Arctic Frontiers: Security, Sovereignty, and Climate Challenges

Dr. Suzanne Lalonde (Professor of International Law, Université de Montréal) is a specialist of the Law of the Sea, with an emphasis on the Arctic. She has appeared before parliamentary committees, advised the Government of Nunavut, taken part in Canadian Forces operations in the North, and regularly participates in the biannual meetings of the ASWG. She has been involved in various research projects analyzing the legal implications of an increasingly accessible Arctic region, identifying the most effective legal mechanisms – national, regional, and internation al – to adequately protect the Arctic marine environment and the critical role it plays in the life of Northerners. She will continue this ground-breaking work on the application of international and domestic laws related to Arctic security and safety issues, including how federal, territorial, and land claim jurisdictions may be applied, and will co-lead research efforts on opportunities for enhancing circumpolar partnerships.

Dr. Lackenbauer is one of Canada’s leading experts on Arctic security, history, and contemporary policy. He has received a long list of honours, awards, and grants for his scholarship. He has (co-)written or (co-)edited more than sixty books and more than one hundred academic articles and book chapters. Dr. Lackenbauer was the 2017-18 Killam Visiting Scholar at the University of Calgary, a Fulbright Fellow at the School for Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University in 2010, and a Canadian International Council Research Fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation in 2008-09. He co-led the Emerging Arctic Security Environment project through ArcticNet (2010-15) and was co-chair of the Munk School-Gordon Foundation Arctic Peoples and Security program (2011-13). He was 2018 Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Centre for National Security Studies (CNSS) at Canadian Forces College, and became Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in the Study of the Canadian North at Trent University in July 2018.

Lackenbauer has a distinguished record of university and national service that has provided him with the requisite experience to coordinate and manage our collaborative network and engage with the Defence Team at many levels. In recognition of his work with Indigenous peoples and the military in Canada’s North, he was made the Honorary Lieutenant-Colonel of the 1st Canadian Ranger Patrol Group in fall 2014. Lackenbauer also has extensive experience consulting to governments and non-government organizations on governance, sovereignty, security, and other policy issues.

Catherine Welsh is an experienced environmental professional currently serving as an Environmental Manager at Ensero Solutions since August 2023. Prior to this role, Catherine held the position of ESG Manager at Archer, Cathro & Associates (1981) Limited from March 2022 to August 2023. Catherine’s extensive background includes over a decade of service with the Government of Yukon, where roles included Manager of Wildfire Prevention and Mitigation and Wildland Fire Fuels Management Forester. Additionally, Catherine worked as a Natural Resource Management professional and served as a Forest Hydrologist at the University of Alberta in 2004. Catherine obtained a Bachelor of Science in Forest Management/Forest Resources Management from the University of Alberta, complemented by further studies at Mount Royal University in early 2022.

Gavin John is a Calgary, Canada based Indigenous journalist. John has a decade of experience in ethical multi-disciplinary editorial storytelling and is published across North America and abroad. John graduated from the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology with a diploma in Journalism in 2013 and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Calgary, majoring in International Relations in 2020. His work is the intersection of academic studies on strategic studies, defense policy, and conflict with the anecdotal and personal narrative storytelling of on-the-ground research and journalism. His recent work, for publications like The Globe and Mail and The Narwhal, has focused on Canadian defense policy and Indigenous affairs with a priority on the Canadian Arctic and its rapidly changing geopolitical and environmental realities.

Lieutenant-General Coates is the Deputy Commander North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado Springs, CO. Lieutenant-General Coates joined the Canadian Forces after completing his post-secondary education at the University of Calgary with majors in chemistry and biochemistry. Upon entering the Canadian Forces he was trained as a helicopter pilot. In his staff appointments Lieutenant-General Coates has served as an operations officer in Kingston, with the Air Staff in Ottawa and as the Combined Air Operation Centre Director in Winnipeg. He has contributed to the planning and execution of aviation support to a variety of domestic operations, including forest fires, ice storms, and floods. He has been involved with the air and aviation planning for Canadian missions to Haiti and Honduras, the first Canadian tactical aviation deployments to both Bosnia and Kosovo, air support for the French- led mission to the Democratic Republic of Congo, as well as Canada’s mission to Afghanistan. In June 2013 he returned to Canada as Deputy Commander Continental at Canadian Joint Operations Command. Most recently, Lieutenant-General Coates served as Director Operations at NORAD for a period of three years.