Canadian Military Journal [Vol. 23, No. 4, Fall 2023]

In June, the Armed Forces Council Executive approved the Canadian Military Journal’s transformation plan, which is made up of three pillars: quality, accessibility, and integration. The first pillar strives to ensure that CMJ’s content is timely, contemporary, and relevant. It aims to include a broad variety of topics and authors, while reaching a wider audience, and ensure all submissions are systematically reviewed. 

The aim of the second pillar is an engaged readership, which includes greater visibility and engagement of CMJ with the Defence Team, stakeholders, and the public. The third pillar includes improved and expanded digital delivery channels and an information and knowledge management strategy to make CMJ’s content more discoverable, searchable, and indexed effectively. To ensure CMJ delivers on the three pillars, its editorial board is undergoing a wholesale overhaul and expansion, and the Oversight Committee is being transformed into a Strategy Advisory Board. The intent is to ensure CMJ’s modernization and digitization to continue to deliver on its ministerial mandate: To further “intellectual debate among military professionals, public servants, researchers, academics, students, and the Canadian public.” The diversity of perspectives and ideas in this issue bears testimony to CMJ’s commitment to this mandate.

We are delighted by the substantial increase in submissions, the editorial board’s support in securing expert peer reviewers and their high-quality feedback, and the extent to which CMJ’s contributors invest in revising their submissions based on input received. The thoughtful and diverse contributions to this issue manifest the exceptional payoff of this often lengthy and onerous process. In addition, for each issue, the editorial team strives to select contributions that represent and appeal to CMJ’s diverse readership across uniformed members, trades, ranks, environments, genders, the Defence Team and other civilians, and topics. Apologies to the Air Force, which gets short shrift in this issue. Nevertheless, CMJ’s editorial team is looking forward to a commemorative issue in honour of the RCAF’s 100^th anniversary in 2024.

“The Indigenous Warrior Code of Honour,” by Dr. Robert Falcon Ouellette and Elders Dr. Winston Wuttunee and Melvin Swan, calls for a shift in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) ethos by embracing an Indigenous perspective, particularly Warrior Codes. It highlights the holistic nature of this Indigenous worldview, emphasizing spirituality, interconnectedness, and a balanced way of life. The Cree Warrior Code consists of four interconnected aspects and is complemented by the Seven Grandfather Teachings, which promote knowledge, humility, bravery, love, respect, honesty, and truth. The article illustrates how these principles were demonstrated in a historical conflict resolution between the Cree and Blackfoot tribes, showing how incorporating Indigenous wisdom into the CAF ethos stands to enhance morale and leadership values within the Canadian Armed Forces. 

Dr. Max Talbot’s innovative articles take up the Canadian Army’s vision for land operations in the face of creative adversaries with advanced weaponry. “Forward Surgical Teams” introduces the concept of “Close Engagement,” where combat teams will be agile and fluid in their movements, engaging in both kinetic and non-kinetic activities. To support this concept, the article emphasizes the importance of modern forward surgical teams to provide timely damage control surgery for combat casualties. It points out that the changing nature of conflict, with the proliferation of drones and advanced weaponry, makes the establishment of robust trauma systems challenging. As a result, forward surgical teams that are rapidly deployable, mobile, and adaptable become indispensable. The article addresses consequences for doctrinal innovation, technological advancements, and interallied cooperation in developing these teams to meet the demands of the evolving land operating environment. 

“An AOPs That Can Fight?” by Dr. Adam Lajeunesse considers Canada’s changing security landscape in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and explores the potential for enhancing the capabilities of its Arctic and Offshore Patrol Ships (AOPS) to adapt to this evolving environment. The author suggests that the shifting global security situation and the need to address hybrid threats necessitate upgrades to the AOPS, such as containerized weapon systems, UAV and AUV integration, point-defence missile systems, and expanded crew and training. Although the AOPS are unlikely to become frontline warships, these upgrades would broaden their mission capabilities by making them more adaptable to a broader range of security operations in North American waters and by addressing emerging challenges in a rapidly changing security environment.

Nova Scotians and naval historians will be drawn to “So Warm a Reception: Hybrid Warfare and the Naval Encounter at Tatamagouche.” It touches on the role of the naval encounter at Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia as part of the 1745 Anglo-American campaign against Louisbourg. Lieutenant-Colonel Alan Anderson Lockerby emphasizes the importance of incorporating Canadian historical examples of hybrid warfare, such as the encounter at Tatamagouche, into our interpretation of modern hybrid warfare in CAF professional military education. 

This issue also contains two articles specific to Professional Military Education. Adam Chapnick and Major Marshall Gerbrandt discuss distance learning and draw from empirical and personal experience to weigh the pros and cons of military education using technology. Both applaud military members for their adaptability to different learning techniques following COVID. 

Adaptability is critical to resilience, which is the essence of “Finding Character Strengths in How Military Leaders Talk About Resilience.” As part of CMJ’s ongoing series on resilience, the article’s authors studied episodes from the Resilience Plus Podcast featuring military leaders and identified ten character strengths that leaders tend to take up in the context of resilience. These strengths are key to how leaders navigate difficult situations and showcase specific qualities that inform leadership and resilience in the military. 

Lisa Tanguay’s article “Is It Time for the CAF to Focus on Mindfulness” explores on mindfulness as a subset of resilience. The author considers how mindfulness might help CAF leadership meet moral obligations and goals and situates mindfulness as a leadership development tool.

This issue concludes with “Governed Engagement: Why The Department of National Defence Would Benefit from Increased Governance of Its Defence Capacity and Institution Building Efforts.” Lieutenant-Colonel Boddy finds that Defence Capability Building and Defence Institution Building (DCIB) activities are beset by too many stakeholders, limited coordination and unclear priorities, which a steering committee within the Defense Governance Framework (DGF) could address. This committee would facilitate the strategic value of DCIB, offer better governance, and align efforts across DND/CAF. These activities are strategically important to Canada’s security interests, hence the need to optimize scarce resources. 

CMJ’s editorial team values our authors’ and readers’ support: please feel free to reach out with your thoughts, feedback, and ideas. We are committed to bringing you quality content that informs, challenges, and inspires. In closing, we would like to welcome Deesha Kodai to the CMJ’s production team. Her skill set and positive attitude are a most welcome addition after many months of staffing challenges, enabling us to return to a more predictable publication schedule.