M’CHIGEENG—Several members of the 348 Manitoulin Sea Cadets received special awards while the corps also received financial donations at a gathering at Manitoulin Secondary School (MSS) last week. On hand for the evening were two dignitaries, Moise Morrisette, Lieutenant-Colonel Commanding Officer Regional Canada Support Unit for Central Region and Marc Paquette, Regional Chief Warrant Officer.
“It is a great honour to be here tonight and engage with all of you,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Morrisette. “We have a few awards to present to some very deserving people here tonight. This is a really good unit especially in how you support the community and have integrated into the community. Continue to engage in the community, be leaders, learn new skills, make new friends. The fact that the community supports you as much as they do is great. And it is great to know that you have parents that support you, something that is absolutely critical.”
Regional Chief Paquette said, “It is a thrill to be here, and we thank you for your participation in this organization. Units like this come together, helping you learn new skills, make friends and help the community. The future of the country is in your hands. You help to make the country a better place.”
The two dignitaries in Sea Cadets were on hand to make presentation of several Royal Sea Cadets Commander Challenge coins, “to recognize all those who go above and beyond the cadet program,” said Regional Chief Paquette. “We see a lot of good things here, volunteers, cadets, staff and family,” he said.
Sylvain Boucher Lieutenant (Navy) Commanding Officer 9co0 of 348 Manitoulin Sea Cadets noted one of the challenge coins was to be presented to a cadet “who puts a lot of time to make sure evenings like this start off great at the start and end great. This person is the first person who grabs our flags for our ceremonies and make sure they are put up properly. Sometimes we have to remind her there are a whole bunch of cadets that are available to help her with this,” he said in calling forward Master Cadet Mady Keller.
“The second presentation is to a cadet who is very involved in the community,” said CO Boucher. “When she first joined the cadets, the first weekend there was an event happening at the Legion, and she was the first one to volunteer to help out and the first one there. A couple of weeks later the same thing happened. Any time help is needed you will see this cadet who we have seen grow as a person,” he said introducing Coxswain Chief Petty Officer First Class Savannah Crack.
“The third challenge coin being presented tonight is to one of our officers who has helped us immensely over the years,” said CO Boucher. “He helps in multiple ways. This gentleman has been with our cadet corps for 22 years, had become president of the branch, who some know as grandpa because he has four or five grandchildren in the corps, and is our bus driver.”
“It is a great pleasure to award Bob Jewell with a challenge award,” said Mr. Boucher.
A fourth Challenge coin was presented to cadet Kaelen Thompson, who plays the trumpet at all Sea Cadet functions.
Lieutenant-Colonel Morrisette noted, “At a Sea Cadets weekend in Sudbury, we presented Sylvain Boucher with a Commander Cadets and Junior Canadian Rangers Group Commendation for the great work Sylvain has done to build this unit, and building community partnerships on Manitoulin Island.”
Manitoulin Cadets executive officer Tina Davidson explained, “on September 21, myself and eight cadets and parents had a great day on the Brookwood Brae Golf Course for a tournament hosted by the Providence Bay/Spring Bay Lions Club. It was a very well-organized tournament and thanks to the generosity of the Lions Club we were the benefactors,” she said, noting the tournament was a fundraiser for the local sea cadets. Chris Bryan, president of the Lions Club told all those on hand, “The goal of our annual tournament is to support a different youth group on the Island every year. This was our second annual tournament, and the cadets were an easy choice for this support.”
“We are thrilled to support a group of amazing young people on the island,” said Mr. Bryan. “We hear through word of mouth about all the great things you do in the community, and at our tournament with the 50/50 draw, sponsors and players support we raised over $5,900. We had expenses we had to take care of, but when it was all said and done the Lions made sure this was topped up and we are able to present $6,000. We were thrilled to do this for your group.”
“On behalf of the corps, we thank you,” said Ms. Davidson, noting the money was used for the corps recent trip to Owen Sound to visit the marine college.
Thomas Aulinger presented two donation cheques on behalf of the Corporation of Great Lakes Pilots, and the International Shipmasters Association Lodge 15. “We are really proud to have units like yours in the community,” he said in presenting a cheque in the amount of $1,000 ($500 from each organization).
“A lot of people in the marine community see what this corps is doing on Manitoulin Island,” said Mr. Aulinger. “It is great to see such a large unit on the Island. You have around 38 cadets which is fantastic. Keep doing what you are doing.”
Mr. Aulinger explained the CGLP are made up of pilots who provide their services within four districts of Canada. He retired as a director of Canada Marine Schools, Owen Sound, one of Canada’s top marine schools.
“The Shipmasters is an interesting organization that was originally established to look after the wives and children of marine personnel who died,” said Mr. Aulinger. He has been the secretary-treasurer of the Shipmasters for the past 13 years.
At the start of the meeting Mr. Boucher welcomed all the cadets and their parents, noting that several cadets were to be promoted. Manitoulin 348 training officer Amanda MacKay helped Mr. Boucher in the ceremonies. Those cadets who were promoted include: Chayton Martel promoted to Able Cadet, Navin Corbiere-Williams to Leading Cadet, Mady Keller and Lazslo Vernarsky to Master Cadet, Sawyer Aelick and Noah Deforge who were promoted to Petty Officer second class.
“We are also holding a swearing in ceremony for the new cadets who just started in September,” said Mr. Boucher. “It is very nice to see the number of our cadets grow. Two years ago, we had nine cadets and now we are at 38. You are the ones talking about this, talking to your friends and helping to make a difference in your community. You are creating a buzz,” he said.
Among the list of new cadets sworn in included Hudson Aelick, Cainan Correa, Finnlay Dewar, Cora Edwards-Main, Gibson Gilchrist, Steven Gulyas, Waylon Hartin, David Joyce and Matthew Migwans.
Mr. Boucher also told the gathering, “Several of our cadets went to Sudbury on the weekend and our cadets participated in the biathlon and sports weekend. David Joyce took first place in the junior division and Gibson Gilchrist shot eight of his 10 targets. Other cadets like Liam McLean and Austin Flikweert volunteered to help out at the biathlon. “It makes me very happy to see that some of my cadets stepped up and helped out. Thank you to all for your participation.”
