Biggest in the territories
Busy 3055 Naujaat cadet corps now boasts 80 members
Darrell Greer
Northern News Services
Wednesday, March 2, 2016
NAUJAAT
The Naujaat cadet program hit an all-time high this past month when four youths joined the corps, pushing its membership to 80.
Cadet Chief Warrant Officer Jonathan Ijjangiaq nailed 17 bull'seyes while scoring two personal bests on the shooting range in Naujaat this past week. - photo courtesy of Lloyd Francis |
Members of the 3055 Naujaat Royal Canadian Army Cadet Corps' two shooting teams also took to the range in an attempt to qualify for the upcoming regional marksmanship competition.
The 3055's A team took the in-house shoot, scoring 1,062 out of a possible 1,500, while the B team hit the targets for 892 points.
The A team's Chief Warrant Officer Jonathan Ijjangiaq notched 17 bull's-eyes at the prone positions, scoring personal bests of 99 and 98 out of 100 respectively.
The B team's Sgt. Terence Mapsalak had the best score overall in the target mail-in shoot, racking up an impressive 239.
The A team's score gives it a good chance of qualifying to compete at the next level, with the advancing teams expected to be announced by the end of this week.
3055 Commanding Officer Capt. Lloyd Francis said the three territories are basically considered as one province for the sake of the marksmanship competition.
He said the mail-in segment that took place this past week has five teams competing to move to the next level.
"I had two teams competing because of the large number of cadets in our corps," said Francis.
"Also competing in the regional segment are one team each from Rankin Inlet, Iqaluit and Arctic Bay.
"Three of the five teams will advance to the next stage in Gimli, Man., on the way to trying to advance all the way to the nationals.
"The next stage will be held during the April 8-10 weekend."
3055 Naujaat is now the biggest corps in any of Canada's three territories.
Francis said the large numbers haven't prevented corps operations from running smoothly.
He said his staff has been doing an excellent job in managing the various programs with such a large number of cadets.
"All our staff are pulling their weight and doing a good job.
"We are however, looking for more people to help us, because I should have two additional paid positions available to our corps this coming September.
"I'm quite proud of the corps and the people I have
on staff helping me."
Francis travelled to Winnipeg this past month to gain his first-aid-instructor qualifications.
He is now qualified to teach first aid, CPR and AAD to his cadets and others in the community.
Francis said he hopes the hamlet or some other local organization will be able to purchase the CPR dummies and Actar defibrillator units.
Both are needed in order for him to deliver the courses properly.
"They can be rented also, if need be, so I'm looking to see if maybe Tusarvik School, the hamlet or the health centre could chip in some money to purchase the items.
"It would be a definite plus for our corps to have our cadets trained in first aid and it would be a plus to the community to have others trained as well.
"I'd like to be able to do my first training course here in March or April but there's a lot of channels we'll have to go through for that to happen.
"But I passed the course and I'm a qualified first-aid instructor, so it's just a matter of getting the money allocated to be able to do that."
Francis said he would like to teach the cadets emergency first aid, which is a one-day course.
He said the standard first-aid course takes two days to complete.
"The emergency course covers CPR, deadly bleeds and all the really hazardous stuff.
"The standard course addresses situations that aren't as life-threatening, such as wound care, bone injuries and things of that nature."
Francis said the Naujaat corps currently has 31 silver star cadets.
He said the program offers a number of exciting opportunities to the cadets.
"The silver star expedition is part of the mandatory training the cadets do once they've been in the program for three years.
"Out of our 31 silver star cadets, 26 of them - five can't attend for various personal reasons - will be travelling to Whiteshell Lake just outside of Winnipeg on May 6 to 8 for their silver star expedition.
"They'll be doing some hiking and biking in May, before heading back in September to do some canoeing.
"They're putting on a charter for the 26 cadets and three chaperons to make the May trip, which is a big group from our corps."
