Colonel (Retired) Pierre Leblanc, MBA, OStJ, CD
Pierre was born and raised in Montréal, Québec. At 17, he joined the Canadian Forces and attended the Collège militaire royal de Saint-Jean in 1967. After graduating, he joined the Royal 22 e Régiment (Infantry) and saw service in a number of countries including England, Germany (NATO), Cyprus (peacekeeping) and, India and Nepal (Defence Adviser). He commanded 1Commando and the Infantry School, and held senior staff appointments at National Defence Headquarters (NDHQ). In 1994 he was the Director General for Reserves and Cadets where he oversaw the Ranger Program and was involved in the establishment of the Junior Ranger Program. In 1995, he took command of Canadian Forces Northern Area (Yukon, Nunavut and Northwest Territories) where he served until his retirement in September of 2000.
After his retirement he continued to be an advocate for increasing security assets in the Canadian Arctic. He has published a number of papers and articles on the Canadian Arctic. He has appeared regularly on national television and radio news. He is also regularly quoted in the printed media.
In September 2000, he joined Diavik Diamond Mines Inc. in Yellowknife, NWT, where he was the Vice President of Corporate Affairs. In May of 2003, he formed Canadian Diamond Consultants Inc. to provide advice in the exciting and emerging Canadian diamond industry. His office was in Yellowknife, Canada, the heart of the Canadian diamond commercial activity. In 2004 he relocated to Ottawa, Ontario, the National Capital of Canada and an important political, regulatory and policy center for the Canadian diamond industry.
Pierre has a Bachelor degree in Sciences (1973). He holds a Royal Military College of Science (England) Division I diploma (1980), a one year, post graduate course in military project management. He has a Master in Business Administration degree from Queen’s University (1998).
He is an Officer of The Most Venerable Order of Saint-John of Jerusalem and the holder of a Canadian Decoration with two bars.
Chronological Work Experience
| Advocate for the Canadian Arctic | 1995 to Present |
| President, Canadian Diamond Consultants Inc. | 2003 to Present |
| Program Manager North Warning System | April 2014 to March 2016 |
| Vice President, Diavik Diamond Mines Inc. | September 2000 to May 2003 |
| Commander of Canadian Forces Northern Area | August 1995 to September 2000 |
| Director General Reserves and Cadets (NDHQ) | July 1994 to July 1995 |
| Canadian Defence Advisor India & Nepal | August 1991 to July 1994 |
| Various Command and staff appointments | July 1994 to September 1987 |
Gregg Kennedy
Gregg has thirty-five years experience within the personnel and physical security field. He spent most of his career with Canada’s Public Safety Department working with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service as an investigator, operational trainer and specialized sensitive operations manager.
Gregg is very comfortable in corporate boardrooms, conducting public relations or interacting with all types of people outside of the office.
Most recently he was the Security Manager for the joint United States - Canada Defense program in the Arctic known as the North Warning System. The program, which is contracted under Canada’s Department of National Defense, includes five manned logistic support sites in the Arctic, three operational and administrative offices in Ontario; over two hundred employees and forty seven unmanned remote radar sites located along Canada’s far north region from coast to coast.
Gregg’s diverse contacts and experience with the public, large organizations and in the security field has provided him credibility in working with senior management, various levels of Government, conducting sensitive investigations, assessing personnel screening applications for security and Controlled Goods clearances, conducting Threat Risk Analysis, managing security crisis, developing policy and operating procedures as well as providing security related training and briefings.
He is a certified Wildlife Protection Monitor and has provided security protection from polar bears and other indigenous wildlife for teams working in Canada’s Arctic. While at Raytheon Canada Limited he was responsible for the acquisition of Federal Business Firearms licenses, developing wild life standard operating procedures, facilitating wildlife protection training for personnel, sourcing wildlife protection monitors from local Northern communities, purchasing and delivery of firearms and ammunition, and implementing procedures for the armed Wildlife Protection Monitors on the North Warning System program.
Gregg has contributed to various local community and charity groups as a volunteer and Senior Board of Director as well as being an active sailing instructor with the Canadian and American Sailing programs.
Chronological Work Experience
Ronald J. Kroeker
Ron recently retired from leading the Northern SAR portfolio at the National Search and Rescue Secretariat in Ottawa which included more than year and a half experience as the Acting Director of Policy and Programs. His primary objective was the improvement of Northern SAR in Canada's northern regions in collaboration with federal, provincial, territorial and private sector organizations involved in search and rescue. In so doing, he built on the extensive knowledge and experience that he had gained working with Northern organizations and in his ten previous years of strategic planning in the Department of National Defence and twenty-three years of military service across Canada and the United States.
While at the NSS, he was instrumental in establishing the Northern SAR Roundtable, a forum that is dedicated to improving communications and interoperability between search and rescue partners operating in the North. Active partners include the territorial governments of the Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut and the region of Nunavik, along with the six federal departments involved in the federal SAR program which includes the Canadian Forces, Canadian Coast Guard, Transport Canada, Environment Canada, Parks Canada and the RCMP as well as volunteer SAR organizations represented by the Search and Rescue Volunteer Association of Canada (SARVAC) the Civil Air Search and Rescue Association (CASARA) and the Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary (CCGA).
Prior to his work with SAR at the NSS, he was a strategic planner with Chief Military Personnel at National Defence Headquarters in Ottawa. Notable activities there included building a team and a process to analyze DND/CF capital acquisition programs from a strategic HR perspective. This was a natural development of expertise gained as a project manager leading the efforts to integrate activity-based costing with performance measurement linked to the development and implementation of CMP strategic/business plans. He was seconded to the Treasury Board of Canada to assist in the development of Planning, Reporting and Accountability Structures (PRAS) Departmental Performance Reports (DPR) and Reports on Plans and Priorities (RPP) for as part of the federal government’s implementation of Results Based Management.
Initially trained as a navigator, Ron’s military career, spanning 23 years, took him across Canada from coast to coast including a tour in the USA. Military service included experience in personnel administration, base management, training and management development.
Ron is a director at the Canadian Safe Boating Council (Volunteer) since May 2016.
Education:
University of Toronto
Rotman School of Management, Executive HR Program, 2003 - 2004
The University of Western Ontario
MBA, Strategic Planning, 1987 - 1989
University of Manitoba
B.Comm. Honours, Business Administration, 1970 – 1974
John Hampson P.Eng, CD.
John was born in Wainwright, Alberta and as the son of a Military Officer, travelled extensively around the world, interacting with many diverse cultures. John enrolled into the Canadian Armed Forces at 17, and graduated from Carleton University with a Bachelor of Engineering Degree. Upon completion of his undergraduate program he served with the Airborne Engineers where he commanded the construction of a 5000 ft runway on the pack ice near the North Pole (OP CESAR). John further served his country at home and abroad in ever more challenging roles, such as Operations and Training Major/Combat Diving Officer with 26 Engineer Regiment, a unit of the British Army on the Rhine (BAOR). In the early 90’s he was employed as a Military Observer in El Salvador, Central America. Next, John served with the United Nations during the Balkan war as a Sector Engineer deployed to Tuzla, Bosnia, where he commanded 600 engineer soldiers from 8 Nations. Afterward, John deployed to Cambodia for a one year period; as a Senior Technical Advisor for the Cambodian Mine Action Centre, he was responsible for demining in Battambang Province. He subsequently attended the Canadian Forces Command and Staff course in Toronto, which enabled him to complete his Masters Degree in Defence Studies. John was then posted to Sarajevo, Bosnia for two years working with the Military Cell of the Office of the High Representative. Upon returning John commanded 31 Combat Engineer Regiment, the Windsor Regiment and Battle Group Dragon that consisted of 1200 soldiers from across Ontario which culminated in a major exercise held at the Maneuver Training Centre in Wainwright.
Since retiring after 38 years in the military, John has worked in the Arctic. He was the Site Manager at CFS Alert for a year, responsible for the effective management of most operational and maintenance activities/projects within the site and acting as a key advisor to the Commanding Officer with regards to facilities, logistics and administration. For the last six years John has been with the North Warning System as a Zone Manager in both Hall Beach and Iqaluit in Nunavut. During this time, John was responsible for the running of all operational and maintenance activities/projects within those zones, focusing primarily on the maintenance and operational readiness of prime mission equipment and systems. This also involved seeing infrastructure projects to completion and ensuring that the air and logistic support elements were always prepared for any eventuality.
John is a Professional Engineer registered in the Province of Ontario.
Chronological Work Experience
Colonel (Ret’d) David E. Barr, MSM, CD, US Bronze Star
On Sept 1st, 2014, after 38 years of service to Canada, Colonel David Barr retired from the Canadian Forces. He is presently located in downtown Ottawa (but professionally mobile), and actively seeking employment that would benefit from his extensive and recent experience at the operational and strategic/corporate level in complex multi-agency and/or multi-national operational environments in Canada, abroad, and most recently in the United Nations.
Colonel Barr enjoyed a 38 year career in the Canadian military which included command and staff experience in his Regiment (PPCLI), The Canadian Airborne Regiment, JTF 2 (Sqn Comd and Deputy Comd), and as the Founding Commander of Canadian Special Operations Forces Command (CANSOFCOM), with command operational deployments in the Balkans (twice) with UNPROFOR Company Commander), and the NATO Stabilization Force (as Commanding Officer); as Commander CANSOF Task Force Afghanistan during combat operations in 2006; and in Deputy Commander/Chief of Staff appointments in Canadian security operations for the 2002 G8 Kananaskis Summit and the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. David also has significant Strategic/Corporate Headquarters and management experience including as the Executive Assistant to two Chiefs of the Defence Staff.
David finished his military career seconded for three and a half years as the Senior Canadian Military officer to UN Headquarters, New York, in DPKO/Office of Military Affairs as the Chief of the Military Planning Service. As such he was responsible for the military planning for all 17 extant UN Peacekeeping missions, as well as the start up of the most recent six new DPKOs in Africa (including the Sudans, Mali and Central African Republic), and the Middle East (Syria). His responsibilities included close cooperation throughout the Secretariat, the deployed Missions themselves, as well as with UN humanitarian and human rights agencies, NGOs, and the broader “UN Family.” He led, or participated in as the military representative, on many technical and strategic assessment /review missions that included extensive travel to the African Union, the Congo (DRC), Abyei, Sudan, South Sudan, Liberia, Somalia, Libya, Mali, Cote d’Ivoire, Syria, Golan Heights, Lebanon, Jerusalem/Tel Aviv, and Haiti.
Recently, David was employed as a Canada/CANADEM Election Observer for the Ukraine Presidential and Parliamentary Elections in Mar-Jul 2019 which included three 10 day deployments to the “Donbas”. He also worked as a Central Poll Supervisor for Canadian Special Polls, Advance Polls and 21 Oct, 2019 Federal Election itself.
David has a BA (Political Science/RMC), an executive diploma in Asia-Pacific security studies and has completed the year long Toronto Command and Staff College, and the CF National Strategic Studies Course in Toronto (War College/Masters equivalent). He has been honoured with an MSM and the US Bronze Star. He has a current Secret Security Clearance (2027) and has an expired Government of Canada French profile of EBB (Functional).
Crystal Martin
Crystal is an Inuk originally from Sanirajak (Hall Beach), Nunavut. She has spent her entire career improving the lives of Inuit across Canada through development and implementation of Inuit-specific programs and services, and policy advancement.
Crystal has worked extensively across the Canadian Arctic managing and delivering Raytheon Canada Limited’s Inuit Benefits Management Plan and Inuit Training and Development Program to equip Inuit in becoming trained and qualified in various positions and supporting Inuit-owned businesses in contracting opportunities on the North Warning System.
She has worked for Tungasuvvingat Inuit (TI) in a variety of areas, more recently to support Ontario’s Ministry of Education in revamping the K-12 Canadian History and the Indigenous Studies Program to include Inuit history and Inuit content which provided a renewed partnership and a memorandum of understanding between the Province of Ontario and TI.
In 2017, Crystal launched Okpik Consulting, a project management firm focused on improving policies, programs and services for Inuit organizations or those working in Inuit Nunangat (homelands). She enjoys facilitating and developing client-focused programs that enhances cross-cultural understanding in workplaces.
Crystal’s passion and drive elected her to a two-year term as the President for the National Inuit Youth Council in 2019 representing Inuit Youth in Canada travelling nationally and abroad advancing Inuit youth priorities at various levels of government.
Chronological Work Experience
Pauline Baudu
Pauline has eight years of experience working on human rights including the rights of migrants and Indigenous Peoples, the climate-security nexus, Arctic security, risk-analysis and policy advice.
Her current research considers the climate-security nexus through strategic and policy analysis regarding the security impacts of climate and environmental change in the European and North American Arctic, with a special focus on implications for NATO and transatlantic defense cooperation. Her research examining prospective paradigms for NATO's High North engagement has been awarded at the Graduate Conference 2022 organized by the CDA Institute based in Ottawa. She has also provided expertise in the consultation process to inform the design of NATO's new Climate Change and Security Center of Excellence and is a member of the NATO Research Task Group on the Effects of climate change on security, where she specifically focuses on climate impacts for NATO's Northern flank. She also brings a European perspective to Arctic security, as she previously worked on issues of Svalbard's security challenges and the French Arctic strategy.
Pauline is a Senior Fellow with Arctic360, Canada's premier Arctic think tank focusing on strengthening the North American Arctic by elevating the national conversation about Canada's North and the Arctic region. She is also a Nonresident Research Fellow with the Center for Climate and Security in Washington, DC, which supports policy development to address climate risks and advance climate resilience in a security context. She is a Collaborator of the Network for Strategic Analysis based in Kingston, Ontario, where she contributes to bilingual French/English analyses on the evolving role of great powers, multilateral cooperation and the future of defense capacity-building in a context of growing climate impacts on international security.
She previously worked as a Research Assistant at the Polar Institute and the Environmental Change and Security Program of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC.
Pauline's research also builds on her eight-year experience in human rights, migrations and asylum law. In this context, she has been serving as a public official at the French National Asylum Court in Paris since 2018, providing legal expertise and country-risk analysis to inform judges in the asylum decision-making process. Her previous experience involved working on migrants' rights and non-discrimination issues with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva and diverse civil society organizations, where she has held volunteer leadership positions.
Pauline is a graduate from the French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs (IRIS Sup') in Defense, Security and Crisis Management and holds an M.A. in Crisis Analysis and Humanitarian Action from Université Savoie-Mont-Blanc as well as a B.A. in Applied Linguistics (English and Spanish) from Université de Tours.
She is fluent in English, French and Spanish.
Chronological Work Experience
