About
We Address Three Core Policy Challenges
Defending the Arctic and North
Arctic geopolitics and security continue to rise in profile on the Canadian political agenda. Our North, Strong and Free places an unprecedented focus on the Arctic, emphasizing that “the most urgent and important task we face is asserting Canada’s sovereignty in the Arctic and northern regions.” Growing Russian and Chinese activity, climate change opening new threat vectors for competitors to exploit, hybrid and information warfare, and technological change bring new defence requirements. What is the nature of the threats through, to, and in the Arctic that imperil Canadian sovereignty and security? When is the military the best instrument to mitigate and counter these threats? When are illegal activities better countered and prosecuted using law enforcement and diplomatic tools, and what role does the CAF play in these scenarios? NAADSN helps to discern ways to implement and operationalize this policy direction as concrete action, to provide immediate access to leading-edge research, and to test assumptions about the changing security environment on all scales: international, regional, national, and local. Our work on Arctic defence will focus on partnerships with the United States/Alaska, the Kingdom of Denmark/Greenland, Iceland, Norway, and other NATO Arctic Allies, including enhanced sharing of strategic and operational best practices/lessons learned. Adopting a nuanced and multifaceted definition of security, we will help DND/CAF and Northern partners to plan and prepare for search and rescue, major disasters and emergencies, and foreign influence or intelligence gathering activities. Our work will promote system-wide, multifaceted solutions to complex security challenges, improved Whole-of-Government coordination, and comprehensive approaches that leverage private sector and community-level capacity to achieve Whole-of-Society effects.
Defending North America
NAADSN critically examines and anticipates emerging threats to North America, across all domains, in the context of deterring and defeating threats to the continent. We systematically assess how Canada does, can, and should contribute to defence alongside its US and Danish/Greenlandic Allies; how Canadian investments in NORAD modernization can address all-domain threats and close gaps and seams in existing defence systems; and how we can increase public literacy about North American defence amongst Canadians. Our work will focus on all-domain situational awareness, deterrence, and effective strategic communications with Allies and Northern partners. We will critically analyze NORAD’s current and future roles in light of renewed strategic competition, emerging technologies, and shifting US defence priorities. We will carefully monitor and analyze the capabilities and intentions of revisionist powers (including their changing interpretations of international laws and norms) and suggest how Canada and its allies can best deter aggression across all domains.
Strategic Competition, Alliances, and Global Issues
Global stability upon which Canada depends for its peace and prosperity is increasingly precarious in the face of disruptive powers, a changing climate, and rapid technological change. NAADSN’s work nests its assessments in careful analysis of challenges to the rules-based international order, hybrid or below-the-threshold threats and the changing nature of deterrence, and the growing interconnections between Euro-Atlantic, Indo-Pacific, and Arctic security dynamics that affect Canada and its Allies. With Canada’s December 2024 Arctic Foreign Policy emphasizing that “climate change is both the most pressing and the most proximate threat to Canada’s security in the Arctic and the people who live there,” we will systematically analyze and anticipate how climate change impacts national and North American security
environments, with a particular focus on Arctic and Northern regions. We will work closely with international partners to better understand how our Allies and partners are responding to climate-related shifts to discern how DND/CAF might balance its strategic and operational priorities. We will work with the NATO Centre of Excellence on Climate and Security to identify best practices associated with whole-of-government and Allied initiatives. Specific lines of effort will include climate-related emergency/disaster response, critical infrastructure resilience, and comprehensive approaches to leverage private and Indigenous sector capacity.
Our Network Structure
NAADSN’s network structure is a series of relationships – of nodes and ties extending from coast to coast to coast within Canada, while also reaching outside to security partners in the United States and Europe.
Our established network connects through the NAADSN Lead, Dr. P. Whitney Lackenbauer and the Network Administrator, Nicholas Glesby at a main hub (Trent University) and NAADSN Co-Leads at four coordinating hubs (Dr. Andrea Charron at University of Manitoba, Dr. Peter Kikkert at St. Francis Xavier University, Dr. Suzanne Lalonde at University of Montreal, and Dr. Kari Roberts at Mount Royal University.
Our Network Team is comprised of a core group of Network Coordinators, Fellows, Postdoctoral Fellows, and Research Fellows (students). Researchers work in multi-/inter-disciplinary research clusters organized across three scales (circumpolar and international, North America, and Canada) and around specific topic areas. We have developed an agile network structure so that our team responds efficiently to emerging issues and presents relevant and timely advice to the Defence Team.
Our Northern Advisors, comprised of a diverse group of Northern Canadian stakeholders from across Canada’s three northern territories, will ensure that GBA+, Indigenous reconciliation, Indigenous knowledge, and youth considerations inform our research and activities. Furthermore, the next generation of experts and scholars (including students and recent postgraduates) are involved substantively in all NAADSN activities, from research to preparing briefing materials for the Defence Team to public outreach. We continuously engage with Northern Canadians of diverse backgrounds and ages to ensure that they are involved substantively in NAADSN’s Arctic-related projects and activities.