Is Canada’s Military Ready for Trump?

For months now, Canadians have had their eyes locked on the border, anxiously anticipating what fresh, destabilizing hell America’s mercurial president will visit upon us next. Way up north, meanwhile, another turf war is brewing as Russia, China and, yes, the U.S. slowly encroach on Canada’s third (and largest) coast. As global warming melts our natural icy defences—opening up new shipping routes and access to critical minerals—we’ve been forced to find new ways to protect our Arctic interests. That’s Jennie Carignan’s territory.

Carignan is no stranger to danger. Before she was appointed the country’s first female chief of the defence staff last July, she helped defuse land mines in Bosnia’s farm fields, kept the peace in the Golan Heights and led NATO forces in Iraq during her trailblazing three-decade career in the Canadian Armed Forces. Now, Gen. Carignan—and the nearly 95,000 military members under her command—face threats on a few fronts: online (disinformation), on Earth (new tensions with our oldest ally) and in space (if you can process that). The good news? She’s on track to hit her recruitment quota for the year—possibly thanks to Trump’s provocations.

Well, you’re less than a year into this job and Canada’s already had a minor annexation scare. How has it been otherwise?

I’ve been networking with my colleagues in Ottawa, our allies, my American colleagues and our partners in the Indo-Pacific and in NATO. It’s been a lot of time on the road. But the worst thing during a crisis is to try to sort out difficult problems with people you don’t know.

You used the word “crisis” there. Before your predecessor, Wayne Eyre, left the post, he said that the period we’re living in is more chaotic and dangerous than any since the end of the Cold War. You’ve been in the Forces for more than 30 years—do you agree?

Humanity has consistently gone through cycles, but I would agree that the threat has changed in the past four or five years, post-pandemic. China has become more aggressive, and there’s open conflict in Ukraine since the Russian invasion. Given how fast information travels, situations can change very quickly. With social media, you can gather thousands of people at a moment’s notice. The speed at which the Assad regime fell in Syria was unpredictable. And who would have known that North Korea would deploy soldiers into Ukraine?

All eyes are on the Arctic these days. Canada has laid claim to the Northwest Passage, but lately, more and more Russian ships have been passing through. China’s playing up its proximity to the area. Donald Trump even sent his son to glad-hand in Greenland. Can you explain—for the navel-gazing majority of Canadians who live down along the U.S. border—why this is happening now? What do we have that everyone wants?

The area has critical minerals that everyone needs to put in their electronics. Climate change has also made it easier to cut through the region, which means countries can greatly shorten their supply routes. With more commercial traffic, you usually see more criminal activity.

Canada recently put together an Arctic foreign policy. We’re in the process of hiring an Arctic ambassador, and we’re pouring billions into new military equipment. Even with all that investment, if Russia makes a play, how safe are we, really?

It’s still difficult to operate vessels in the Arctic—it requires some very sophisticated icebreakers. We have a five-to-10-year horizon to deploy the necessary infrastructure and technology to assume a better defence. So we still have time to get ready, but we need to get going right now.

Recently, while on a training exercise in Nunavut, Chief Warrant Officer Terence Wolaniuk—wait, do you know him?

Yes.

He said that, in the Arctic, the threats are below the ice, above (and on) the ice and in space. I do not think Canadians have the bandwidth for a space war right now.

Well, space assets have increased exponentially over the last few years—that includes communication assets. The Chinese and the Russians have developed their technology, but so have we. If another country takes down your GPS satellites, for example, that affects your navigation and your operations. So, we’re not necessarily talking about fighting in space; it’s more about observation.

What would you say that Canada’s best defence is against these military superpowers? The home advantage?

Our geography used to protect us fairly well, but that’s not so much the case anymore. What we do have is our allies. Having lots of friends is our strength.

Interesting you say that now, what with America threatening to leave NATO—and absorb us. Do you ever worry that there’ll come a day when we won’t be able to fall back on them?

From my perspective, the military-to-military relationship with our American colleagues is durable. We’ve been operating together in NORAD for more than 60 years, and NATO plays a role in the U.S.’s defence as well. It’s good for everybody in the end. We are absolutely conscious of what is being said, but we still need to understand what their new administration is willing to do and what its new direction will be. Then we’ll adapt.

How much of your time is spent reshaping our military’s image? Given the current diplomatic powder keg, is there a renewed interest in being taken more seriously?

There’s definitely been a realization that we need to be equipped differently to tackle new threats. For us, the last 30 years were more expeditionary—as part of another coalition or counterinsurgency operations, like in Afghanistan. Still, we never stopped training for conventional military threats. We can still bring those skills to the front.

What sorts of influences have informed your perspective on the art of war and the military’s role in the world?

We’d probably need a whole day to unpack this one. It’s not just one book. I have a strong background in philosophy, so I like to refer back to Socrates, Rousseau, Hume, Nietzsche. I’ve read a lot of strategic military thinkers: Clausewitz, Machiavelli, Sun Tzu. Nobody has the full picture on such a complex endeavour. I’ve reviewed more recent work on more current questions, like, what’s a just war?

Physical stamina aside, you’d have to have a high mental tolerance for danger in your line of work. Did you always possess a certain fearlessness?

I was a rebellious kid. Ask my parents. We need to be careful here, though—we don’t need to be superhuman. We do a lot of work to train and prepare people over time; we’re not throwing anyone into the deep end on the first day. Plus, there are 108 different trades in the military.

You once entertained the idea of becoming a professional dancer. What ultimately pushed you down the road to enlisting?

Dance was available to me as a young girl; hockey was not. As I grew up, I wanted more independence, so I applied to the Royal Military College. I also liked science, engineering, sports—and I was bilingual. I wanted to contribute to something bigger than myself. All of that attracted me. The soldier and the dancer aren’t that far apart, either; both require the right mix of strength and discipline.

Wasn’t it you who was responsible for reinstating ballroom dancing classes to the military?

[Laughs.] Yes, it’s an initiative we had at the college.

And you thought: This needs to come back?

Dance teaches you how to treat people with respect in close proximity—social skills. We have a lot of young adults, so we needed to make that interesting. The room was packed, even though nobody was ordered to show up. (We can do that, though.)

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.