In our last VDF mentorship meeting of the academic year, Col. Jurkowski will discuss how the CAF deals with misinformation and disinformation.

*A light meal will be provided

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Arctic Security in a Time of Geopolitical Insecurities.

Arctic issues have recently risen in priority as the utility of the Arctic expanded globally. As the global perspective on the Arctic is redefined, and Arctic issues are brought to the forefront of global security; the impact of rapid changes in the Arctic region is felt far beyond Arctic nations. Global cooperation is needed to respond to the current challenges regarding governance, conservation, and exploration of the Arctic, and a need for all allied and NATO partners to expand communication and consolidate capabilities to ensure unity of effort.  

notes:

• a light lunch will be served for those who attend in person.
• Registration is required.  

Register Here

Bio:

Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Why it started, how it's going, what does it mean for the rest of us, Canada’s role in comparison to others, and what might happen next.

This is event is co-sponsored by the CIDP, Queen's Department of Political Studies and Queen's School of Policy Studies.

notes:

• a light lunch will be served for those who attend.
• Registration is not required.
• This event will not be recorded and no virtual option is available.

Bio:

Lt-General (ret’d) the Honourable Andrew Leslie, PC, CMM, MSC, MSM, CD, BA, MA, PhD (hc) was a soldier and led the 57,000 people in the Canadian Army in fires, floods, earthquakes, security missions, peacekeeping and war (Cyprus, Germany, Croatia, Serbia, Afghanistan and elsewhere), being awarded numerous national and international honours and decorations. He has also been a Senior Vice President of a very large multinational corporation, a Federal Member of Parliament, the Chief Government Whip, the Parliamentary Secretary focused on Canada-US Relations and Trade during the time of NAFTA and was included on varied Federal cabinet committees. He now sits on several corporate boards and speaks on international affairs, leadership, transformation, governance, and crisis response. He was educated at Ottawa University (BA), the Royal Military College (MA) where he was also conferred a Doctorate, various Military Staff Colleges, and both the Harvard Business School and the Rotman School of Business.   

Jessica Auchter’s talk will focus on intersections between masculinity and violence and on the strategic use of sexual violence as a tool during civil war. While women are often victims of such violence, this talk focuses on those instances when men are targeted as a mechanism of emasculation that serves particular political and strategic aims. Specifically, the talk will draw out the strategic logic of sexual violence against men in cases of civil war, such as Syria, where we see its widespread occurrence in the context of government detention centers, and in cases of ethnic violence, such as Myanmar, where the military has adopted its use as a tactic of ethnic cleansing. Though sexual violence often manifests differently for men and women in these cases, both are premised on norms of masculinity and vulnerability that structure social, political, and ethnic identities.

Bio:

Jessica Auchter is Research Chair in Visual Culture in International Studies and Full Professor at Université Laval in Québec. She is the author of Global Corpse Politics: The Obscenity Taboo (Cambridge University Press, 2021), and The Politics of Haunting and Memory in International Relations (Routledge, 2014). Her work appears in Critical Studies on Security, Journal of Global Security Studies, International Affairs, Human Remains and Violence, Review of International Studies, and International Feminist Journal of Politics, among others, and in several edited volumes. She is currently working on a book project on the visual representation of human rights violations, including sexual violence.  

The CAF is facing a number of challenges and while many are related to the increasing insecurity around the world through belligerent actors, expanding threats to what constitutes security, and fiscal realities, many are also of our own making. The CAF is facing a recruitment and retention challenge. This is being driven by the fact that the CAF has been slow to evolve in its principles, values, expectations that are increasingly out of step with Canadian society. This presentation will provide a brief overview of some of the work that has been so far to realign and reinforce our principles, values, and expectations as we work to renovate the culture of the CAF to better position us to secure Canada's interests and do in a way that is also reflective of Canadian values.

Bio: