The Royal Canadian Navy follows Canadian government support for international maritime law, and this means that RCN ships often participate in operations that involve countering malign behaviour at sea. People smuggling, drug trafficking and sanctions violations means taking a closer look at ships in certain areas. Boarding parties can be […]
Maritime Security
13 posts
We’re in the midst of the second wave of COVID-19. The complete economic shutdown of the spring has not (yet) happened everywhere, but our lives are still being affected by the pandemic. We know the conditions and effects on land, but what about on the water? Canada is a trading […]
Ann Griffiths, 30 October 2020. There’s an interesting article published by the Lowy Institute that looks at the growing threat of “insurgency, radicalism and major power competition in the Western Indian Ocean.” And it looks at these matters from the perspective of South Africa. There’s an unfortunate confluence of forces […]
Canada has two sea-going services – the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) and the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG). Why two? They operate different ships and, while their tasks sometimes overlap and they often cooperate, they are different organizations with their own responsibilities, capabilities and mandates. The CCG is a civilian service […]
The 2004 National Security Policy called for the establishment of Marine Security Operations Centres (MSOCs) as part of a plan to strengthen Canadian maritime security. These MSOCs are multi-agency centres with representatives from the Department of National Defence (in particular the navy), RCMP, Fisheries and Oceans Canada/Canadian Coast Guard, the […]
Dr. Andrea Charron, 06 June 2020. NORAD stands for North American Aerospace Defense Command. It is a binational command made up of Canadians and Americans who have 3 missions: aerospace warning, air defence and maritime warning for North America. NORAD is made up of three regions: Canadian NORAD Region (CANR) […]
If you don’t live near an ocean – and most Canadians don’t – you could live your whole life without ever seeing a warship. So why, you may ask yourself, does Canada need a navy? There are many reasons. Navies play three general roles – diplomacy, constabulary and defence. Canada […]
What are the threats to Canada’s maritime security? And why would someone living in Toronto or Saskatoon care about them? Threats to maritime security are threats to Canada’s sovereignty and economic wellbeing. Goods don’t magically appear in Walmart. They are shipped here via the ocean. There are threats out there. […]
Dr. Ann Griffiths, 31 March 2020. You would have to be living in a cave not to have noticed that we’re currently facing a situation that hasn’t been seen since the flu epidemic following the First World War. Around the world people are self-isolating and social distancing is the flavour […]
David Dunlop, 20 February 2020. In light of the impact that global warming is having on Canada’s northern borders and the increased Arctic activity by countries other than Canada, it is becoming more urgent than ever that Canada take measures to display and maintain surveillance and sovereignty in the high […]