Researching your Squadron's History
Your Squadron's History
Besides providing the reader with information about how the Squadron was started, a Squadron’s History provides the reader with a record of: the various individuals in the community who were involved with the Squadron`s start up, the civic organizations who contributed to the Squadron from its start to present, the stories of individual Air Cadet Alumni who may have gone on to serve the community, the province and or the Country after graduating from the Squadron. It may also outline the Squadron’s contributions back to communities that supported it since its start. A Squadron`s History can be used as both a recruiting and fundraising tool to benefit Squadrons.
History has shown us that the revolving door of parent volunteers whose selfless contribution of their time and efforts at many Squadrons can be identified as the number one cause of Squadron histories being lost or overlooked. Being lost or overlooked does not mean that it is not accessible.
How can a Squadron access its historical records?
If unknown, there are several ways that a Squadron can access records of its history. The first is through its Corporate Sponsors.
Corporate Sponsors
A copy of the Squadron Charter provides the date that the charter was approved. If available, a copy of the application for the Squadron Charter will contain the names of the First CO and the SSC Chair and possibly the name of the Corporate Sponsor.
If the Squadron was started between 1941 and 1999, Civic groups like the Royal Canadian Legion, ANAVETS, The Air Force Association of Canada, The Elks and Lions Clubs to name a few, not only served as Corporate Sponsors for Squadrons, they also filled the dual role of the Squadron’s Sponsoring Committee. These organizations often retained records of their sponsorship of the Squadrons they supported.
As a side note, after 1999, to comply with new screening laws that were enacted by the federal government to protect minors, BCPC passed its own requirement that all SSCs were to be incorporated as individual societies. All screened members of each society are covered by the Air Cadet League of Canada (ACLC) insurance. At this time, parent based SSCs were formed and the Civic organizations continued with their role as Corporate Sponsors only. Some SSCs created a Sponsor Representative position on their Board of Directors to enable corporate Sponsors to have input into Squadron operations.
Specialty Documents
Another way to access a Squadron’s historic records is through copies of the following documents: (Please note that these may be either hard copies or electronic or both) ACR Programs, SSC Chair`s Annual Reports, AGM minutes.
If for some reason copies of these historic documents are not available at the Squadron in either hard or electronic copies, as an essential component of an SSC’s compliance requirements, each SSC sends copies of these documents to the BCPC. Approaching the BCPC for copies of these historic records or for BCPC’s permission for someone from the SSC to visit the office to access their Squadron`s records, is an option. Having said this, this option must only be used as a last resort.
The Air Cadet Foundation of BC Website
The histories of each of the Squadrons that have been presented on the ACFBC Website to date, plus the histories of the remaining Squadrons once completed, will always be accessible to Squadron SSCs in the future. This we hope will eliminate the loss of this valuable resource to SSCs through the revolving door of parent volunteers.
We invite you to enjoy the journey with us, and to contact us if you wish to contribute additional documents or photographs related to your Squadron’s History, or any other Squadron that may have been missed or overlooked.
Donations to the Foundation to help keep this Feature Squadron of the Month accessible will be greatly appreciated.
