Controversial 'Four Bs' leaflets for cadets destroyed

The commander of the national cadet programsays guidebooks for prospective recruits that referred to girls'breasts as "developing bits" have been removed from theNewfoundland squadron that handed them out.

• Dress code guide tells female air cadets not to reveal 'developing bits'

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

Maj. Doug Keirstead says an investigation into the matter waslaunchedMondayto determine where the document originated and whoapproved it, adding that the language used in it would also not beincluded in any verbal briefs to cadets.

Woiden launched a review of materials handed out by the 1,100cadet organizations across the country after the mother of a13-year-old girl complained about the leaflet that was distributedby the 510 Lions Royal Canadian Air Cadet Squadron.

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

Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan condemned the language asinappropriate, saying it represented attitudes that are "completelyunacceptable in the cadets, in the Canadian Armed Forces and in oursociety."