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The Vanguard Podcast

Welcome to the Vanguard Podcast, a weekly radio show discussing news, trends, and event coverage for the Canadian Defence Industry. Vanguard is Canada’s oldest trade journal of record that provides a forum for Canada’s security and defence community, discussing strategic perspectives and overviews of government and military policy and practice, through interviews with leading practitioners and contributions from renowned experts, including representatives from industry. Intersecting strategy, technology and policy, Vanguard explores emerging trends and best practices to help enhance Canada’s holistic approach to defence and security, both domestically and internationally.
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Now displaying: November, 2017
Nov 24, 2017

In this episode, Marcello Sukhdeo talks about how nearly half of illegal border-crossers into Canada are from Haiti, the president of Kosovo says that Russia’s interference in Kosovo has implications for Canada and why is Russia sending robotic submarines to the Arctic? 

 

Show Notes 

 

For the last nine months, over 14,000 refugee claims were made by people who crossed into Canada outside legal border points. Of this number, nearly half of them were from Haiti according to CBC. 

 

Data released by the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) on recently shows that 6,304 citizens of Haiti claimed refugee status after crossing illegally into Canada between February and October. 

 

Haiti was the top country of origin for irregular border-crossers in the nine-month period, followed by Nigeria, from which 1,911 people crossed into Canada. 

 

Other countries of origin, and the number of people who crossed the border, were: 

 

Turkey 

Syria 

Eritrea 

Yemen 

U.S. 

 

Of the 14,000 referrals to the IRB, just over 1,500 cases have been finalized and 941 have been accepted.  

 

Many Haitians crossed into Canada from the United States this past summer, prompted by a decision by U.S. President Donald Trump to terminate temporary protected status that has allowed 60,000 Haitians to live and work in the U.S. 

 

Kosovo 

 

The president Kosovo says Russia is trying to destabilize his country and its Balkan neighbours through fake news and other disruptions. 

 

The president made those remarks recently during his visit to Ottawa and said this makes Canada a target, too, because Russia is trying to undermine the values and institutions that Kosovo shares with its Western allies. 

 

In the interview as was reported in the Star, the president of Kosovo said Canada needs to be vigilant against potential threats from Russia. 

 

“We always have to be cautious and careful these days. If somebody thinks they will stop this, they’re wrong. They will continue attacking, fighting Western values.” 

 

Russia and the Arctic  

 

The Arctic Ocean is estimated to hold billions of barrels of oil, and trillions of cubic feet of natural gas – accounting for 16-26 per cent of the Earth’s undiscovered reserves. 

 

And there’s a country that is trying to beat everyone else to win the race to exploit this chilly region on Earth. That country is Russia. 

 

Decades after the Soviet Union fell, Russia embarked on a mission to drill deep into the Arctic seabed, sending a fleet of underwater robots and unmanned submarines into the Earth’s harshest waters. 

 

So, why is Russia sending submarines to the Arctic, because they want to be the first to win the race for the Arctic so that they can exploit all the nature resources in the region.

Nov 17, 2017

In this episode, hear about Canada and U.S latest border emergency exercise, CAF to deliver explosive threat training to Iraqi security forces, and Canada’s smart pledge approach to UN peace keeping operations.  

 

Show Notes 

 

As home of the longest international border in the world, Canada and the United States have been working to be prepared to coordinate effective emergency responses in the event of disasters or other threats to safety and security. 

 

In support of this, the Department of National Defence’s Centre for Security Science and the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate teamed up for the fifth time to conduct an experiment supporting emergency management officials and first responders. The Canada-U.S. Enhanced Resiliency Experiment series, known as CAUSE, took place on November 15th and 16th near the border between Lower Mainland, British Columbia, and Whatcom County, in the state of Washington.  

 

This exercise provides participants with the opportunity to use a range of tools in a simulated environment, and determine how the technology and applications perform in different scenarios.  

 

Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, Ralph Goodale said, “CAUSE is a valuable experiment that will help improve emergency responders’ safety and operational effectiveness on both sides of the border.” 

 

CAF 

 

As part of Canada’s ongoing commitment to enable the lasting defeat of Daesh, Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) engineers are delivering explosive threat training to Iraqi security forces (ISF). As well, to better meet the needs of the Global Coalition, the CAF is adjusting its aircraft contributions. 

 

Approximately 20 Canadian Army engineers have deployed to deliver explosive threat training to the ISF in Besmaya, Iraq. Responding to the Coalition’s needs and an evolving military campaign, the CAF has also deployed a second CC-130J Hercules aircraft to join Joint Task Force Iraq (JTF-I), while the CP-140 Aurora detachment will return to Canada in mid-December. 

International Peacekeeping Conference  

At the International Peacekeeping Conference held recently in Vancouver, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that he will not deploy 600 military or 150 Canadian police officers to any single United Nations peacekeeping operation. 

 

Instead, the Trudeau government will take a “smart pledge” approach that will offer training and air support to other nations, boost female troop deployments, and target the demobilization of child soldiers. 

Nov 13, 2017

New Peace Support Training Centre; a police website hacked in Saskatchewan; and Commanders’ Conference of American Armies

In this episode, the opening of the new Peace Support Training Centre at Canadian Forces Base in Kingston, a look at the recently concluded 32nd Commanders’ Conference of American Armies and a police website has been hacked in Saskatchewan by supporters of the Islamic State.

Show Notes: 

Last week, member of Parliament for Kingston and the Islands, Mark Gerretsen, took part in a ribbon-cutting ceremony to highlight the completion of the new Peace Support Training Centre at Canadian Forces Base in Kingston. 

The new facility is named after the late LCol Paul Augustus Mayer. LCol Mayer was a CAF infantry officer in the Second World War and Korean War. He greatly contributed to numerous peace support operations serving as Commander in South East Asia and Africa, and as an advisor to the UN Secretary General.

The new training centre was built by Bird Construction Ltd. of Mississauga, Ont., which was awarded the contract $14.5 million to perform the construction work, which was delivered on time and on budget. 

CCAA 

Commander of the Canadian Army, Lieutenant-General Paul Wynnyk recently attended the Commanders’ Conference of American Armies (CCAA) in Washington D.C, from November 6 to 9, 2017. The Commander’s Conference of American Armies is an opportunity for Army leaders from North, Central, and South America and the Caribbean to meet to discuss areas of mutual interest and share lessons learned. The conference contributes to the security and democratic development of member countries from a military perspective.

The Lieutenant-General said, “I commend the Conference of American Armies members for their achievements during the 32nd cycle and look forward to the productive discussions in the next cycle. This long-term and active multilateral dialogue allows member nations to better understand and identify the needs, challenges, and areas for potential collaboration. Canada is a committed partner in these efforts and will continue to work with member nations to address the complex security challenges of today and tomorrow in a manner that promotes partnerships and cooperation.”

Hacked by ISIS 

Police in Prince Albert, Sask., say their website has been hacked by apparent supporters of Islamic State militants.

In an article that appeared on CTV news, we learned that the police force’s website was completely altered to show a black screen with the message: "Hacked by Team System Dz. I Love Islamic state," with a non-English language audio track playing in the background.

In June, the group hacked government websites in Maryland, Ohio and New York.

Nov 6, 2017

In this show, Exercise IRON RAM to sharpen Canadian Army soldiers combat skills, Discovery Air Defence has been awarded the contract for the CATS program, and hear about Marcello Sukhdeo’s visit to the Air Mobility Training Centre in Trenton. 

Show Notes:

About 2,400 soldiers from the Canadian Army that are a part of the 1 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group, headquartered in Edmonton, Alberta, are participating in Exercise IRON RAM over the next three weeks at Canadian Forces Base/Area Support Unit Wainwright.

Exercise IRON RAM which runs from October 23 until November 17 will achieve two major goals while ensuring the readiness of the Canadian Army. First, through the conduct of both dry- and live-fire ranges of increasing complexity, 1 CMBG will confirm individual and collective skills as they seek to maintain and improve their warfighting abilities for future deployments.

Discovery Air

The Canadian government has awarded a contract estimated at more than $1 billion to a Discovery Air Defence to provide fighter-jet training to the Canadian military, according to a piece in the National Post.

The project, known as the Contracted Airborne Training Services (CATS), will run over an initial 10-year period with the option to continue for another five years.

Discovery Air Defence did not release the value of the contract, but analysts have estimated it to be worth at least $1 billion and some say it could reach $1.5 billion if the five-year option is picked up. 

A visit to the Air Mobility Training Centre in Trenton 

I just got back from a media tour that CAE provided to journalists in Canada, US, UK and Australia at the Air Mobility Training Centre in Trenton. The purpose of the tour was to provide an overview and to see first-hand the Royal Canadian Air Force’s CC-130J aircrew and maintenance training system located at the Air Mobility Training Centre, at the Canadian Forces Base in Trenton.

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