'It's very common': 2 RCMP cadets faint during Trudeau's announcement
2 RCMP cadets fainted, another 2 left
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was speaking at the RCMP Depot in Regina on Friday when two RCMP cadets standing at attention fainted and had to be guided off risers.
Tammy Patterson, Sgt. Major, offered no official update on the cadets following the announcement but said, "I think they are doing fine."
She said the RCMP is taking all the precautions to make sure they are healthy.
They were trying their best, I imagine, to look great as a backdrop- Tammy Patterson
Before they fainted, the cadets had been standing dutifully in their uniforms for just under an hour.
"It's very common for members to faint on parade," Patterson explained to reporters. "You're standing still, the blood is not circulating, it's not getting up to your brain and your brain is telling you to faint."
Patterson said cadets are told to move their feet and squeeze their calves while on parade to get their circulation going.
The cadets behind the podium were seniors who will be going out to work in the field soon, Patterson said. She speculated that they likely refrained from moving at all while standing behind Trudeau and MP Ralph Goodale to avoid fidgeting.
"They were trying their best, I imagine, to look great as a backdrop," she said. "It's a very exciting moment for them to don their red serge, which is a huge thing, and to be that backdrop, it was a really great moment for them and probably also really stressful."
Trudeau came to the city to name Brenda Lucki, the commanding officer of RCMP's Depot division in Regina, as the RCMP's first permanent female commissioner.
The Prime Minister told the crowd he would be checking in on the cadets who fainted following his speech.