Security Studies Agenda

The Institute believes there is a significant need for neutral and unbiased public information on defence issues, expressed in sufficiently plain language that its members and the public may arrive at informed conclusions on such issues.

For this purpose, "defence issues" means matters relating to the national defence, the security of Canada, and the sovereignty of Canada, as well as Canada's role in international security and peacekeeping arrangements, and the relevance of military art and science thereto. "Defence Studies" means research and studies involving examination and analysis of matters affecting defence and security issues, and the dissemination of the results thereof.

Defence Studies at the Institute has two broad areas of concentration: (i) Canadian Military Heritage Studies; and (ii) Contemporary Canadian Security Studies.

The Canadian Armed Forces (CF) draw upon a rich and, in today's world, often overlooked military heritage, from its humble beginnings as an ancillary to British imperial power, to its substantial and well recognized role in both World Wars and the Korean War. Unfortunately, all too often, the Canadian public has little understanding of the historical role of the CF. The Defence Studies Committee seeks to rectify this problem by focusing on the research and dissemination of materials related to Canada's military heritage. In this regard, we are fortunate to have an impressive library collection, which forms a corpus of military history and knowledge that is used by a wide variety of scholars. (The Special Events Committee's Military History Nights, a public outreach program of the RCMI, often have presentations on topics related to this area.)

The strategic changes in the post-Cold War and post-9/11 periods has made it imperative for Canada to reassess both its new security and the place of its foreign and defence policy in that environment. The issues examined depend, to some extent, upon current events from time to time. Topics have included: (i) the threat posed by both international terrorist groups and nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) weapons; (ii) the effect of the Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) on the'Transformation' of the CF; (iii) recruitement, retention, and other manning issues for the CF; (iv) Canada's continental and trans-Atlantic strategic relationships, particularly the evolution of both NORAD and NATO.