Closing Keynote
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Moderator
Dr. Andrea Charron
Professor, Internationals Relations - University of Manitoba
Andrea Charron is Director of the Centre for Defence and Security Studies, and Professor of International Relations at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada. She holds a PhD from the Royal Military College of Canada (Department of War Studies). Dr. Charron worked for various federal departments including the Canadian Privy Council Office in the Security and Intelligence Secretariat before beginning her academic career. She writes extensively on Arctic security, NATO, NORAD and Canadian defence policy. She is coauthor of NORAD: In Perpetuity and Beyond (MQUP, 2022), coeditor of The Legacy of 9/11: Views from North America (MQUP, 2023) and several others on sanctions.
Keynote Speaker
LGen (ret’d) Blaise Frawley
frmr Deputy Commander, NORAD
Lieutenant-General (ret’d) Blaise Frawley joined the Canadian Armed Forces in 1985, and upon completion of pilot training was posted to 425 Squadron in Bagotville, Quebec. His flying experience includes two operational tours on 425 Squadron, an F/A-18 exchange tour with the United States Marine Corps in El Toro, California, and three instructional tours on 410 Squadron in 4 Cold Lake, Alberta.
LGen (ret’d) Frawley has flown combat missions over the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Kosovo in support of Operation Allied Force and was assigned as the Executive Officer of the Task Force Aviano National Command Element at Vicenza, Italy, and the Air Mobility Division Deputy Director, 609th Combined Air and Space Operations Centre at Al Udeid Airbase, Qatar.
LGen (ret’d) Frawley has held staff positions at 3 Wing Bagotville Operations, within the Directorate of Aerospace Requirements in Ottawa, as A3 Fighter at 1 CAD HQ in Winnipeg, then as Deputy Commander of 1 Canadian Air Division, and finally as Director General Space within the RCAF Staff in Ottawa. In 2017, he was appointed as Deputy Commander of the Air Force, a position he held for four years, then went on to serve as the Deputy Vice Chief of Defense Staff until June 2023.
LGen (ret’d) Frawley's command tours include Commanding Officer of 410 Sqn, Commander of both 17 Wing and the Air Force Training Centre in Winnipeg, and as the Combined Force Air Component Commander for Exercise Rim of the Pacific 2016.
During his many operational and instructional flying tours, LGen (ret’d) Frawley has accumulated over 3,000 hours on the F-18 Hornet and is a graduate of the Fighter Weapons Instructor course and the Fighter Electronic Warfare Advanced Radar course. Additionally, he is a graduate of the Canadian Forces Command and Staff College in Toronto and the USAF Air War College at Maxwell AFB, Alabama. He holds a Bachelor of Military Arts and Sciences from the Royal Military College of Canada, and a Master of Strategic Studies from the USAF Air University. In 2023 he was promoted one last time and in June of that year was appointed as Deputy Commander of NORAD. He retired from active-duty service in October of 2025.