‘Inappropriate’ leaflets from N.L. squadron removed, destroyed: military

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – The commander of the national cadet program says guidebooks for prospective recruits that referred to girls’ breasts as “developing bits” have been removed from the Newfoundland squadron that handed them out.

A spokesman for Brig.-Gen. Kelly Woiden says staff with the regional cadet support unit in Atlantic Canada have indicated all of the leaflets were destroyed soon after the military became aware of them last week in St. John’s.

Maj. Doug Keirstead says an investigation into the matter was launched Monday to determine where the document originated and who approved it, adding that the language used in it would also not be included in any verbal briefs to cadets.

Woiden launched a review of materials handed out by the 1,100 cadet organizations across the country after the mother of a 13-year-old girl complained about the leaflet that was distributed by the 510 Lions Royal Canadian Air Cadet Squadron.

It includes a passage on what the squadron considers appropriate civilian dress for cadets and lists the Four Bs: “boobs, belly, bums, boxers,” going on to say that girls should wear shirts that do not “reveal their developing bits.”

Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan condemned the language as inappropriate, saying it represented attitudes that are “completely unacceptable in the cadets, in the Canadian Armed Forces and in our society.”