THE ORIGINS OF THE CADET MOVEMENT IN CANADA
On June 3, 1861, less than two months after the outbreak of civil war in the U.S., a Militia General Order was given that authorized the formation of the “Trinity College Volunteer Rifle Company;” the first volunteer militia rifle company in a Canadian school. Many references claim the school to have been Trinity College in Port Hope, Ontario. However, the college at Port Hope was initially established in Weston, Ontario in 1865 and didn’t move to Port Hope until 1868. Consequently, the first school to have an authorized volunteer militia rifle company in Canada was most likely Trinity College at the University of Toronto. It was founded in 1851.
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CADET BEGINNINGS IN VERNONTalk of forming a local cadet corps in Vernon was mentioned as early as 1908. At that time, the commanding officer of the Okanagan Mounted Rifles, Major H.A. Perry, gave lessons in drill to a few public school students. Then, in 1912, a cadet corps was established and authorized for Vernon. About 40 boys were enrolled in the corps that was officially known as No. 368, The 30th British Columbia Horse Cadets. Their uniform was not unlike that of the regiment itself.
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VERNON CADET TRAINING CENTRE
known as
Western Command Trades Training Centre 1949-54
Vernon Cadet Trades Training Centre 1955-61
Vernon Army Cadet Camp 1962-1996
Vernon Army Cadet Summer Training Centre 1997-2014
Vernon Cadet Summer Training Center 2014-2016
The Vernon Military Camp was mothballed from 1946 to the spring of 1949. When it reopened as an army cadet camp in July 1949, just 2 years after the camp had been stood down as a WWII Canadian Army Basic Infantry Training Centre and support camp for the Coldstream Ranch Battle Drill School. That first summer, some 1000 army cadets from BC and Alberta arrived by passenger train and trained for 10 days, a further 240 stayed behind to take 6 weeks of trades training. Vernon joined Ipperwash, Dundurn, Farnham and Aldershot as the main training camps for army cadets across Canada that summer.