TABLE OF CONTENTS

FRONTLINE DEFENCE 2023: ISSUE 1

Canada continues to dodge NATO calls for defence spending. There is a long-standing complaint that Canada continues to fall short of the alliance’s stated goal that its members’ defence spending should equal a minimum of 2% of gross domestic product.

General Wayne Eyre, Chief of the Defence Staff, has announced first round senior appointments and promotions for Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) General and Flag Officers in 2023.

Freelance historian Karen Storwick and her research team, Wartime Friends, were working on a very important project about a little boy who had been found after a wartime battle in Italy. He was cared for by Canadian soldiers after it was determined that he was homeless. It's an incredible story.

All future activities in the Northwest Passage should be assessed through an Environmental, Social, and Governance lens, advise Hunerfauth and Landry as they provide an overview of key considerations.

The current National Shipbuilding Strategy is not sustainable. Money is being pumped in, but how much is coming out? There does not appear to be a 'Plan B' to mitigate the risk to the Navy’s basic viability.

It has been well over a year since Putin initiated this latest effort to bring Ukraine back under its control. The rest of the world watches, waving banners of support, some offering much needed equipment and ammunition, but never troops, never a show of global determination. The theory of global security based on the threat of mutual assured destruction has proven to be fundamentally flawed in practice.

Politicians, scholars and commentators have sought to explain or justify the apparent delinquency in Canada’s defence effort over the years. It remains unclear whether or how much the promised new defence policy update will address the matter of NATO's 2% minimum defence spending commitment.

Walking through central Kyiv in Spring 2023 – at first glance everything can look pretty normal. There’s tacky art and souvenirs being sold at outdoor markets, cafés are open and busy, hipster neighbourhoods offer local craft beer and live music. But look closer and it becomes clear that this country is very much at war.