Pink Shirt Day 2025 & Parents Night Parade

“Pink Shirt Day [PSD] is an annual event against bullying held in Canada [&] New Zealand.  Participants wear pink shirts […] and raise awareness about bullying, particularly in schools.”  PSD began in 2007 in Canada and is held on the last Wednesday of February.  Bullying is a worldwide problem and not unique to Nunavut.  It would be nice if bullying never existed, but life isn’t fair.  Thankfully, efforts are being made to eliminate it.  It’s alright to have disagreements but resorting to bullying / harassment is taking matters way too far.

PSD fell on February 26 this year.  Ant-bullying activities were held in classes for the day, and everyone was encouraged to wear pink.  The only pink item I own is a tie.  Maybe I should invest in a pink shirt next year?  The day culminated in an afternoon school photo in the gym.  All staff & students assembled in the gym wearing pink clothing.  I recruited a parent to take several photos with my camera.  Unfortunately, I can’t post the best photo here because I don’t have written permission from everyone.  Sorry.  A high school student pointed out that I was wearing the same getup as last year.  I guess I really do need to get more pink clothing for next year.

3045 Army Cadets held a Parents Night Parade on the evening of February 26.  The cadets and I arrived at the school gym an hour early to set everything up.  Doors opened at 6:15pm and the parade began at 6:30pm.  The reviewing officer was the Executive Director of Qikiqtani School Operations (QSO).  QSO is one of three Nunavut school boards, and the Executive Director (ED) is the boss.  He’s higher than the superintendents.  He was visiting Inuujaq School for a week and I managed to convince him to volunteer his time to participate.

I marched into the gym with the ED.  He inspected the cadets on parade after the General Salute & playing of O Canada.  I read his introduction to the audience during the inspection.  The cadets then did a March Past.  The cadet parade commander invited the ED to say a few words and assist in handing out awards.  He thanked the corps for inviting him to the parade and for putting on a good show.  He also thanked the parents & guardians in the audience for supporting their children and the corps.

Marksmanship Team.

The first badge awarded was the Level 4 Marksmanship badge, the highest level in the cadet program.  One junior cadet received the badge.  I then called up the marksmanship team to make an important announcement.  The results of the Stage 2 competition in January had recently been posted and 3045 came in first place in the Arctic Zone!  The team will be advancing to the Stage 3 Regional competition in late March (more on this in future posts).  The audience applauded the achievement and announcement.         

The cadet chief warrant officer (CWO) was called to the front to be publicly recognized for their recent participation in the inaugural Avannaa Arctic Games in Ilulisaat, Greenland.  Around 70 athletes from Greenland, Nunavut, Alaska, and Nunavik, “competed in more than a dozen events between February 8 & 13.”  Nunavut won 26 medals.  The CWO received a military themed t-shirt.

The Canadian Cadet Program is for youth, aged 12 – 18.  You age out or “retire” on your 19^th birthday.  Two of my senior cadets were nearing retirement so I called them to the front to congratulate them for going through the entire program and for all they achievements.  I also gifted them two framed photographs of them as cadets.  They would age out before the Annual Ceremonial Review Parade in May.

The last part of the awards section was promotions.  Three cadets were promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal, and one cadet was promoted to the senior rank of Master Warrant Officer.

The finished the parade by doing an Advance In Review Order and General Salute.  God Save The King was played.  I escorted the ED out of the gym.  The parade came to an end.

The cadets & I had a group photo taken.  The cadets were then dismissed to the reception table.  Reception lasted 30 minutes.  The cadets & I spent about 20 minutes cleaning up & putting everything away.  I held a quick debriefing with the cadets after cleanup to go over upcoming activities on the weekend.  The cadets were then dismissed for the night.