CDSN 2020-2021 Annual Report
Rapidly adjusting to the unprecedented impacts of COVID-19, the CDSN continued to deliver outstanding events, cutting edge research, and reliable and timely analysis during our second year. Once again, we depend greatly on our amazing partners, our wonderful staff, and the countless experts who participated in CDSN events in 2020 and 2021. 2020 was a year unlike any other. I am immensely proud of the work we have accomplished and the collaborations that our team was able to foster, often from their living rooms while juggling family responsibilities and various lockdown restrictions. Determined to keep Canadians connected and informed, we continued most of our events and added some new ones, building momentum despite an unpredictable and challenging environment.
The crises facing the Canadian Armed Forces from without and from within reinforced our determination to provide policy-relevant research, to build connections within and beyond Canada, and to amplify the work of our members and partners. We were proud to see co-directors Alan Okros and Stéfanie von Hlatky, as well as other members of the CDSN, provide testimony to the House of Commons Defence Committee on the sexual misconduct and abuse of power scandals. Several members, including the CDSN’s first post-doctoral fellow, Linna Tam-Seto, spent much time engaging the media to discuss the ramifications of the revelations and to suggest potential paths forward. Our COVID Response Conference in April 2020 inspired new research as well as providing a model for DND’s own networks.
We have added three new partners: Institut Militaire de Québec, Réseau d’analyse stratégique/Network for Strategic Analysis, and the Dallaire Centre of Excellence for Peace and Security. We continue to reach out to foster relationships with other organizations, so we are likely to announce new partners in our third year.
In sum, we have adapted to the new circumstances, developed new research agendas, engaged the public, the government, and the media, and have continued to build connections with the many elements of the Canadian defence and security community. Crises often reveal character, and the pandemic revealed that the CDSN and its partners are building a reliable, sustainable network of defence and security expertise.
Sincerely,
Director, Canadian Defence and Security Network
