HALIFAX – A former officer of the Royal Canadian Air Force has pleaded guilty to two charges at a court martial in Halifax for his role in wrongly detaining two young air cadets at a flight training school.
Retired Lt.-Col. Yves Therrien is expected to be sentenced later today in a military court for actions that undermined good order and discipline, as defined under the National Defence Act.
Court heard that in July of 2013, Therrien was commanding officer of the centre in Debert, N.S., when two cadets were separately punished for minor infractions by being sent to a storage room where they were isolated from other cadets.
One cadet spent a day in the room and the other, older cadet spent three days there even though training orders state that confining a cadet is not accepted as a means of discipline.
According to an agreed statement of facts, when a senior cadet told Therrien about the orders, he dismissed them, saying they only applied to serious matters.
The identities of the two victims are protected from publication by a court-ordered ban.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Oct. 3, 2025.
