Editor’s Note
Welcome to Issue 11 of the In Defence of Canada Briefing.
At CANSEC 2026, the federal government detailed the operational mechanisms for its new Defence Investment Agency (DIA) and Defence Industrial Strategy, including the launch of the Defence Advisory Forum (DAF). With Canada meeting its 2% NATO spending target and projecting $180 billion in direct defence procurement over the next decade, the DAF will advise on how capital is deployed to build domestic sovereign capability.
During his address, Prime Minister Mark Carney reaffirmed upcoming investments in over-the-horizon radar, quantum computing, AI, and drones—modernization efforts that rely heavily on space-integrated C4ISR architecture.
To support local industry scaling, the government announced it will act as an “anchor customer” for companies investing in domestic R&D and local supply chains. Additional measures include a new 90-day procurement approval standard and a “Canadian Company Boost,” which credits companies performing at least 70% of their work domestically as if they achieved 100%.
Marc Boucher
Editor-in-Chief
SpaceQ Media Inc.
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The Lead
At CANSEC 2026, the federal government detailed its new Defence Industrial Strategy and the launch of the Defence Advisory Forum (DAF). With Ottawa projecting $180 billion in direct defence procurement over the next decade, the DAF is explicitly designed to guide how that capital is deployed to build domestic sovereign capability.
Guaranteed Space Representation
Opening for industry applications on June 1, 2026, the forum will be co-chaired by the Ministers of National Defence and Industry, alongside the Secretary of State for Defence Procurement. Its mandate excludes specific procurement lobbying, focusing instead on macro-level capability planning and identifying systemic roadblocks to scaling.
Membership will rotate among senior executives from Canada’s 10 designated “sovereign capability” areas. Because “Space” is explicitly included, the commercial space sector is guaranteed a seat at the table. This establishes a critical feedback loop for industry to advise the Department of National Defence on orbital capability gaps before requirements are frozen. However, the forum’s creation does raise questions regarding potential overlap with the National Space Council.
Read the full report at SpaceQ
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Feature Analysis: Ontario Unveils Framework for 10-Year Defence Strategy
As the federal government rolls out the Defence Advisory Forum to guide its massive procurement investments, provinces are scrambling to ensure their domestic industrial bases are positioned to capture that capital.
At CANSEC 2026, the Ontario government unveiled the framework for its first-ever Ontario Defence Industrial Strategy (ODIS). The 10-year plan aims to aggressively scale the province’s military manufacturing sector, placing a significant emphasis on aerospace and the dual-use technologies that underpin modern space defence.
With Canada and its NATO allies projected to invest trillions in national security over the coming years, Ontario is making a strategic play to capture a larger share of Canada’s expected $150 billion annual core defence spending by 2035.
Targeting “Tomorrow’s Frontier”
Ontario’s defence sector currently comprises roughly 300 companies that generate $5 billion in annual revenue and employ 13,000 workers—accounting for 35% of Canada’s national defence activity by employment. Under the new strategy, the province plans to transition these existing capabilities toward higher-value, high-tech defence contracts.
The strategy document explicitly lists space systems—specifically noting “low Earth orbit satellites”—as a core component of Ontario’s current “defence advantage.” Rather than focusing solely on traditional military hardware, the strategy outlines a push into what the province terms “tomorrow’s frontier.” For the space sector, this translates into targeted industrial support across several key verticals:
- Space Domain Awareness and Computing: The framework prioritizes scaling “hard tech” in hubs like Waterloo, specifically targeting artificial intelligence and quantum computing. These dual-use technologies are increasingly vital for processing orbital tracking data and managing satellite constellations.
- Securing Space Assets: With the Canadian Armed Forces expanding its reliance on satellite communications (SATCOM) and Earth observation data, protecting ground stations and orbital links is a procurement priority. The ODIS explicitly highlights cybersecurity as a core focus area, particularly in the Ottawa tech hub.
- Upstream Supply Chain Resilience: Space hardware requires highly specialized materials. The strategy emphasizes Ontario’s lead in mining and processing critical minerals like high-grade nickel, copper, and platinum group elements, aiming to leverage its $500 million Critical Minerals Processing Fund to secure this upstream supply chain for aerospace systems.
Capitalizing on Allied Spending
The provincial strategy is heavily driven by the shifting geopolitical environment, which has forced Western allies to de-risk their supply chains and invest in resilient aerospace architectures. By scaling local industrial capacity, Ontario aims to position its firms to bid on large-scale allied projects, including the EU’s Security Action For Europe (SAFE) initiative.
To jumpstart this ecosystem, Ontario has dedicated $50 million in funding through Venture Ontario to support early-stage defence start-ups transitioning from R&D to commercial sales. The province is also focusing on leveraging its post-secondary pipeline—which produced over 94,000 STEM graduates in the 2024-25 academic year—to address skilled labour shortages in aerospace engineering and software development.
The newly appointed Ontario Military Defence Representative (OMDR) and the Ministry of Economic Development will spend the coming months consulting with industry stakeholders to refine the policy, with the finalized ODIS scheduled for a formal launch by the end of 2026.
Read the full analysis at SpaceQ
Tactical Briefs
49North, and Voyageur Aviation Form Strategic ISR Alliance: In a move to capture upcoming domestic defence contracts, MDA Space subsidiary 49 North has partnered with Voyageur Aviation. The consortium aims to deliver a fully integrated, pan-domain Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) architecture to the Department of National Defence, linking MDA’s space-based sensors directly with airborne assets and uncrewed systems to provide seamless situational awareness. Read more at SpaceQ
Calian Debuts ATHORA Platform and Cohere AI Partnership: Ottawa-based Calian Group used CANSEC to unveil ATHORA, its new pan-domain interoperability platform. Alongside the launch, Calian announced a strategic partnership with enterprise AI leader Cohere to integrate advanced artificial intelligence into the platform. The system is designed to fuse massive datasets across space, cyber, and terrestrial networks, addressing the military’s urgent need for rapid, AI-assisted decision-making in contested environments. Read more at SpaceQ
CSMC and Telesat Partner on Arctic Microreactors: Canadian Strategic Missions Corporation (CSMC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Telesat at CANSEC to integrate the Lightspeed low Earth orbit (LEO) network with CSMC’s planned Arctic microreactors. Targeting a 2030 deployment, this dual-use infrastructure aims to solve two of the military’s biggest logistical hurdles in the High North: providing reliable, off-grid power and secure, high-bandwidth connectivity for remote radar and defence installations. Read more at SpaceQ
Maritime Launch Services Anchored by $200M DND Lease in Q1: Maritime Launch Services (MLS) has released its Q1 2026 financials, officially marking its transition to a revenue-generating commercial spaceport. The quarter was defined by the transformative 10-year, $200 million lease agreement with DND. With a $20 million upfront payment received on March 31, MLS has fortified its balance sheet and is accelerating infrastructure development at Spaceport Nova Scotia to support the military’s responsive orbital launch mandates. Read more at SpaceQ
NordSpace Consortium Secures $3.2M for AI Propulsion Tech: A Canadian aerospace consortium led by NordSpace has been awarded $3.2 million from NGen. The funding will be used to integrate artificial intelligence into the advanced manufacturing of space propulsion systems, bolstering Canada’s domestic supply chain resilience and reducing bottlenecks for sovereign launch capabilities. Read more at SpaceQ
CSA Outlines Agile Procurement Amid WildFireSat Reset: The Canadian Space Agency provided critical updates to industry this week on its evolving procurement frameworks, specifically addressing concerns surrounding the recent reset of the WildFireSat program. The CSA reassured the sector that its core commitments to space robotics and Earth observation remain intact, emphasizing a transition toward more agile, iterative contracting to avoid future bottlenecks and ensure faster capability deployment. Read more at SpaceQ
The Invisible Point of Failure in Space Sovereignty: While Canada invests heavily in orbital infrastructure, a new report highlights a glaring vulnerability: geodesy. At the Space Canada Horizons conference, Catherine Robin from the Canadian Geodetic Survey warned that Canada is entirely reliant on foreign data for the daily Earth orientation parameters required for every satellite operation. Exacerbated by a lack of northern GNSS stations and the loss of Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) capabilities in 2006, this lack of domestic geodetic infrastructure represents a critical single point of failure for Canada’s space sovereignty. Read more at SpaceQ
CSA Announces 2026 ASAR/RCM Users’ Forum: The Canadian Space Agency has scheduled the 2026 ASAR/RCM Users’ Forum for October 28–30 at the John H. Chapman Space Centre. The event will gather government, military, and industry stakeholders to review advancements in Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) technology and the RADARSAT Constellation Mission—both foundational tools for Canada’s Arctic surveillance and space domain awareness. Read more at the CSA
COVE Demo Day Highlights “Seabed to Space” Innovation: Scheduled for June 11 in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, the 2026 COVE Demo Day will showcase deployable marine and dual-use defence technologies to global military and industry leaders. As the operational lines between maritime and space domains continue to blur, the event will heavily feature space-enabled maritime intelligence networks, autonomous surface systems, and subsea sensing architectures. Read more at COVE
Global Watch
SpaceX Wins $4.16B to Move Airborne Target Detection to Space: In a massive shift for military surveillance, the U.S. Space Force has awarded SpaceX a $4.16 billion contract to develop a space-based Airborne Moving Target Indicator (AMTI) constellation. The contract effectively moves traditional AWACS and JSTARS aircraft capabilities into low Earth orbit. By proliferating radar sensors in space, the Pentagon aims to create an unblinking, globally persistent eye capable of tracking hostile aircraft, drones, and cruise missiles without putting vulnerable radar planes in contested airspace. Read more at Breaking Defense
SpaceX Secures $2.29B for Space Force’s LEO Comms Backbone: Dominating a lucrative week of Pentagon awards, SpaceX also secured a $2.29 billion contract to accelerate the Space Development Agency’s proliferated LEO communications backbone. The award further cements SpaceX’s role not just as a launch provider, but as the foundational prime contractor for the Pentagon’s next-generation military internet. The rapid scale-up underscores the U.S. military’s urgent pivot away from vulnerable, bus-sized geostationary satellites toward highly resilient, optically linked LEO mega-constellations. Read more at Breaking Defense
Think Tank Argues for “Boots on the Moon” to Counter China: A deeply detailed policy paper from the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies is making waves in Washington by arguing that uncrewed systems are no longer enough. The report asserts the U.S. Space Force must prepare to put human operators—”boots on the moon”—in cislunar space to counter China’s increasingly belligerent lunar ambitions. The authors warn that whoever controls the Moon’s strategic resources and Lagrange points will dictate the future security of the Earth-Moon operational domain. Read more at Breaking Defense
Shangri-La Dialogue Opens with Focus on Indo-Pacific Space and Defense: Asia’s premier defense summit, the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue, opened in Singapore this week against a backdrop of rising geopolitical tension. With China’s rapid military modernization and space-based capabilities accelerating, regional leaders and top U.S. defense officials are actively debating the shifting strategic balance in the Indo-Pacific. The integration of commercial space technology and Earth observation data to counter regional coercion is emerging as a critical priority for Southeast Asian defense ministries. Read more at Central Florida Public Media / AP
Transatlantic Defence Shifts Toward Software-Defined Space Architectures: In Europe, a new defense monitoring assessment highlights a profound transformation in the continent’s approach to hybrid warfare. The report notes that European security frameworks are rapidly shifting away from legacy hardware primes toward the “silent authority of computational sovereignty.” By integrating artificial intelligence directly with low-Earth orbit satellite constellations and autonomous edge systems, European planners are attempting to rapidly deploy agile, software-defined space architectures that can outpace traditional military-industrial timelines. Read more at IEU Monitoring
Guest Opinion: It’s Time to Rethink the Canadian Space Agency
As the federal government aggressively scales its defence industrial base and launches new initiatives like the Defence Advisory Forum, a new commentary is urging Ottawa to take a hard look at the legacy architecture of the Canadian Space Agency.
Writing in the Financial Post, Eliot Pence, CEO of Canadian defence technology firm Dominion Dynamics, argues that it is time to fundamentally rethink the CSA through a modern national security and innovation lens. Pence points out that while the global space domain has rapidly militarized and commercialized, Canada’s institutional framework remains stubbornly anchored in a bygone era of slow-moving civil space mandates.
“The CSA’s current approach isn’t designed for the speed, iteration and industry engagement needed to develop technological leadership in space.”
For the Canadian space sector, Pence’s assessment cuts to the heart of the current procurement bottleneck. He argues that if Canada is going to achieve “sovereign manoeuvre” and effectively deploy the billions of dollars now flowing through the Defence Investment Agency, the CSA must evolve. Rather than operating as an isolated science agency, Pence suggests it needs to operate more like a rapid-adoption engine, fostering dual-use technologies and tightly integrating with the Department of National Defence’s new orbital requirements.
Without structural reform to match the speed of the commercial space industry, Pence warns that Canada risks falling further behind both its allies and its adversaries in the defining technological domain of the 21st century.
Read the full commentary at the Financial Post / Yahoo Finance
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