Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Once again, thank you to the committee for the opportunity to discuss our supplementary estimates (B) for the Department of National Defence, the Canadian Armed Forces and the Communications Security Establishment.
In the interest of time, Mr. Chair, I won't introduce all of the officials who are joining me here today. I understand that this committee will have an opportunity to spend some time with them after I have completed my appearance, but if I may, I'd like to point out that I'm joined today by General Allen, vice-chief of the defence staff; Deputy Minister Bill Mathews; and, of course, Chief Caroline Xavier from CSE. To the other officials, I apologize. I will introduce them as they come forward.
Ladies and gentlemen, as you know, you are as determined as I am to ensure that our people have what they need to do the difficult and demanding jobs that we ask of them, and today I come before you requesting an additional $1.5 billion to fund our defence priorities.
We are seeking $15.2 million for the Communications Security Establishment, most of which will be directed towards ongoing operations of the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security. These funds will bolster CSE's ability to act against malicious cyber-actors working to take advantage of Canadians, and this will also bring CSE's 2023-24 budgetary authorities to just over $1 billion for the first time in the agency's history.
For the Department of National Defence, the supplementary estimates include mostly routine or anticipated requirements, and as such, I will endeavour to limit myself to a brief overview of some of these items and how they support us in defending our nation and supporting our people.
To begin with, I'll reiterate that our number one priority will always be the men and women of the Canadian Armed Forces in the Department of National Defence, and this is reflected in these estimates, with over a third of the ask going towards compensation and benefits for military members. This is in line with increases that were negotiated earlier this year through collective bargaining for public servants.
We are also accessing reprofiled funds totalling $151.4 million for the Heyder Beattie and LGBT purge class action settlement agreements. These funds will compensate members who have been affected by sexual misconduct and discrimination and hopefully provide closure and promote healing for those members.
I will not belabour the importance of fair compensation for our people in uniform or of creating a modern and inclusive work environment where all members of the defence team feel protected, supported and respected. I believe that's well appreciated by the members of this committee. It was very clear when I was with you before, two weeks ago, that you understood the difficulties that are faced by CAF in terms of recruitment and retention, and I believe that you are all in agreement that we must do everything in our power to ensure that the CAF remains a viable and attractive career option for existing and prospective members, and because in an evolving threat environment, we need a robust, ready and resilient workforce that can meet the complex and rapidly evolving challenges that we're facing, these efforts become extremely important.
At our last appearance, we had the opportunity to speak about the dramatic increase in domestic deployments and the high demand for CAF support in responding to natural disasters. We also need to strengthen Arctic security and to modernize NORAD, not to mention the many obligations to our allies and partners as we seek to advance peace and stability around the world and to defend the rules-based international order that is being continually challenged.
The additional funds we are requesting will help us to meet these demands, whether it's the $550 million to support Ukraine through military aid in Operation Unifier, the $119 million we're requesting to expand our NATO contribution program and establish the North American regional office for DIANA, which is NATO's new defence innovation accelerator for the North Atlantic program located in Halifax, or the $30 million in transfers to other organizations to help with defence-related issues and priorities.
As one of the largest departments, the Department of National Defence is 100% committed to responsible stewardship of public funds while delivering the best results possible for Canadians. I hope you will see these estimates as evidence of that commitment.
I want to thank you, and I'm now happy to take any questions you may have.