National Defence committee  I would reiterate my point about the fundamental understanding and articulation of needs regarding space. A second recommendation from there is understanding Canada's niche capabilities and opportunities within the multilateral defence framework.

National Defence committee  Thank you. It's a fascinating question, and I would suggest that the first answer, and short answer, is no, we cannot assume that simply because rules are in place they will be followed. It is worth noting that Russia and China have both proposed some forms of rules in space. It's also worth noting that Russia has rejected the approach of norms regarding space activities and suggested that a fully legal regime would be more appropriate.

National Defence committee  To add to that point briefly, funding incentivization is going to be critical here as well. If we are going to have meaningful research, particularly around space defence in the academic realm and around laws governing the military component of space, the funding needs to be there for that to happen.

National Defence committee  Just to build a bit on Dr. Leuprecht's point, I suggest that for international discussions, a place at the table is probably not the place for private industry. However, it absolutely is the case that private industry should be heavily involved when the negotiating positions are being created by the states, because as we heard in this conversation, private industry has been so heavily involved in the development of space technology and space capabilities that having them as part of that discussion, to an extent, is going to be critical.

National Defence committee  Certainly. In terms of regulations, commercial entities obviously have a significant interest in maintaining space as a peaceful domain. It's entirely antithetical to what most companies would be looking to achieve if regulation were sufficiently loose to facilitate aggression within the space domain.

National Defence committee  I share your concern. Again, the frameworks within which those commercial organizations are operating will differ from those of individual states. State governments, particularly Canada and its partners and allies, will require very robust agreements with those commercial entities.

National Defence committee  Thank you for your questions. Putting an absolute number on that is very difficult, the primary problem being that, as I suggested, a lot of the space infrastructure and satellites can be used for both civilian and military functions. A particular object or satellite may be performing a completely civilian role for a time and a season.

National Defence committee  They're big questions, but to be brief, on the importance of Arctic defence in the context of space, I completely agree with Professor Leuprecht's conceptualization. Arctic defence is one of the niche capabilities that Canada provides, in my opinion. I think it's useful for Canada, given the current security context, to focus on some of the niche capabilities that it has.

National Defence committee  Thank you very much. Good afternoon, everybody. It is a privilege to provide comments to this committee. The space domain is a complex defence issue, but it's important to appreciate that, although we discuss space, the space domain is in itself an enabler. That is, actions in the space domain facilitate civilian and military actions in other domains.