Defence Policy

In 2017, Canada promulgated its defence policy “Strong, Secure, Engaged” (SSE). SSE lists 111 specific initiatives in addition to statements through the policy document. RUSI(NS) initiated a project to monitor progress with those initiatives, with the current assessment linked from this page and individual detailed reports shown below. If you have a comment about any information in the assessment or reports, or can contribute, please contact RUSI(NS).

A PDF of the current assessment of Strong, Secure, Engaged is available here.

The Macdonald-Laurier Institute for Public Policy published on 6 December 2018 “First Principles and the National Interest: Report Card on Canadian Defence Policy 2018” which evaluated progress against 26 recommendations listed in an Institute report “First Principles and the National Interest: Recommendations for a New Canadian Defence Policy,” published March 2017.  The 26 recommendations were across five themes: defence priorities and principles, the security environment, alliances, United Nation involvement, and future capabilities.