A high-powered group of military and defence leaders gathered in Halifax on Thursday. Canada’s top admiral, senior officers from NATO and NORAD, commanders from the British and Danish navies, representatives of the Canadian Coast Guard, and executives from Irving Shipbuilding and Lockheed Martin all spent the day at Hotel Halifax discussing the future of maritime defence.

The event, Canada in Alliance: Maritime Security in a Changing World, was hosted by the Naval Association of Canada and the Canadian Maritime Security Network. Nova Scotia’s Minister of Growth and Development, Colton LeBlanc, opened the day. At noon, Vice Admiral Angus Topshee, commander of the Royal Canadian Navy, gave the keynote. With Battle of the Atlantic ceremonies happening this weekend, his message was straightforward: Halifax mattered in 1945, and it will matter just as much in the years ahead.

With the war in Ukraine grinding into a fourth year, China steadily building out its navy, and the Arctic opening up to new interest from Russia and others, longstanding alliances, including Canada’s relationship with the United States, are being tested.

The people in the room yesterday are the ones who decide how Canada and its allies respond.

Panels covered Arctic defence, alliance strategy, defence innovation, and what Canada’s next generation of warships will look like. Speakers included Commodore Jake French of the Atlantic Fleet, Col. Matt Snider of NORAD, LCdr Charlie Knight of the Royal Navy, Cdr Kasper Lodegaard of the Royal Danish Navy, LCol Nadia Kang of NATO, and Aaron Plamondon of Irving Shipbuilding.

Halifax has a direct stake in almost everything they discussed. Ottawa is in the middle of the biggest military spending push in a generation. New River-class destroyers, Arctic patrol vessels, and a new fleet of submarines are all on the way. Irving builds the warships. The Atlantic Fleet sails them. Stadacona trains the sailors.

That history is not abstract. One of the first Allied convoys of the Second World War sailed out of Halifax Harbour on September 16, 1939. The city was a staging ground for the longest campaign of the entire war. It was the lifeline that helped keep Britain in the fight while Hitler held the rest of Europe.

Last night, the same crowd gathered for a gala honouring HMCS Sackville, the last surviving Allied corvette of the Battle of the Atlantic and Canada’s official Naval Memorial. More than 120 were built in Canada during the war. Sackville is the only one left in the world.

Commemorative ceremonies take place Sunday at Point Pleasant Park.

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