In analyzing “hybrid” or “grey zone” threats across the Circumpolar North, participants in this workshop will compare and contrast the Canadian and European Arctics across all domains, discerning which sectors of security (military, political, economic, societal, environmental) are targeted and implications for the national defence and security community at various levels of analysis (domestic, continental, international). Some of these threats apply across the Canadian and Nordic Arctics, and some are particular to specific sub-regions. We will also look at the intersections between “gray zone” actions and threats in the Arctic, such as environmental disaster response and human security challenges. This will include discussions of how the Nordic countries bring comprehensive approaches to managing challenges across the defence-security-safety mission spectrum.

The workshop  will discern lessons for Canada in how our Nordic allies, in the face of an increasingly complex threat picture, conceptualize and instrumentalize “total defence” and “comprehensive security” to mobilize the “whole of society” against threats that often blur the lines between sectors of security. This workshop builds on the partnership between NAADSN and the Grey Zone research group at UiT The Arctic University of Norway that focuses on understanding and addressing “grey zone” or hybrid threats and warfare, and managing possible threats, crises and warfare (including local preparedness and societal trust, national preparedness strategies, total defence, and whole-of government and comprehensive approaches).

Carleton University, Dunton Tower, 2017

Light breakfast and hot buffet lunch will be served.

0900-0915      Opening Comments: Framing the Discussion

                           Ryan Dean and P. Whitney Lackenbauer

0915-0920       NATO Perspective on the Hybrid Threat Environment

                           Caroline Hoefsmit

0920-0950      The European Arctic and High North: The Hybrid Threat Environment

                           Serafima Andreeva, Alexander Dalziel, Paal Sigurd Hilde, Sergey Sukhankin

0950-1000       Health Break

1000-1110        Small Group Discussions: Comparing the European and North American Arctic Hybrid Threat Environments

1110-1130         Brief Backs and Full Group Discussion

1130-1200        The Hybrid Threat Environment in the North American Arctic: What Is, What Could, What Will…

                           Adam Lajeunesse, Whitney Lackenbauer, Mathieu Landriault, Wesley Wark

1200-1300       Lunch

                           Lunchtime Keynote: Ranj Pillai, 10th Premier of the Yukon

1300-1410        Small Group Discussions: Hybrid Threat Scenarios

1410-1440        Brief Backs and Full Group Discussion

1440-1450       Health Break

1450-1500       Observing Lessons Beyond the Arctic

                           Marc Lanteigne

1500-1525        Imagining Future Threat Environments

1525-1530        Final Reflections

                           Ryan Dean and P. Whitney Lackenbauer

To RSVP, please contact Nick Glesby – nicholasglesby@trentu.ca.