In 2024, the government announced Canada’s updated defence policy “Our North Strong and Free”. This year’s conference will use this as a launching pad to explore how Canada should invest, action, and prioritize in its quest to be a strong ally, a global player, and a nation that safeguards both its citizens and our collective national interest.  

The past year has seen considerable escalation in the middle east, a dangerous new collaboration between North Korea, Iran, and Russia, and greater division between the world’s autocratic states and liberal democracies as observed in trade wars, tension at the UN, violence in the high seas from East Asia to the Aden Strait. All the more disconcerting, democracies have been made fragile through disinformation campaigns, the intimidation of diasporas, a rising tide of illiberal politicians who are cultivating distrust in civic institutions, and a domino of recent coups d’états that have shattered political progress made in recent years throughout Northern Africa.

It is in this complex situation that Canada has increased its defence spending and has increasingly begun defining its role as part of the Northern and Western Flank of the NATO Alliance. What does this mean from a strategic perspective and how will we achieve the project of power in the high north, recognizing the difficulty of the challenge, the scale of the ambition, and the poor state of readiness, infrastructure and capacity with which to operate from?

The conference will be split into two thematic days – the first one to observe the state of the world and the state of Canada’s readiness within it. The outcome may be somewhat predetermined, but it will provide a sense of the scope of the problems we face relative to our power to influence them. With this in mind, we will embark on day two with our allies to envision a way forward that allows us to leverage the best Canada has to offer, but within a community of like-minded nations with whom to pool our resources and our common vision for a just, secure, and hopefully more predictable world order.