The city saw a brief but major boost in its air cadet population a few weeks ago, thanks to a large tour of youths that passed through on an international exchange. Over three weeks in July, approximately 75 members of foreign cadet services (or their equivalents) made their way around Alberta, making a noticeable appearance in St. Albert in mid-July.
"All the cadets come to Canada and they will tour the host province," began Stan Monkman, director of public relations for the Alberta Provincial Committee for the Air Cadet League of Canada. Naturally, the group travelled to Cold Lake and Wainwright, towns with Canadian Forces bases. They also went to Fort Edmonton to get a deeper sense of Alberta culture. That led them here.
He said that these tours usually go through Québec and Ontario as part of a regular exchange that has taken place regularly every year since 1947. They've only been through Alberta once before in 1990.
These cadets represented 12 different countries from the United States and around the world. By Monkman's account, everyone thoroughly enjoyed the sights and sounds of this city.
"They're all brand new to Canada. This was a really new experience. It's very different, they say about Canadian people, and what we do in Canada and how we live."
The tour took them through St. Albert Place where all were notably impressed by the Douglas Cardinal architecture. Once there, they also made a stop at the Musée Héritage Museum where they gained some knowledge about our local history.
Shari Strachan, the newly minted executive director of the museum, was still the program manager at the time of the tour. She gave them insight into what made this city significant.
"We toured them on our early history of Mission Hill down Founders' Walk into the museum," she said. "I had the opportunity to talk to a lot of kids from around the world on what they were doing and what they thought of Alberta."
While chatting with a female air cadet from Michigan, she realized that one of the big benefits of such tours is to bridge cultural gaps and to demonstrate how small the world is. The young visitor was, at first, not thrilled to visit this province.
"She sat down with me and said, 'This has been amazing! Alberta is not like eastern Canada. I never knew that!' She said that they had been doing all sorts of wonderful things. She said, 'Coming to these smaller communities and finding out the rich histories of western Canada and just how different it is from other parts of the world, even the United States. She was really surprised that we were interesting."
Another attendee from Turkey was very impressed to learn that Canadians know about Ramadan and are aware of when Muslims are undertaking the month-long fast from dawn until sunset.
"The girl said to me, 'I come from a Muslim country and we don't even pay attention to that. That's amazing that Canada is so aware.' I said that when we talk about multiculturalism, that's how it is. We don't think twice about knowing when Ukrainian Christmas is … or when Ramadan is happening."
The St. Albert Legion also sponsored a bison burger barbecue for the gathering. Strachan said that event was also a huge hit.
The event went so well that organizers hope to make St. Albert a regular stop on the tour for the next two years. After that, it will move on to Nova Scotia.
Claude Carignan, representative of the 533 Squadron, is enthusiastic at the prospect of seeing more international recognition of St. Albert. It certainly gave the local cadets a broader perspective on where they can go with the program.
"We can build some PR on that," he began, adding that one of the local cadets qualified to be an international air cadet. "We wanted to promote the program to our cadets that these are the kinds of things you can attain towards the end of your career with cadets."
Attention!
The local 533 Squadron of the Royal Canadian Air Cadets is open to all youths aged 12 to 18. The program is free including uniforms, travel, camps, scholarships, and training, and there is no registration fee.
The group meets every Thursday at the St. Albert Community Hall at 17 Perron Street from 6:30 to 9 p.m.
There will be a recruitment night from 7 to 9:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 5.
Cadets, Sea, Army and Air is the largest federally sponsored youth organization in Canada with approximately 56,000 members, just under half of which are air cadets. In Alberta alone there are 2,400 air cadets represented by 44 Squadrons.
For more information on the 533 Squadron, call 780-459-7277 or visit the group's webpage at www.facebook.com/533RCACS.
