After being closed during the pandemic, the HMCS Acadia Cadet Training Center in Cornwallis Park, NS, will not reopen.
The training centers in Greenwood, NS, and Gagetown, NB, will still be used in the future. The Debert training center closed in 2021.
Major Shawn Sperry, deputy commander of the Regional Cadet Support Unit in the Atlantic region, said the program will change so that cadets can take the first two required levels at designated locations within the community instead of having to go to the nearest training center. .
The newly created one Cadet activities program will be launched this summer and will offer around 200 community locations across the country.
There are expected to be more than 9,000 participants for the first level of training and more than 7,000 for the second level.
Sperry said both the closure in Cornwallis Park and the general renewal of the program occur amid the uncertainty of funding caused by the pandemic and the need to centralize the program.
Some neighbors say they will miss the training center.
“It’s very unfortunate for this area,” said Peter Nordland, a retired veteran and resident.
“It was great. It only brought this place to life during the summer when the cadets were here, and we’re pretty disappointed.”
John Rogers, a resident and retired Sea Scout skipper, the adult leader of the Sea Scout ship, said he is sad to see him.
“This was a great program for the kids … It also puts some people in the area to work.”
Sperry acknowledges those sentiments, but said those changes will allow more cadets across Canada to attend training in the future.
Cadet activity programs will be taught locally for cadets in the first two levels. (Government of Canada website)
“Across Canada, in many communities, we have these places that will be staffed to allow cadets to basically do day camps during the first and second year, which gives them a chance to stay. at home and their parents will set them aside. turn them off, “Sperry said.
Cadets will be sent to a CTC location to complete their training only once they have completed the first two levels.
“It can vary from expedition, aviation, band, sailing and a number of other activities … they may be from Atlantic Canada, but they will be transported to the corresponding CTC nationwide and will be offered the same experience I would have had at HMCS Acadia, ”Sperry said.
Training centers will now only offer the last two levels. They will also offer additional courses such as sailing and sailing.
Sperry said he doesn’t know what will become of the HMCS Acadia building.