Keynote Day 1
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Moderator
Dr. Gaëlle Rivard Piché
Executive Director, Conference of the Defence Associations (CDA)
Dr Gaëlle Rivard Piché is the Executive Director of the Conference of the Defence Associations (CDA) and the CDA Institute. Prior to CDAI, Gaëlle was a strategic analyst with Defence Research and Development Canada where she closely worked with the Royal Canadian Navy, the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command, and the North American Aerospace Defense Command in Colorado Springs. She is an affiliated expert with the European Center of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats and was a Fulbright research fellow in the International Security Program at the Harvard’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs (2014-2015).
Strong of her expertise on Arctic security and defence, hybrid threats, deterrence theory and practice, and Latin American and Caribbean security issues, Gaëlle has published in the Texas National Security Review, the Journal of Indo-Pacific Affairs, the Canadian Foreign Policy Journal, International Journal, and Études internationales. She co-authored two books: SOF in the Defence of the Canadian and North American Arctic (with Nancy Teeple and Bradley Sylvestre, forthcoming) and the Newport Manual on Arctic Security (with Walter Berbrick and Michael Zimmerman, 2022).
Keynote Speaker
Rear Admiral Jason Armstrong
Chief of Naval Capabilities, Canadian Armed Forces
As the son of a career soldier Rear-Admiral Jason Armstrong grew up in various army and air force bases throughout Canada, but calls Sault Ste-Marie, Ontario his hometown. He joined the Canadian Armed Forces as a Maritime Surface Officer in 1989 and graduated from the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC) Kingston, with a Bachelor of Arts Honours History in 1993.
Rear-Admiral Armstrong, upon completion of Naval Warfare Officer training in 1994, joined the Pacific Fleet. Since then, he has served onboard HMC Ships on both coasts conducting a number of international deployments including WESTPLOY, NATO, Op AUGMENTATION, and Op ALTAIR. He has had the honour and privilege of commanding three of Her Majesty’s Canadian Ships during his command tour and deployed onboard HMCS Toronto as Commanding Officer for Op REASSURANCE in 2014-2015.
Rear-Admiral Armstrong has served in staff positions at Maritime Pacific and Canadian Fleet Atlantic Headquarters. He has served in the National Capital Region in Naval Force Development and as the Chief of Staff for the Commander of the Royal Canadian Navy.
Rear-Admiral Armstrong is a graduate of the Canadian Forces College Joint Command and Staff Program and the National Security Program. He holds a Master’s degree in Defence Studies (MDS) and a Master’s degree in Public Administration both from the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC) Kingston.