Vanguard Magazine

4 DECEMBER 2025/JANUARY 2026 www.vanguardcanada.com E D I T O R' S N O T E As we stand on the edge of 2026, it feels as though technology dominates our lives like never before. Artificial intelligence, ro- botics, quantum computing, gene editing and synthetic biology, new energy systems - the list keeps growing. A familiar part of this narrative is the belief that people are being pushed aside, with jobs disappearing and social behaviours shifting seemingly overnight. This issue of Vanguard suggests a more complicated reality. Technology may be a core theme, but the actual thread connect- ing every feature is people. The bottom line is this: human capability is very often the true bottleneck holding back change. No amount of technological investment will matter if the people system underpin- ning it fails. Getting that piece right is fun- damental to success. At the recent Deep Blue 2025, our best-attended event yet, I'm proud to say, speakers repeatedly underscored the value of people. As summarized by Norman Jolin in his summary article, the biggest threat to the Canadian Patrol Submarine Project, the Navy's effort to replace the Victoria-class submarines, is "the ability to deliver trained people in time." And in her keynote address, Paula Folkes, Associate Assistant Deputy Minister at Public Ser- vices and Procurement Canada, empha- sized the central role of people in asserting Canada's sovereignty. As Jolin noted of her remarks: "All of this is only achievable with trained and educated people, and she chal- lenged industry and academia to create these people." I'd also like to thank the Canadian Glob- al Affairs Institute for allowing us to re- print a compelling feature from Dr. Kevin Budning and Dr. Alex Wilner of the Nor- man Paterson School of International Af- fairs, focused on the value of the synthetic environment (SE) to the CAF. They high- light one of the most persistent challenges facing our Forces: chronic recruitment, retention, and training delays. As they write, "the SE could play an outsized role in addressing this bottleneck by allowing recruits to begin certain modules earlier… ultimately shortening the timeline from BMQ to fully qualified operator." Properly applied, the SE can shorten training pipelines, enable parallel learn- ing across locations, increase the quality of training, and reduce long wait times, "en- hancing retention and morale, since long wait times are one of the leading reasons once-motivated recruits disengage and leave the Forces." In his Last Word, Ian Mack rightly notes that procurement success is as much about people and culture as it is about proce- dures. He is clear that one of the biggest obstacles facing the public service is a deeply ingrained risk-averse mindset that, while often well-intentioned, ultimately makes it harder to achieve desired out- comes. He calls on the sector to reassess culture, attract the right leaders and talent, and lean more heavily on sound judgment. As he concludes, "Leaders must act like bulldozers by removing risks to the execu- tion team's progress." Lastly, we are delighted to kick off 2026 with our upcoming conferenc- es: C4ISR and Beyond taking place at the National Arts Centre ofn Janu- ary 27th and the ShipTech Forum on February 24th at the same location. Check out our stellar speaker line up at https://C4ISRandBeyond.ca and ShipTech- Forum.ca respectively for complete details and registration information. Looking forward to seeing you there! Terri Pavelic, Editor-in-Chief EDITORIAL E D I TO R-I N-C H I E F | T E R R I PAV E L I C terri@promotivemedia.ca P U B L I S H E R A N D E X E C U T I V E E D I TO R | J. R I C H A R D J O N E S john@promotivemedia.ca E D I TO R | M I C H A E L M AC M I L LA N CONTRIBUTORS D R. K E V I N B U D N I N G D R. A L E X W I L N E R N O R M A N J O L I N I A N M AC K EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD LGen S T U A RT B E A R E (Ret'd) Col R I C H A R D F AWC E TT (Ret'd) Capt(N) N O R M A N J O L I N (Ret'd) Col P I E R R E L E B LA N C (Ret'd) CA R I N N A L I N S H A N N O N McC L U R E SALES D I R E CTO R, CO N T E N T & B U S I N E S S D E V E LO P M E N T | DAV I D B LO N D E A U david@promotivemedia.ca ART & PRODUCTION A RT D I R E CTO R | E L E N A PA N KOVA elena@promotivemedia.ca S U B S C R I P T I O N S A N D A D D R E S S C H A N G E S C I RC U LAT I O N S E RV I C E S | circulation@promotivemedia.ca Publisher's Mail Agreement: 40052410 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to circulation dept. 21374, 2nd Concession Rd, East Gwillimbury, ON, L9N 0H7 Vanguard magazine is published 6 times per year by Promotive Communications Inc. All opinions expressed herein are those of the contributors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher or any person or organization associated with the magazine. Letters, submissions, comments and suggested topics are welcome, and should be sent to terri@promotivemedia.ca REPRINT INFORMATION: Reproduction or photocopying is prohibited without the publisher's prior written consent. High quality reprints of articles and additional copies of the magazine are available through circulation@promotivemedia.ca PRIVACY POLICY: We do not sell our mailing list or share any confidential information on our subscribers. VANGUARD OFFICE 21374, 2nd Concession Rd, East Gwillimbury, ON, L9N 0H7 Phone: (905) 727-3875 THE FORUM FOR CANADA'S SECURITY AND DEFENCE COMMUNITY

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