Rachel Potter analyzes the Trump administration’s suspension of the Permanent Joint Board on Defence, arguing that it marks a qualitative shift in U.S. alliance behaviour in which shared defence institutions are weaponized as instruments of coercion, revealing a strategic logic that goes beyond burden sharing disputes and instead reflects an effort to reshape the institutional architecture of continental defence on American terms.
Artificial intelligence (AI) has rapidly become a defining feature of global strategic competition, with governments investing heavily in AI capabilities to strengthen economic competitiveness, technological leadership, and national security. While much of the discussion surrounding AI focuses on its transformative potential, less attention has been given to the broader implications of the infrastructure required to Read More…
Canada’s shift to the Indo-Pacific for trade, economic, and defence opportunities is a strategic pivot away from the United States to create key partnerships and establish diplomatic ties. This also highlights an avenue for Canada to reaffirm its commitment to the broader values and principles represented by the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) agenda, where the US appears to have abandoned the cause. Isabelle Zhu argues that in this new geopolitical landscape, Canada can leverage its soft power and emerge as an engaged and dependable ally from security and defence to trade and energy, but also in principles and values, which contributes positively to Canada’s normative reputation and international visibility.
“Water is not a commercial product like any other but, rather, a heritage which must be protected, defended, and treated as such.” What happens when mountains lose their ice? Across the Rocky Mountains, glaciers have shaped landscapes, sustained ecosystems, and supplied water for generations, yet they are rapidly retreating, signaling a growing environmental crisis. The Read More…
Over the years, modern warfare has shifted away from conventional battlefields to urban centers, exposing civilian populations and critical infrastructure to direct risk. Critical infrastructure refers to the facilities, systems and assets that are required for countries and economies to function properly. As a result, essential systems such as healthcare, energy, water, and communication networks Read More…
Critical minerals are growing crucial to NATO’s defence-industrial capacity, but the governance of their extraction has largely omitted gender sensitive considerations. This article argues that as NATO intensifies efforts to secure defence-critical mineral supply chains, leveraging its Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda can help develop a gender-responsive governing framework. Drawing on Canada’s emerging critical minerals framework, this article discusses the legal safeguards and inclusive governance that can strengthen supply chain resilience while embedding gender considerations. This way, NATO members can enhance both strategic mineral security and its commitments to sustainable peace and security in tandem with gender equality.
On the opening morning of the 79th World Health Assembly (WHA) in early May, the WHO Director-General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern over the growing Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC); this marked the first time in the organization’s history that an Emergency Read More…
As Canada accelerates its AI capabilities, data centres are emerging as important strategic assets, underpinning everything from cloud computing and public services to economic competitiveness and national security. In this article, Dorigen Gray explores how Canada’s continued reliance on foreign cloud providers creates challenges for technological sovereignty and shapes debates surrounding domestic data centre expansion. By examining how foreign actors can exploit these debates through influence operations, the article highlights why building resilient digital infrastructure will require balancing sovereignty, transparency, and public trust.
Canada has finally committed to meeting NATO’s spending expectations, but public support for those commitments may be far shallower than policymakers assume. As defence spending rises and global instability intensifies, Canadians increasingly support military investment while remaining uncertain about the obligations and trade-offs that collective security requires. This article argues that Canada’s greatest defence challenge is not necessarily financial, but democratic: a growing gap between the commitments Ottawa is making and the public understanding needed to sustain them. Without greater strategic literacy, support for defence spending risks remaining reactive, fragile, and vulnerable to changing political and economic conditions.
With increasing geopolitical challenges and polarized public discourse, the WPS agenda faces a reluctant political environment. As a crucial element of lasting peacebuilding,
NATO must build resilience in its WPS agenda by planning multilateral initiatives for today’s political context.