A "new" field of activity for Quebec?
An event organized with the support of the Canadian Defense and Security Network (CDSN-RCDS), the Social Sciences and Humanities Reasearch Council (CRSH-SSHRC), the Ecole supérieure d'études internationales (ESEI), and the Ecole nationale de l'administration publique (ENAP).
An event co-lead by Prof. Anessa Kimball (Université Laval) and Professeur Stéphane Roussel (ENAP).
Click here to see the french version.
To register, click here.
Resilience and civil security preparedness are essential government functions for ensuring the safety of a society. These concepts are at the very heart of Article III of the 1949 Washington Treaty, which established the Atlantic Alliance. They cover a vast range of topic areas, such as the government's ability to maintain operations at times of crisis, the resilience of energy supply, communication, transportation, and essential goods distribution networks, the maintenance of health services, and effective cooperation between civil authorities and the armed forces. In Canada, the implementation of such activities depends not only on the federal government, but also largely on the provinces and municipalities.
In June 2025, NATO member states decided that “Allies will allocate at least 3.5% of GDP annually based on the agreed definition of NATO defence expenditure […]. And Allies will account for up to 1.5% of GDP annually to inter alia protect our critical infrastructure, defend our networks, ensure our civil preparedness and resilience, unleash innovation, and strengthen our defence industrial base.”Canada has endorsed this objective.
In this context, it is necessary to consider how the provinces, and Quebec in particular, can contribute through their security activities. This contribution can broaden the scope of the Act respecting civil protection to promote disaster resilience, which was adopted by Quebec in 2024 to address disasters caused by climate change. This Act directly calls upon municipalities, which are responsible for a substantial part of preparedness and resilience efforts.
In this context, we are holding a conference to discuss the state of resilience and civil preparedness as “security spending” as understood by NATO members. It will address topics such as the meaning, content, and limitations of the concepts of public safety and “resilience”; the role of municipalities; best practices from other governments; vulnerabilities and protection of critical infrastructure, and new technologies with the potential to cause significant destabilization. Proposed conference panel topics include public safety and resilience – concepts and communities; international perspectives and practices; critical infrastructure as a risk vector; and disruptive and emerging technologies and Quebec resilience. This event will bring together civil preparedness specialists, provincial and regional public policy researchers, experts in defence spending and NATO, as well as civil servants and students to explore this new opportunity for Quebec.
For further information, please contact justine.veilleux.3@ulaval.ca.
Program
- Diego Osorio – Associate Professor, Political Science, Laval University
- Maxime Perreault-Varin – Canadian Red Cross
- Steve Boivin – Director, Emergency Response Reserve, Quebec Ministry of Public Security
- Federico Chaves Correa – PhD student, Political Science, Laval University
- Eva Cohen – Civil Protection Youth Canada
- Jason C. Moyer – Program Director, Foreign & Security Policy, Heinrich Böll Foundation Washington, D.C.
- Magali Vullierme – Arctic Policy and Security Observatory (OPSA)
- Paul-Émile Auger – Inspector, Emergency Management Specialist
- Mykola Durman et Lev Durman – ÉNAP and University of Kherson (Ukraine)
- René Castonguay – Director, Security, Port of Quebec
- Sylvana Al Baba Douaihy – Associate Professor, ESEI, Laval University
- Younes Dadoun – ÉNAP
- David Albert – ÉNAP
