Gen. Jonathan Vance predicts busy, uncertain security environment

If the current pace of Canada's military deployments seems busy now, it's likely to get a lot more hectic and unpredictable in the future, according to the country's top soldier.

Speaking at the opening of the large defence and security trade show known as CANSEC, Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Jonathan Vance said Canada and its Western allies are facing a multitude of threats, ranging from the newly resurgent Russia to rogue states armed with weapons of mass destruction and natural disasters in Canada and overseas.

"The environment that we're in is evolving. Conflict does not seem to be slowing down," Vance said in his wide-ranging remarks Wednesday morning.

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The general said decisive military victories are long gone. Instead, Canada and its allies often find themselves having to stitch together and reweave the social, political and economic fabric of the communities and nations that they operate in while they are still fighting.

Focusing on conflict prevention

"Clear wins are hard to achieve and measure," he said. The types of threats Canada and its allies face "do not necessarily lend themselves to cataclysmic wins or losses. I think we have to turn our mind to conflict prevention."

Vance said this means that the Canadian military has to become increasingly interoperable not only with its Western allies and with Canada's own government departments and security agencies, but also with other forces.

"We need to build the great links that we have with other departments to be able to operate with various levels of government with ease... to be able to operate on very short notice in emergency conditions all the way through to (the) long range of campaign management efforts," he said.

Think before shooting

The chief of defence staff also called for a better understanding of what causes conflicts.

"We have to do a better job of thinking and understanding before we start shooting," Vance said. "We do not want to go places in the world where we make enemies because we made friends with the wrong people."

In the meantime, Canada's military is keeping up a hectic deployment tempo. During his speech, Vance touched on the various deployments Canada is involved in and missions on the horizon.

Canada will have about 330 special forces soldiers deployed in northern Iraq by mid-summer, Vance said.

The Canadian government withdrew its fighter jets in Iraq and Syria in February, but Vance was firm Canada's Aurora spy plane provides vital intelligence and its refueling planes support coalition air strikes to degrade Islamic State forces in Syria and Iraq.

"We learned in Afghanistan that it's better for local forces to achieve their security aims than it is for others to hand it to them," he said.

Vance said Canada is also looking for opportunities to increase military co-operation in the wider Middle East region.

"We've got forces deploying to Lebanon and Jordan to specifically help and support their border forces," Vance said. "By the end of the summer, we'll have about 830 people (in the region). It's our largest international commitment since we were in Afghanistan."

Shoring up Eastern Europe

The Canadian military is also active in other regions of the planet.

Vance said NATO heads could take a stronger stance against a "resurgent Russia."

"We'll see this materialize, perhaps, culminate in some decisions this summer at the Warsaw summit, where NATO heads of government will decide on the way ahead."

Canada has a 220-soldier strong task force as part of Operation Reassurance, a NATO-led mission prompted by Russia's recent aggression against Ukraine. About 200 Canadian soldiers are also deployed in Ukraine as part of Operation Unifier, designed to train the Ukrainian military in the face of the threat posed by Russia.

New challenges

Canadian Armed Forces are also busy protecting the North American continent as part of NORAD, a bilateral U.S.-Canadian command, designed to protect the North American airspace and now also its maritime borders, Vance said.

"I expect in the future we'd be looking at all perils and threats to the continent and where NORAD may very well become North American defence as opposed to simply aerospace defence in the face of increasing Russian capability," Vance said.

The Canadian military also has had the task of assisting Canadian authorities, as well as international partners, in disaster relief operations in Canada, Nepal, Philippines and West Africa.

"We're enabling others because we're so well-trained and so well-equipped, we are able to enable others and teach, and train, and help people manage their own destinies," Vance said.