Science and Research Committee on June 1st, 2026

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Tony Baldinelli]

Ms. Hadwen, could you wrap up your response? We have to go to our second round.

Thank you.

We're going to our second round of five-minute questioning, and we're going to begin with MP Mahal.

[Jagsharan Singh Mahal, Conservative, Edmonton Southeast, AB]

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you to all of the witnesses for being here.

I want to start with Dr. Kaminska.

With regard to the defence industrial strategy committee committing to creating a new science and research defence advisory council in 2026, I found it was quite difficult for your fellow witness, Madame Hadwen, to answer how the committee will be defined, who will sit on it, how the members will be chosen and why their names have not been made public so far.

Do you want to add something to that? Can you elaborate really quickly on how the members will be chosen, or should I move on?

[Kate Kaminska]

I do not have that information.

[Jagsharan Singh Mahal, Conservative, Edmonton Southeast, AB]

Thank you.

Let me go to my next question in that case.

The Liberal government has produced strategies, panels and advisory councils, but soldiers still need equipment. How does this new defence research structure get technology into the hands of Canadian Armed Forces members faster?

[Kate Kaminska]

BOREALIS was designed with intention to ensure that we prioritize the need to equip our men and women in uniform. As you will see—perhaps this is reflected in the answer we're providing—we're taking very much what we call a crawl-walk-run approach. Rather than spending a lot of time trying to define the perfect system, we're learning as we go.

For example, while we're still building BOREALIS, we are already leaning out on launching and delivering on a number of initiatives, including the defence innovation secure hubs that I mentioned, the first one of which was announced in November. The subsequent ones will be announced very soon as well. We're also collaborating—

[Jagsharan Singh Mahal, Conservative, Edmonton Southeast, AB]

That means that we should have a timeline for all these projects to be launched on time to make sure that the real purpose is served on time and that they meet the reality on the ground.

What is the average timeline from DRDC-supported research to Canadian Armed Forces fielding?

[Kate Kaminska]

That is a question that's very difficult to answer because, of course, it depends on the specific technology area you choose. For example, if you look at a domain like quantum technology, it is not yet a domain that's mature enough to be able to field a lot of capabilities quickly. We are certainly getting there, but the science, in many ways, has to still catch up. We are investing, in that case, in the science that needs to happen to get us to the point where we will be able to develop practical applications of these technologies.

[Jagsharan Singh Mahal, Conservative, Edmonton Southeast, AB]

Can you name one recent DRDC-backed innovation that moved quickly from research into operational use by the Canadian Armed Forces?

[Kate Kaminska]

A good example of that is our work on the over-the-horizon radar. As you will see and you might have heard, there was a partnership with our Australian counterparts that was announced not too long ago to be able to field the capability quickly. That is something we're very proud of because the foundational science was done at DRDC.

[Jagsharan Singh Mahal, Conservative, Edmonton Southeast, AB]

Now I want to move to Colonel Prince. If a domestic industrial preference slows delivery of urgently needed equipment, does that create operational risk for the Canadian Armed Forces?

[Marc Prince]

I don't know. I'd have to study that to get back to you more fulsomely.

[Jagsharan Singh Mahal, Conservative, Edmonton Southeast, AB]

From your experience as a colonel, why do you find it difficult to find an answer to that simple question on a layman standard?

[Marc Prince]

What's the approach? I'm trying to understand the approach of your question.

[Jagsharan Singh Mahal, Conservative, Edmonton Southeast, AB]

My question was simple. If an industrial preference slows down the delivery—

[Tony Baldinelli, Conservative, Niagara Falls—Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON]

I'm going to have to interrupt. I apologize. We're over time.

We're going to go to our Liberal member, MP Deschênes-Thériault.

[Guillaume Deschênes-Thériault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Ms. Kaminska, Canada’s innovation ecosystem comprises over 130 federal programs. These programs help foster excellence in research, but they can sometimes be difficult to navigate. I would like to hear your thoughts on how BOREALIS will help to better connect our partners at Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada with these programs.

Essentially, my question is about how we can ensure that promising technologies are adopted more quickly, safely and effectively—from design through to deployment—where we can see concrete results.

[Kate Kaminska]

Thank you very much for that question. It's an important one that we've certainly thought about very deeply.

On the first point of there being over 100 different innovation programs, you're right. The innovation landscape is quite congested, and some call it “fragmented”. One of the purposes of BOREALIS is to help us evaluate which of that suite of government programs is most applicable to defence and security and which of them we can best leverage to do exactly what you describe: to ensure that we can drive the programming in a way that results in an operational capability at the end.

How do we do that? There are a number of steps we're taking right now to ensure that we can make that transition easier.

Number one is ensuring that we involve our Canadian Armed Forces members from the outset. What tended to happen in the past is that innovation and capability development followed what I would call “parallel tracks”. Right now, we're working very closely with our Canadian Armed Forces partners, such as Colonel Prince here, to ensure that we engage them at the very early stages of development.

One example I can give is that BOREALIS is working to support the army's Minerva initiative to ensure that our army members have access to the latest and greatest drone technology, because, as you know, drones are becoming a staple of the modern battlefield. In that way, we're working with Colonel Prince and his organization to quickly define requirements. We have launched a call for proposals called true north precision under the IDEaS program. The intent is to source Canadian-made, cost-effective, drone-based targeting and range-finding capabilities to enhance battlefield awareness. Again, the key to success is ensuring that we're in lockstep with what the army, in this case, wants and that the R and D really meets the needs of the armed forces.

The second part on the other end of the spectrum, if you will, is that we want to make sure there is a pathway to procurement. In that respect, we're working closely with our procurement authorities within the Department of National Defence, and increasingly the Defence Investment Agency as it stands up, to ensure that we can build that pathway from idea through research and development into fielding that technology. I would say we're going even further than that, thinking about potential scaling and commercialization down the road, and engaging our capital market colleagues through it and collaborating with folks like BDC to ensure there's also private capital available for our Canadian companies to scale their innovations.

[Guillaume Deschênes-Thériault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Thank you very much.

Ms. Hadwen, I'd like to hear your thoughts on collaborating with universities.

How can we ensure that we are prepared and meeting our security requirements? By this I mean preparedness, capacity and tools.

What are we going to do to ensure that collaborations with universities are successful while remaining compliant with security and defence research requirements?

[Wendy Hadwen]

As you can imagine, it is extremely important for us to collaborate effectively with all universities and research centres, since that is key to maintaining Canada's competitive edge. We certainly don't want to lose that edge because we haven't focused enough on protecting our research.

I'd like to turn to Mr. Green. We've worked very closely together to get to this point in order to protect—

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Tony Baldinelli]

I'm going to have to stop you there.

We'll now go on to MP Blanchette-Joncas for two and a half minutes.

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

Ms. Hadwen, as I understand it, members of the Science and Research Defence Advisory Council or the organizations representing them will be able to submit projects, receive funding and then participate in programs that will help guide the council.

What mechanism has been implemented to manage conflicts of interest and prevent a member or organization serving on the council from receiving an undue advantage?

[Wendy Hadwen]

Thank you for the question.

The council has no decision-making power. It is an advisory council, and provides advice on the implementation of Canada's defence industrial strategy. The council itself does not allocate funds, nor does it make decisions regarding our investments.

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

Of course it doesn't provide funding—but it will inform your decisions.

Who determines the agenda when you meet? Which organization or council member is it?

[Wendy Hadwen]

The council is co-chaired by U15 Canada and National Defence.

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

Who decides what topics will be discussed during these consultations?