• Halifax Canada Club
    • Partners & Sponsors
    • Sponsorship Opportunities
    • Donate
  • Log In
Skip to content
  • Home
  • Our Work
    • HFX Taipei
    • Podcast
    • John McCain Prize
    • Fellowship
  • About
    • About Us
    • Our Team
    • Board of Directors
    • Halifax, Nova Scotia
    • Job Opportunities
    • Forum Founders
  • Partners & Sponsors
    • Club HFX
    • Partners & Sponsors
    • Sponsorship Opportunities
    • Donate
  • News & Press
  • Media Library
  • Forum
  • HFX China Handbook
  • Log In

2017 Halifax International Security Forum

2017 Halifax International Security Forum

Date
November 17-19, 2017
Location
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Participants
300

Agenda & Speakers

Friday, November 17
Saturday, November 18
Sunday, November 19

15:00-16:00

Welcome On the record

Mr. Peter Van Praagh, President, Halifax International Security Forum

Remarks from the United Nations On the record

Baroness Michèle Coninsx, Assistant Secretary General, Executive Director, Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate, United Nations

Introduction On the record

The Hon. Scott Brison, President, Treasury Board, Canada

Opening On the record

The Hon. Harjit Singh Sajjan, Minister of National Defence, Canada

The 2017 Halifax International Security Forum kicked off with remarks by Peter Van Praagh, President of the Halifax International Security Forum.

Remarks on behalf the United Nations were delivered by Baroness Michèle Coninsx, Assistant Secretary General, Executive Director, Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate, United Nations.

The Hon. Scott Brison, President of the Treasury Board of Canada, introduced the Hon. Harjit Sajjan, Canadian Minister of Defence, who welcomed participants to Halifax and to the 2017 Forum.

16:00-16:30

Halifax Chat On the record

Speakers

Senior Advisor, Halifax International Security Forum
Moderator
Mr. Robin Shepherd

Mr. Robin Shepherd

Robin Shepherd is the Senior Advisor to the Halifax International Security Forum. The author of two books – one on post-Communist transition in the former Czechoslovakia; the second on European relations with the State of Israel – he is preparing a third on the interplay between democracy and the digital revolution. Formerly the Moscow Bureau Chief of the Times of London, he joined the think tank world in Washington DC as a Public Policy Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in 2003. Since then, he has held senior positions at a range of top think tanks in the United States, Britain, and continental Europe including Chatham House, The Center for Strategic and International Studies, and the German Marshall Fund of the United States. He has been closely associated with the Halifax Forum since its inception in 2009.

Minister of National Defence, Canada
The Hon. Harjit Singh Sajjan

The Hon. Harjit Singh Sajjan

Harjit Singh Sajjan is the Minister of National Defence of Canada. He has served Canada and his community as both a soldier and a police officer. He continues his service to Canada as the Member of Parliament for Vancouver South and as Minister of National Defence. Minister Sajjan is a retired Lieutenant-Colonel in the Canadian Armed Forces and a combat veteran. He was deployed to Bosnia-Herzegovina and served three separate deployments to Kandahar, Afghanistan. Minister Sajjan has received numerous recognitions for his service, including the Meritorious Service Medal for reducing the Taliban’s influence in Kandahar Province. He is also a recipient of the Order of Military Merit, one of the military’s highest recognitions. Minister Sajjan was a police officer with the Vancouver Police Department for 11 years. He completed his last assignment as a Detective-Constable with the Gang Crime Unit specializing in organized crime. He proudly tackled gang violence and drug crimes in Vancouver. Minister Sajjan is also a human security specialist, and has lectured to a wide audience in both Canada and the United States.

Secretary General, North Atlantic Treaty Organization
H.E. Mr. Jens Stoltenberg

H.E. Mr. Jens Stoltenberg

Jens Stoltenberg is the Secretary-General of NATO. While Mr. Stoltenberg was Prime Minister, Norway’s defence spending increased steadily, with the result that Norway is today one of the Allies with the highest per capita defence expenditure. Mr. Stoltenberg has also been instrumental in transforming the Norwegian armed forces, through a strong focus on deployable high-end capabilities. Under his leadership, the Norwegian Government has contributed Norwegian forces to various NATO operations. During his tenure as Prime Minister, Mr. Stoltenberg frequently called for NATO to focus on security challenges close to Allied territory. Mr. Stoltenberg is a strong supporter of enhanced transatlantic cooperation, including better burden-sharing across the Atlantic. He sees NATO and the EU as complementary organisations in terms of securing peace and development in Europe and beyond. Mr. Stoltenberg has had a number of international assignments. These include chairing the UN High-level Panel on System-wide Coherence and the High-level Advisory Group on Climate Change Financing. He was also UN Special Envoy on Climate Change.

Halifax Chat (Begins at 38:00)

In the weekend’s first Halifax Chat, discussion focused on Canada’s recommitment to peacekeeping with the United Nations and NATO’s role in the face of changes in America and the European Union. On the heels of the 2017 UN Peacekeeping Defence Ministerial in Vancouver, B.C., Canada’s Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan emphasized the country’s military leadership in Latvia and Ukraine and that bolstering Canada’s peacekeeping abilities reflects the will of the people. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg welcomed the European Union’s new Permanent Structured Cooperation as an opportunity for a more secure and well-defended European continent. Both noted that despite rhetoric about NATO in the United States, America continues to be a leader and active participant in NATO. There was overwhelming consensus that women must be involved in all aspects of military operations, and that there must be more women in uniform if lasting peace and security is to be achieved.

“Together, we share not only a military alliance, we share a common vision for global progress.”

— The Hon. Harjit Singh Sajjan

“I am confident that the United States is committed to NATO and to the Trans-Atlantic bond.”

— H.E. Mr. Jens Stoltenberg

16:30-17:00

Coffee Break

17:00-18:00

Plenary 1: Peace? Prosperity? Principle? Securing What Purpose? On the record

Speakers

Editor, Foreign Affairs
Moderator
Dr. Gideon Rose

Dr. Gideon Rose

Gideon Rose has been Editor of Foreign Affairs since 2010, after serving as Managing Editor of the magazine from 2000-2010. Prior to that he was Deputy Director of Security Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, and from 1994-1995 he served as Associate Director for Near East and South Asian Affairs on the staff of the National Security Council. He received a BA in Classics from Yale and a Ph.D. in Government from Harvard, and has taught American foreign policy at Princeton and Columbia. He is the author of How Wars End (Simon & Schuster, 2010) and other works.

Director, President and Chief Executive Officer, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
Ms. Jane Harman

Ms. Jane Harman

Ms. Jane Harman resigned from Congress in February 2011 to join the Woodrow Wilson Center as its first female Director, President and CEO. Representing the aerospace center of California during nine terms in Congress, she served on all the major security committees and has made numerous Congressional fact-finding missions to hotspots including North Korea, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay. Recognized as a national expert on security and public policy issues, Harman received the Defense Department Medal for Distinguished Service, the CIA Seal Medal, the CIA Director’s Award and the National Intelligence Distinguished Public Service Medal. She is a member of the Defense Policy Board, State Department Foreign Policy Board, CIA External Advisory Board, the Director of National Intelligence’s Senior Advisory Group, and is a Trustee of the Aspen Institute and the University of Southern California. A product of Los Angeles public schools, Harman is a magna cum laude graduate of Smith College and Harvard Law School.

United States Permanent Representative, United States Mission to NATO
Ambassador Kay Bailey Hutchison

Ambassador Kay Bailey Hutchison

Ambassador Kay Bailey Hutchison was sworn in as the Permanent Representative of the United States to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on August 15, 2017. From 1993-2013, she served as a U.S. Senator from Texas and was also elected to a Senate leadership position. Ambassador Hutchison gained extensive international experience and developed a deep understanding of NATO as a Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. She also served as Chairman of the Military Construction Subcommittee and as a Member of the Defense Subcommittee on the Senate Appropriations Committee. She served two terms as Chairman of the Board of Visitors of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

Professor of History, University of Toronto
Dr. Margaret MacMillan

Dr. Margaret MacMillan

Dr. Margaret MacMillan is a Professor of History at University of Toronto. She was the fifth Warden of St Antony’s College, Oxford from 2007 to 2017. Her books include Women of the Raj (1988, 2007); Paris 1919: Six Months that Changed the World (2001) for which she was the first woman to win the Samuel Johnson prize; and Nixon in China: Six Days that Changed the World (2007); The Uses and Abuses of History and The War That Ended Peace (October 2013). Her most recent book is History’s People (February 2016). She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a Senior Fellow of Massey College, University of Toronto, Honorary Fellow of Trinity College, University of Toronto, and of both St Antony’s and St Hilda’s Colleges, University of Oxford. She sits on the board of the Mosaic Institute, and the editorial boards of International History and First World War Studies. She also sits on the Advisory Board Institute for Historical Justice and Reconciliation and is a Trustee of the Rhodes Trust.

Robert Bosch Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution
Dr. Constanze Stelzenmüller

Dr. Constanze Stelzenmüller

Constanze Stelzenmüller is the Robert Bosch senior fellow in the Center on the United States and Europe at Brookings. Prior to working at Brookings, she was a senior transatlantic fellow with the German Marshall Fund of the United States, where she directed the influential Transatlantic Trends survey program. Her areas of expertise include: transatlantic relations; German foreign policy; NATO; the European Union’s foreign, security, and defense policy; international law; and human rights. Stelzenmüller is the former director of GMF’s Berlin office. From 1994 to 2005, she was an editor for the political section of the German weekly DIE ZEIT, where she had also served as defense and international security editor and covered human rights issues and humanitarian crises. From 1988 to 1989, she was a visiting researcher at Harvard Law School. She has also been a GMF campus fellow at Grinnell College in Iowa, a Woodrow Wilson Center public policy scholar in Washington, D.C., and a member of the Remarque Forum.

World War II. Korea. 9/11. These have been key moments when western states came together in defence of freedom, democracy and shared values. Yet today, the people’s faith in democracy and international institutions is under threat. Neo-Nazis are also emboldened. The political divide is no longer just left versus right, but increasingly it is between those who value liberalism and those who do not. Panelists discussed the future of the principles for which men and women a generation ago fought and died – especially in light of a recent rise of populism, individualism and radical protests in a number of democratic countries. Panelists noted that during this democratic stress test – the greatest that this generation has faced – domestic problems must be solved while valuing the post WWII international order. Suggestions ranged from classes in civics to fostering grassroots solutions to encouraging a greater diversity of views in foreign affairs. All agreed that the way forward is still uncertain, but the work begins through cooperation.

“Presidential words and tweets carry their own throw-weight.”

— Dr. Constanze Stelzenmüller

“Although we have our differences in our alliance, it is a unified alliance, and it is unified to make sure we have a security umbrella for our freedoms and our way of life.”

— Ambassador Kay Bailey Hutchison

“I applaud the notion of educating every kid…getting from here to there, even in America is going to be a real reach.”

— Ms. Jane Harman

“I think we have to find a way to absorb immigrants, not to push them out.”

— Ms. Jane Harman

18:30-19:30

Reception

LOCATION: Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21

18:15

Shuttle to Pier 21

LOCATION: Westin Lobby

19:30

Gala Dinner

Presentation of the Builder Award to NATO

21:30

Night Owl Sessions

Real Conflict Solutions: The World After Vancouver
LOCATION: Tradewinds

SPEAKERS:

  • Ms. Rita Manchanda, Research Director, South Asia Forum for Human Rights
  • The Hon. Harjit Singh Sajjan, Minister of National Defence, Canada
  • H.E. President Hashim Thaçi, President, Republic of Kosovo
  • MODERATOR: Ms. Jacqueline O’Neill, President, Inclusive Security

 

North Korea: Jaw Jaw or War War?
LOCATION: Atlantic Ballroom

SPEAKERS:

  • General Bryan Fenton, Deputy Commander, United States Pacific Command
  • Dr. Sung-han Kim, Dean and Professor, Graduate School of International Studies and Division of International Studies and Director, Ilmin International Relations Institute, Korea University
  • Admiral Yoji Koda, Vice Admiral (Ret.), Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force, Japan
  • Vice Admiral Tomohiko Madono, Deputy Director General, Defense Plans and Policy Department (J5), Joint Staff, Ministry of Defense, Japan
  • Ms. Yun Sun, Senior Associate, The East Asian Program, Stimson Center
  • MODERATOR: Dr. Michael Auslin, Williams-Griffis Fellow in Contemporary Asia, Hoover Institution, Stanford University and Author of The End of the Asian Century

 

The Uninvited Voter: Rigged by Cyber
LOCATION: Harbour B

SPEAKERS:

  • Ms. Greta Bossenmaier, Chief, Communications Security Establishment, Canada
  • Minister Jüri Luik, Minister of Defence, Ministry of Defence, Estonia
  • Mr. Tolu Ogunlesi, Special Assistant to the President of Nigeria on Digital and New Media, Government of Nigeria
  • MODERATOR: Dr. John Glenn, Policy Director, US Global Leadership Coalition

Clippings

Ottawa urged to intervene in Iraqi Kurds’ dispute with Baghdad
Steven Chase

“The senior envoy for northern Iraq’s Kurds – who have spent years honing their military skills under the tutelage of Canadian special forces – is calling on the Trudeau government to intervene in a growing conflict between the ethnically distinct minority and Baghdad. Falah Mustafa Bakir visits Canada on Friday for the annual Halifax International Security Forum, where he plans to ask Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan and other Canadian officials to help mediate tensions in northern Iraq over a referendum in which Kurds voted to separate.”

NATO chief says they’ll have enough forces in Afghanistan
Rob Gillies

“NATO’s chief said Wednesday he is certain the alliance will have sufficient forces to fulfill its training mission in Afghanistan after months of lobbying allies to increase troop contributions. He spoke of ahead of his attendance at the Halifax International Security Forum this weekend.”

OPINION: The West has lost its way – who will articulate a new vision?
Janice Gross Stein

“All over the developed democratic world, people are asking: “Who are we?” and “What do we stand for?” A fierce controversy about free speech is roiling university campuses from Budapest to Berkeley. An angry politics of exclusion, given voice by populist leaders, is generating renewed discussion of who’s in and who’s out. Evidence is less and less important as charges of racism, bigotry, fake news, and political correctness clog social media.”

'Canada does not engage in death squads,' while allies actively hunt down their own foreign fighters
Evan Dyer

“Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan said his department’s job is ensuring foreign fighters don’t become a threat. “We will make sure that we put every type of resource into place so Canadians are well protected,” he told a crowd at the Halifax International Security Forum on Friday.”

NATO head praises Canada's support for peace missions
Bruce Campion-Smith

“NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg is praising Canada’s commitment to peace operations and says it comes as the military alliance considers greater cooperation with the United Nations to help with increasingly dangerous missions. “NATO has lots of experience in operating in dangerous environments and therefore we can help the UN with training, sharing our experience in operating non-permissive environments,” Stoltenberg said in a telephone interview Friday from Halifax, where he is among the delegates attending the Halifax International Security Forum.”

NATO apologizes to Turkey over reports Erdogan shown as foe
Suzan Fraser

“NATO’s secretary-general apologized to Turkey on Friday over military exercises in Norway during which Turkey’s founding leader, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, and the current president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, were reportedly depicted as “enemies.”

More News & Press

In Pictures

Jonathan Vance (Chief of the Defence Staff, Canadian Armed Forces) shakes hands with Harjit Sajjan (Minister of National Defence of Canada)

Follow the Halifax International Security Forum

 

Follow us at @HfxForum for regular updates, quotes and pictures from the plenary floor

 

Take part in the conversation by using the hashtag

#HISF2017

 

Like our Facebook page and follow The Forum’s proceedings over Facebook Live

 

Live stream the plenaries as they happen on our website

FOLLOW @HFXforum ON TWITTER

“The invasion of Ukraine marks a turning point. It threatens our entire post-war order." - Olaf Scholz, Chancellor of Germany Strategic cooperation among democracies has never been so important. Thanks to @DrJJanes for the great insight. Read here: gmfus.org/news/ukraine-w…

16 mins ago

Congratulations to HFX Global Chair Strategy & Innovation and @DLA_Piper Northern California Managing Partner Dean Fealk on his Wall Street Journal bestselling book! If you are looking to magnify your influence, be sure to check it out 👉 amazon.com/Impact-World-V…

3 hours ago

Peter Van Praagh jumped on the mic of @amdipstories with Amb. Pete Romero and co-host Laura Bennett. The big takeaway? Ukraine must win. americandiplomat.libsyn.com/democracy-for-…

5 days ago

Past Forums

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

  • Media Inquiries
  • Join Our Mailing List
  • Contact Us
© 2022 Halifax International Security Forum. All Rights Reserved.