School’s gym an hour before the start of the parade to set everything up.  The setup has been standard since I became commanding officer.  We line one whole wall with chairs, two flags, and an awards table.  The Royal Regiment flag is taped to the opposite wall and a line of chairs for cadets sits underneath it.  The reception table, filled with snacks, and drinks sits in a far corner.  On the wall near the exit doors, cadets tape informative posters about the cadet program and results from marksmanship & physical fitness training.  I also include pictures of past cadet events.  The cadets changed into their green dress uniforms once everything was ready.  Doors opened at 6:15pm.  The parade started at 6:30pm.

I recruited & trained a teacher to be the Guest Reviewing Officer (GRO).  I marched in first and the GRO followed.  We both received the General Salute.  The cadet parade commander introduced himself and then escorted the GRO through the ranks for inspection.  I briefly spoke to the audience while this was happening, welcoming them to the parade, and introducing the GRO.  The cadets then did a March Past for everyone. 

The GRO gave a brief congratulatory speech to the cadets for looking good in their uniforms and marching in unison.  He also thanked me for giving him the opportunity to participate.

The parade continued with the presentation of badges, awards, and promotions.  Marksmanship badges were the first on the list.  The corps runs a marksmanship program throughout the year on weekends where cadets shoot air pellet rifles at paper targets.  Badges are awarded based on accuracy.  There are 4 levels: Level 1 is the lowest & Level 4 is the highest.  This time, one cadet received a Level 1, six cadets received Level 2, two cadets received Level 3, and three cadets received Level 4.  It’s very impressive to achieve Level 4 so quickly.  The real challenge is maintaining that level of skill for the remainder of the year.  Each cadet received their badge and had their picture taken with the GRO.

Junior Biathlon shooters.

Senior Biathlon shooters.

I announced the eight cadets who were selected for this year’s biathlon team and instructed them to come to the front to be publicly recognized.  I held a tryout competition last month and selected 4 junior cadets & 4 senior cadets based on the highest scores.  The competition will take place early next year.

A cadet who attended summer camp at Whitehorse had an article written about them in Nunavut News.  I called them up to the front to receive a laminated copy of the article and to congratulate them for successfully completing the course.

The next four awards were from the Annual Ceremonial Review (ACR) Parade in May, but I called the recipients again to place their engraved name plates on the plaques & trophies.  They also had their pictures taken again with the awards.  The four awards are: Most Improved Cadet, Best Boots & Deportment, Top Female & Male Athletes, and Top Cadet.  I order the name plates much later because when selecting cadets, I review everything up until the ACR, so it’s too late to order & receive the name plates before the actual parade.

From MWO to CWO.

The last part of the presentations were promotions.  There were five promotions this time.  Three corporals were promoted to the rank of master-corporal, a senior-junior rank, if that makes sense.  One master-corporal cadet was promoted to the rank of sergeant, a junior-senior rank.  And one master warrant officer (MWO) was promoted to the highest rank of the cadet program, chief warrant officer (CWO).  This was probably the highlight of the parade because it’s been many years since 3045 had a CWO.  The size of the corps usually determines if a CWO is needed.  The choice was between two MWOs.

In my closing remarks, I thanked the corps sponsors, the audience for attending & supporting the corps, the teacher for being the GRO, and the cadets for putting on a good show.  I also made a few announcements on what’s coming up for the cadets.

The newly promoted cadet CWO led the cadets in the Advance In Review Order and General Salute.  I marched out of the gym with the GRO following behind me.  The cadets were then dismissed.

The cadets & I moved to the back of the gym for a group photo.  We then moved on to reception.  Reception lasted about 30 minutes.  The cadets & I then cleaned up the gym & put everything away.  I held a quick debriefing with the cadets before letting the CWO dismiss them for the night.

Snow, Freezers, & A Hide

Warning: This blog post contains images that some readers may find graphic. Viewer discretion is advised.

Heavy snow blanketed Arctic Bay in early October, signaling the start of winter.  The calendar may say winter begins in mid-December, but up here, when falling snow no longer melts when it immediately touches the ground, it’s winter.  The snowplows come out to make the roads passable and people begin driving their snowmobiles.  The waterways are still open and won’t begin freezing until the end of October.  The boaters still have time to hunt.

The Northern Store began replacing their old fridges & freezers on October 6, removing them from the back of store, leaving behind large open spaces.  They were close to 2 decades old.  Staff cleaned the space before the contractors began installing the new fridges & freezers.  The new large & heavy appliances were transported to the community by ship in several sea containers.  It must have taken some time & several hands to move the appliances from the containers into the store.  I wasn’t present when they were moved into place, but everyone was happy to see them installed and running.  They give the store a newer modern look.  The whole job took about a week & a half.

Inuujaq School held its first Perfect Attendance Awards assembly on October 8.  Classes were called down to the gym in the afternoon to publicly recognize students who achieved perfect attendance for the month of September.  Students were called from each class to receive a certificate, gift card, and have their photo taken.  I was the photographer.  School absenteeism is an issue that occurs at every school.  It’s not unique to Nunavut.  There are many factors that prevent students from attending regularly.  Recognizing students with perfect attendance is but one initiative Inuujaq School uses to encourage students to remain in school & complete their education.  Truth be told, I never received a perfect attendance award when I was school.  Stuff happens.

A student support assistant (SSA) successfully caught a polar bear in early October after being drawn for a tag.  She caught it not too far from the community.  She brought the hide to school to show students how its cleaned and skinned. 

Each Nunavut community annually receives a set number of polar bear tags that Inuit can apply for.  The tags are distributed by (free) lottery.  A small number of tags are set aside for non-Inuit sports hunters who come up throughout the year.  They’re usually the wealthy hunters because of the high costs attached to the hunt.  The polar bear tag alone is around $20,000 CAD, and you’re required to hire at least 2 local Inuit guides.  You also have to pay for gas, oil, food, equipment, & labour, and it’s possible to be out on the land for up to a week or more.  Total expenses can reach as high as $50,000 CAD.  The sports hunters usually give the polar bear to the community after the hunt, but if they want to take it with them, they’ll need to acquire a permit from the local Hunters & Trappers Organization office.

I should point out that polar bears are not endangered.  They’re listed as a “vulnerable species”.  They may look cute & majestic from afar, but up close, they’re super dangerous to humans.  They see us as food.  Nunavut communities have been asking for the set number of polar bear tags be increased because they’ve noticed more polar bears hanging around communities.  If a polar bear is killed in self-defence, the nearest community loses a tag.  That lowers the amount the community can hand out to Inuit who want to hunt polar bears for sustenance & clothing.   

The polar bear hide was laid out on flattened cardboard boxes and was still a little bloody.  Gloves, paper towels, ulus (knives), and flat boards were brought.  Teachers were informed they could bring their classes at specific times to observe and even participate in cleaning the hide.  I dropped in for a visit when the Grade 3 class were present.  I took several photos, observed the lesson, and then return to the main office.  The hide will be used to make clothing.