Science and Research Committee on June 1st, 2026

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Tony Baldinelli]

We have to move on to the next set of questions.

MP McKelvie, go ahead, please.

[Jennifer McKelvie, Liberal, Ajax, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I have three questions and six minutes. Hopefully, we can get through these.

Dr. Kaminska, I'm wondering if you can speak to the engagement you've had with the academic community, how you're using them in an advisory role and how you're using them to identify the dual-use technologies that we should be investing in and advancing here in Canada.

[Kate Kaminska]

Absolutely I can speak to that. I will also turn to my colleague Wendy Hadwen, because the primary engagement mechanism we have with our academic partners is through the working group that has been established with particularly the U15 universities but also more broadly under the defence industrial strategy.

The committee has now met two or three times, I believe. Each time, we've offered them insight into our plans. We certainly have solicited active feedback to ensure that what we are proposing to the government also meets the needs of the academic sector; they are absolutely key stakeholders. They provide the talent base for any kind of R and D activity we do. We collaborate quite closely with academia at Defence Research and Development Canada. We use that forum primarily. However, I can also add that for BOREALIS, we hosted an industry and academic engagement day early this year. We had over 300 participants from not only the academic sector, but certainly the academic sector was very well covered in that.

I don't know if my colleague Wendy wants to add anything to that.

[Jennifer McKelvie, Liberal, Ajax, ON]

Likewise, can you share how you're engaging with other government departments? One in particular that I'm interested in is the Canadian geological survey, recognizing that if we're going to be increasing surveillance and drone capabilities, a lot of data can be acquired while we're doing that, using LiDAR, gravity and mag. How are we working with them to ensure that we're really getting dual use in that space as well?

[Kate Kaminska]

I will say that BOREALIS is designed very much as a whole-of-government effort. It is not just the Department of National Defence. We are working very closely with our colleagues at Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, the National Research Council, CSE and other government departments on an as-needed basis.

You're absolutely right that the Geological Survey of Canada would be an important stakeholder as we move into more of the ISR applications you mentioned. We don't yet have an ongoing project with them, but as it is a whole-of-government initiative, I fully expect that as we move into the domains that require that kind of data and that kind of expertise, we will absolutely ensure that we collaborate with them. BOREALIS is in fact designed in that way—to leverage the whole federal ecosystem.

[Jennifer McKelvie, Liberal, Ajax, ON]

My third question has two parts.

The first part is that, in your engagement with universities, are you developing blanket IP and security clearance requirements and working through the process? It will be a bit of a change for academics to participate in this research. How are you doing that?

The second part is that as you define “dual-use research”, are you intentionally casting the net wide? I think the United States has done a very good job of that. Medicine, cancer and major outcomes for soldiers have been included under dual use. Likewise, there are their superfund sites for environmental contamination. They've been casting that net quite broadly.

Can you speak to those questions: one, the blanket relationships with the universities in IP and security, and then the second one on how wide you're casting dual use?

[Kate Kaminska]

I will answer the second part first, which is to say that the work of BOREALIS is driven by the sovereign capability areas that are defined in the defence industrial strategy. As you may know, they are in fact pretty broad. They do include things like medical countermeasures, for example, for chemical, biological, nuclear or radiological events, which we need to protect our armed forces from. Things like biotech absolutely would be included.

However, we do have to prioritize. We were just stood up in September, so at this moment we are prioritizing three major sovereign technology areas, the first being sensing, which is covered by our maritime defence innovation secure hub; the second being quantum; and third being uncrewed systems. Those two latter areas are the subject of the call for proposals, which I alluded to, and we hope to announce soon who we will be working with in those domains.

For the first question on IP and collaboration with the universities, I will turn it over to my colleague, ADM Hadwen, to chime in.

[Wendy Hadwen]

Different elements of the federal family have different lines of effort on intellectual property. We are bringing them all together so that we can make sure we do the very best job of privileging Canadian IP and that we don't accidentally put structures in place that will disadvantage us. We know that IP is an essential part of how we maintain and grow an industrial advantage. There are provisions in the defence industrial strategy for us to come together, and we will be working on that as a matter of priority.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Tony Baldinelli]

Thank you. I'm going to end it right there.

I'm going to go on to MP Blanchette-Joncas.

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Congratulations on the fine job you are doing as acting chair today.

Ms. Hadwen, can you tell us who currently sits on the Science and Research Defence Advisory Council?

[Wendy Hadwen]

Mr. Chair, I thank the member for his question.

There are several federal departments, including ours, namely National Defence; Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada; the Department of Finance; the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada; the organization represented by Ms. Kaminska, namely the Bureau of Research, Engineering and Advanced Leadership in Innovation and Science; and Defence Research and Development Canada.

There is also the National Research Council of Canada; the Canadian Defence Academy; Communications Security Establishment Canada; the Canada Foundation for Innovation; and U15 Canada, an umbrella organization representing Canada's 15 largest universities. There is also Polytechnique Montréal; Universities Canada; and Tech-Access Canada.

Finally, the University of Toronto, Université Laval, Université de Sherbrooke, University of Yukon, University of Alberta, Dalhousie University and the University of British Columbia are also members.

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC]

Thank you.

Why wasn't the complete list of members ever made public?

[Wendy Hadwen]

Thank you for the question.

It is public now.

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC]

So, you felt it was important to announce that you were going to create an advisory council, but not important enough to disclose its membership.

Is that correct?

[Wendy Hadwen]

We've worked hard since the launch of the defence industrial strategy, which was announced on February 17. Today is June 1, and we have managed, nonetheless, to fill the positions on this council. We have not wasted any time.

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC]

We'll come back to the issue of transparency.

Could you tell us what criteria were used to select council members?

[Wendy Hadwen]

I am not making an official announcement regarding the council's membership. I believe it may change as discussions progress. Based on my experience so far, this is an open council. We are prepared to invite anyone concerned about items on the agenda at any time.

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC]

Very well.

I'll repeat my question, Ms. Hadwen. What criteria were used to select council members?

[Wendy Hadwen]

Thank you for the question.

We started in partnership with U15 Canada and all the government agencies I mentioned. We then targeted a few universities, but that's not an exclusive list.

Our approach is open, but it's impossible to have every institution at the table at any given time. That's where we started, but our work isn't done.

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC]

What are the criteria, Ms. Hadwen?

Did you draw names from a hat?

Can you tell me how you went about it?

[Wendy Hadwen]

Thank you for the question.

We started by asking ourselves which path we could take to get the most out of our innovation throughout the whole country.

We sought representation from several provinces as well as from large and small universities. Obviously, we considered our research and development priorities. We also added an expertise component.

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC]

I didn’t realize that trying to assess innovation development or your strategic directions was part of the criteria, but perhaps you could expand on your answer and give me a serious response. I want to know who makes decisions at the end of the day.

Is it the council? Is it BOREALIS? Is it the department, the armed forces?

[Wendy Hadwen]

Thank you for the question.

First of all, this is an advisory group. We all have programs we are currently managing that provide funding—but we also have a strategic policy mandate, which allows us to discuss the approach we wish to take. We're at the very beginning of that process.

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC]

I'm trying to understand your strategy, but you're not answering me.

Who makes the decisions?

Is it BOREALIS, the council or the department?

Could you explain your strategy to us?

[Wendy Hadwen]

Thank you for repeating the question.

Actually, it's not quite a decision-making committee. It's an advisory committee. So, if there are decisions to be made about a program, it is up to the department—which has the authority and capacity to do so—to implement the program. It is primarily a coordination forum, first and foremost.

Of course, as far as BOREALIS is concerned, my colleague has the authority to make her own decisions.