Cadets' parents kept in dark about

sex offender
CHIP MARTIN The London Free Press
Friday, February 18, 2011 8:00:38 EST PM

The Air Cadet organization is failing in its duty to protect children by allowing a pardoned sex offender to instruct in
London, says a reservist.
Merely raising that issue with his commanding officer landed Kevin Acs in military purgatory from which he was
eventually freed by the office of Defence Minister Peter MacKay.
"I was only concerned about the safety and welfare of the children, but at the end of the day, the only person to suffer
was me," said Acs, a second lieutenant who for three years volunteered with 27th Air Squadron in London.
"We have no margin of error when it comes to kids."
Acs said officers made his life miserable - he was disciplined, given a gag order and shunned by area air and army
cadet units.
Acs (pronounced axe), 53, said the man he's concerned about, Roger Micks, continues as a civilian instructor at
Wolseley Barracks for 100 cadets ranging in age from 12 to 18.
Confronted this week before a cadet meeting at the barracks by Acs' lawyer Rob Talach, who taped the meeting,
Micks conceded he committed gross indecency about 30 years ago and has been an instructor of cadets for about
nine years.
On the tape, Micks says he received a full pardon and had passed police screening as required by the Air Cadets.
The Free Press has a copy of the audio tape made by Talach, but Micks did not return Free Press messages left for
him. Micks told the lawyer his commanding officer, Maj. Sharon Tambeau, knew about his past but parents had been
kept in the dark.
Reached by The Free Press, Tambeau said: "I'm not going to comment on any of this stuff."
Sue James, the parent of an air cadet, applied for screening with Micks in 2003. She remembers Micks being
concerned about the process.

She said Micks told her about a conviction he had for gross indecency involving a 14-year-old but said he had a
pardon.
James said she needed screening because she worked closely with the kids as their "canteen lady" providing
refreshments. She said she saw Micks later acting as a civilian instructor and wearing a civilian instructor's uniform as
he does on the 27 Squadron website.
"He wouldn't have been there if he wasn't cleared," she said, so she didn't have any worries for her daughter, Sherry,
but "kept my eyes open" just in case.
James said she isn't aware of any incidents but there were occasions when she saw Micks alone with cadets.
In its application form for volunteers, the Air Cadet League's Ontario committee asks: "Have you ever been convicted
of a criminal offence? Yes or No" and "Were you ever convicted of any criminal offences . . . of a nature that affect or
could be seen as affecting your suitability to work as a volunteer. . .? Yes or No."
Scott Lawson, Ontario executive director of Air Cadets, said the organization has discretion in whom it accepts.
He said "any pardoning would not show up in any record" the Air Cadets receive from police after a routine record
check.
Lawson said he knew nothing about the Micks' case and it would be considered confidential at any rate.
In this week's recorded exchange with Talach, Micks said he knew Acs was given "a gag order on this situation."
Talach, a former air and army cadet himself, said he couldn't understand how a person with such a criminal
conviction in his past could pass police screening.
It appears the cadets used their discretion, he said, but they shouldn't when it comes to sex-related crimes.
"The change that needs to be done here is very obvious," he said. "Remove the discretion. You can't risk children;
you create a window of risk."
Talach has won large lawsuits and settled others with the London diocese of the Roman Catholic Church for the
sexual predations of their priests.
"The cadet experience in general is a very positive one for a young person," the lawyer said. "Cadets is an excellent
character -building experience for Canada's youth, but it must also be a safe one."
For his part, Acs, a volunteer at 27 Squadron from 2006 to 2009, said when he raised his concerns with Tambeau,
"she got defensive."
The next thing he knew he was ordered to sign a document making him "exempt from drill and training" - a leave of
absence without pay.
Acs was ordered not to talk about the situation with anyone or risk being tossed from the military. When he
approached other cadet units, they shunned him, he said.
Acs finally went to MP Bev Shipley, the Conservative for Lambton-Kent-Middlesex, who connected him with the
minister of defence's office that eventually ordered Acs placed with an army cadet unit in Exeter.
Shipley said he was pleased to help but was unsure if MacKay himself played a role in helping Acs.

Wayne Driver, a Canadian Forces corporal posted at Wolseley Barracks in 2006, also taught the cadets there and
had concerns about Micks after he learned from a source in recruiting about the man's past.
When he complained, Driver said he was told "'We're looking into it.' And of course nothing came of it."
In 2009, Driver was transferred to Canadian Forces Base Winnipeg.
Meanwhile, a parent of a former 27 Squadron cadet, Tom Weihmayr, said he learned of the situation only a week
ago. His son, Madison Flower, was a cadet there for two years.
Weihmayr was also a commissioned instructional officer in the reserves for 14 years and for a time was a
commanding officer with a squadron of cadets in Toronto.
As a parent and commanding officer, Weihmayr said he's appalled Micks is teaching teens.
"As an officer, I would be primarily concerned with the integrity and calibre of people being brought in to supervise
young people," he said.
"The commanding officer should be made aware of it (and) take the same action I would have taken as a
commanding officer of a flying unit, which is to remove the individual from daily contact with children. Period."
Weihmayr said parents have reason for concern.
"As a parent I would find it unconscionable that someone would allow someone with a criminal past relating to
children to be involved peripherally with an organization that is supposed to protect children."
chip.martin@sunmedia.ca
GROSS INDECENCY
"Gross indecency" was dropped from the Criminal Code of Canada in 1985 and now is covered by charges of sexual
assault or committing an indecent act.
PARDONS
Pardons granted by year in Canada
2005-06: 805
2006-07: 782
2007-08: 1,102
2008-09: 667
2009-10: 887
(Totals for first three years are for serious offences, including sexual offences. Totals for the last two years are for
sexual offences only)
Source: Parole Board of Canada