In order to meet Canada's national security challenges in the 21st century, the government must develop and implement a truly independent national space policy and strategy and devote much greater attention and resources to space, says a new study released by the Canadian Defence And Foreign Affairs Institute (CDFAI). The study was prepared by James Fergusson, CDFAI Fellow and Director, Centre for Defence and Security Studies-University of Manitoba and Stephen James, Research Fellow also with the Centre at the University.
"The government of Canada has not undertaken a systematic examination of outer space since 1967", notes Fergusson. "The economic and military significance of space services has grown dramatically over the last decade. Canadian policy remains relatively unchanged. Unless the government moves forward, Canada will have little influence on the manner in which existing and emerging crucial space security issues are managed."
The report details the evolution, current state and future direction of global space thinking, investment and activities and Canada's place therein. Space, or more accurately the hundreds of satellites on orbit providing a range of crucial services, has become part of the world's and Canada's critical economic infrastructure.
It has also become a vital enabler of modern military, defence and security operations. In the future, space will become an independent environment of global competition and conflict. Canada's national security will require the nation to become a major contributor to the protection and defence of this critical infrastructure.
Space services are unmatched in providing communication, remote sensing and navigation for a nation the size of Canada. These services, today and in the future, are vital to the challenges that are emerging for Canadian security, especially in the North. Canada's future economic well-being will significantly hinge upon its future investment into national space capabilities.
As James suggests, "space has a particularly deep impact on the world's advanced economies, like Canada, which daily depend upon space-based communication, remote sensing, navigation and timing. This impact will only increase in the years ahead, as will Canada's dependency and vulnerability. Notwithstanding Canada's very high reliance and critical dependence on space, the country has surprisingly little actual space capability and space awareness."
