443 Maritime Helicopter Squadron

Colonel Steven Deschamps joined Air Cadets at 325 Squadron in Cornwall, ON, in 1969. He attended both the Senior Leaders and Glider Pilot Course. He also attended Outward Bound Mountain and Leadership course in Keremeos, BC, and was awarded the cadet para-rescue wing.

Col Deschamps joined the Reserve Cadet Instructor List in 1974 and then the Regular Canadian Armed Forces in 1979 as a pilot.  He was subsequently posted to 10 Tactical Air Group, 3 CFFTS, and 2 CFFTS. His last regular force posting was at NDHQ Ottawa in 1982 as a Public Affairs Officer. In 1982, the then Lt. Deschamps was honourably, but compulsory, released under a policy that has come to be known as LGBT Purge.

In 1992, seeking to correct the injustices of 1982, LCol Deschamps re-joined the Cadet Instructor Cadre after a Federal Court decision declared the purge policy illegal under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Col Deschamps re-enrolled in the CAF Cadet Instructors Branch in 1992 as the Training Officer at 103 Thunderbird Squadron at the rank of Lt. Documents from NDHQ indicate he was the first known homosexual to be re-enrolled. While at 103 Squadron, he pioneered the creation of the Computerized Aircraft Simulation Centre a model for other Air Cadet Squadrons to provide real pilot simulation.

In 1996, Col Deschamps became CO 103 Thunderbird Squadron and subsequently he was CO at 858 Skookumchuk Squadron and 848 Royal Roads Squadron.

In 1999, LCol Deschamps was appointed Staff Officer Information Management of RCSU(P) HQ at CFB Esquimalt. He was directly responsible for the implementation of information systems for cadets on the West Coast. In the late 90s, he was also a Co-Leader of the Electronic Action Team of the "Way Ahead Process", led by NDHQ.

Col Deschamps was promoted to LCol on 1 May 2006 to serve as CO of Albert Head Air Cadet Summer Training Centre. He was appointed Chairman Regional CIC Branch Advisory Council and assumed duties in the fall 2010.

He retired from the RCAF in 2013. He is the Founding President of the CIC Branch Association of BC which provides education and social opportunities for serving CIC officers.

Outside of the Cadet program, LCol Deschamps has been Director of Public Affairs for Algonquin College in Ottawa, a spokesman and developer for IBM Canada, and Vice President of OpenText Corporation. He has also worked with BC Systems Corporation, directing the move for the provincial government from mainframes to personal computers in the 80s.

He was awarded the Canada Pride Citation in 2020 by the Government of Canada "in recognition of his valuable service to Canada and the hardship endured as a result of the historical policies and practices in connection with the LGBT Purge".

He is a pilot, advanced scuba open water diver, and volunteers in various capacities with the Air Cadet movement in BC.