June 22nd, 2022
Russia’s brazenly illegal war on Ukraine certainly means business as usual is not a serious option for relations with Russia, including in the Arctic. But the effort to repel aggression in Europe should not be the occasion to escalate tensions and reject cooperation or engagement in a hitherto stable region. Given that pan-Arctic cooperation is […]
Read MoreMay 25th, 2022
From the Globe and Mail, May 24, 2022 By Ernie Regehr Russia’s recent threats to add nuclear attacks to its brutal assault on the people and infrastructure of Ukraine is a cruel reminder of the harsh, inescapable reality of nuclear deterrence – the very existence of nuclear weapons carries the ever-present danger that they will […]
Read MoreMay 4th, 2022
The war in Ukraine once again confirms this inescapable nuclear reality – in war and in peace, nuclear weapons impose on humanity the daily, relentless imperative of figuring out how not to use them. Obviously, for no other weapon system is absolute prevention of its use the over-riding requirement. But the international community has declared […]
Read MoreArmed Conflict, Defence and Human Security, Nuclear Disarmament
March 31st, 2022
Canada and all of NATO are necessarily rethinking their security postures in response to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, with all its ensuing horrors. But the haste with which NATO has come to focus on increasing military spending, in an already heavily armed alliance, ignores the centrality of non-military security measures. Peacebuilding and diplomacy, both seriously […]
Read MoreFebruary 15th, 2022
This is the issue debated in the January/February 22 issue of Legion Magazine, with Ernie Regehr arguing the “No” side and David Bercuson, of the University of Calgary’s Centre for Military, Security, and Strategic Studies, arguing “Yes.” Regehr argues that “de-escalating military tensions and halting the drift toward a Cold War with China are prerequisites […]
Read MoreNovember 25th, 2021
The following paper on Canada and the Stockholm Initiative on Nuclear Disarmament was part of a November 2021 letter to Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly.
Read MoreSeptember 28th, 2021
This is the issue debated in the current Legion Magazine with Ernie Regehr arguing the “No” side and David Bercuson, of the University of Calgary’s Centre for Military, Security, and Strategic Studies, arguing “Yes.” Given today’s increasingly accessible Arctic, with Russia its most prominent military presence, the question of boosting Canada’s Arctic military operations is a […]
Read MoreJuly 29th, 2021
Speculation about Canada joining the North American component of the Pentagon’s ballistic missile defence (BMD) system of systems makes periodic appearances in Canadian defence discourse – though direct participation has never gained broad political support. Now, with a more “progressive” Democrat back in the White House and NORAD modernization moving up the continental defence agenda, […]
Read MoreArctic Security, Defence and Human Security, Nuclear Disarmament
June 6th, 2021
An April 2021 Nanos Poll found 80 percent of Canadians agree that the world should work to eliminate nuclear weapons, and 74 percent agree that Canada should join the new Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons; 73 percent agree, even in the face of strong pressure from the US not to do so. As […]
Read MoreMay 22nd, 2021
This volume publishes the proceedings from a series of virtual sessions co-organized by the Canadian Pugwash Group, the Rideau Institute, the North American and Arctic Defence and Security Network (NAADSN), and Trent University in February 2021. Available in PDF at NAADSN. Panel Themes: Reconceptualizing Arctic Security Whitney Lackenbauer and Ernie Regehr Reshaping the Face of the […]
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