LGen STEVE BOIVIN – Commander of Canadian Joint Operations Command

FEATURE INTERVIEW

In a wide-ranging interview, CDR’s Senior Staff Writer, Joetey Attariwala, spoke with Lieutenant-General Steve Boivin, Commander of Canadian Joint Operations Command (CJOC) to discuss the evolving scope of Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) missions both at home and around the globe.

CDR: General Boivin, thank you for taking the time to speak with CDR. It’s been one year since you took command of CJOC. How do you reflect on the past year and the tempo at the Command?

LGen Boivin: It continues to be a privilege to plan and lead Canadian Armed Forces operations. The CJOC team is amazing. We’ve got a really important mandate, and it’s really good to see everyone focusing and being so invested in delivering success on operations. Now, when you tie that to tempo, what I would tell you is the tempo is always high. It was before I got here, it continues to be, and I’ve got no different expectations this year and into the future. Why? Because the Canadian Armed Forces and our people are in high demand, and that’s both at home and abroad. CDR follows operations both at home and abroad, so you know we are in high demand in both areas. It does have different effects, but it is generally a good thing — we can be proud of our people, and we can be proud of the Canadian Armed Forces.

UPDATE ON CAF OPERATIONS

CDR: Let’s talk about the status of current operations in 2025. One of the big announcements was the renewal of Operation REASSURANCE. I’ve always been curious about permanent basing in Europe. Has that been discussed?

LGen Boivin: Yeah, it has been. If you allow me, what I’ll do is provide you with an update status of current operations and take it by priorities. Our number one priority continues to be the defence of Canada, including the Arctic. I’ll cover three operations, starting with Operation LENTUS. Op LENTUS continues to keep us busy, and we continue to be involved in servicing requests for assistance from other government departments and supporting provincial and territorial authorities. This summer, wildfires in several regions of the country have mobilized us, and we were involved in supporting other government departments, and we conducted the evacuation of multiple communities. In terms of numbers, so far this year, we have deployed 847 members, and we’ve conducted 115 days of Operation LENTUS, and it’s not complete yet as we are still servicing one request for assistance that remains. This year, we’ve used Chinooks a lot for the evacuation of communities because some of the airfields are just too short for the use of C-130s. On Operation NANOOK and operations in the Arctic, we’ve completely reviewed the operation in the last 12 months to evolve it from a presence operation to a near persistent operation to detect threats, deter adversaries, and if required, defend our sovereignty, and that’s across all domains. We continue to work NANOOK, and we’re working with joint, interagency and multinational partners, and we’re doing that in partnership with local authorities and communities. The last aspect of domestic operations is search and rescue. We continue 24/7 to have personnel and aircraft postured to support Canadians. Last year, we conducted over 600 search and rescue operations where Canadian Armed Forces assets were involved, and this year in 2025 our numbers are tracking towards the same.

Our priority number two is the defence of the Euro-Atlantic with our NATO partners. You just spoke about Op REASSURANCE, and you asked about permanent basing. On Op REASSURANCE we continue to build our multinational brigade in Latvia, and as the framework nation, or the lead nation, we continue to work with the host nation, Latvia, plus the sending nations. Altogether there are 14 nations operating within the Multinational Brigade – Latvia. Last year, we did Resolute Warrior 24 in November, which integrated the capabilities of the brigade. This year we’ll conduct Resolute Warrior 25 with the aim of validating the combat readiness of the brigade, and that all leads to us meeting our commitment for the summer of 2026 to have a brigade at full operating capability in Latvia, and we already know that we’re going to be there until 2029. On that, shifting to your question on permanent basing, we were looking at all options that would allow us to deliver on our mandate, and to relieve as much pressure as we can from the force generating elements here within the CAF.  So, we’re not at a point where we can make a decision. As you can imagine, if you look at permanent basing, it’s a relatively complex issue. It’s more than just a military aspect. You have to look at how do you support families and how you support kids’ schools? It’s an estimate that is very comprehensive, and we’ve initiated that and are looking at all the different options from the way we’re doing it now, all the way to permanent basing.

When we talk about Eastern Europe more broadly, we cannot forget the important work that we do in support of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Operation UNIFIER is our ongoing training, professionalization and capacity building mission. In addition to supporting training efforts, the CAF contributes members to the U.S.-led Security Assistance Group and to the NATO Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine missions. At any given time, we have about 300 CAF members across Europe supporting Operation UNIFIER.

Our third priority is the support to the Indo-Pacific strategy implementation, and that’s Operation HORIZON where we play a key role in advancing our strategic interests in the region, deploying three warships annually. I’ll highlight that this spring and summer we participated in Operation HIGHMAST and sailed with the UK carrier strike group, and participated in Exercise TALISMAN SABRE in Australia, that included the shoot of a Harpoon and a re-arm forward, and that’s really important because that’s exercising operational support forward, so maintaining our operations in a forward theater of operation.

Wrapping up with our last priority which is global contingencies — we continue to maintain non-combatant evacuation operations capabilities and Disaster Assistance Response Teams all on very short notice, obviously based on developing situations around the world.

URGENT OPERATIONAL REQUIREMENTS

CDR: With respect to Op REASSURANCE, and specifically the multinational brigade that Canada is leading. There are a number of urgent operational requirements that are needed to outfit the brigade with kinetic capability. Do you have everything that you need to get to full operational capability in 2026?

LGen Boivin: You’re correct, we have a number of UOR’s, or Unforecasted Operational Requirements, which included anti-armour capabilities, air defence capabilities, and for all of these, we’re either in the process of fielding those capabilities, or we fielded those capabilities, so yes, I’m happy with the progress with where we are. Obviously, as an operational commander, I want to have all the capabilities forward to address all capability gaps, but I’m really happy we are addressing those as we speak, working hand in hand with the main force generator for the Multinational Brigade – Latvia on the Canadian side, which is the Canadian Army.

CDR: Things change and evolve as time marches forward so are there any new requirements that you’ve identified that are not currently in the pipeline?

LGen Boivin: Our people forward are constantly assessing the situation and looking at what new threats face them, and new capabilities we need to have. We do our best to be responsive to that. What I would tell you is I’m personally very focused on making sure that we have the right C4ISR, so overall, command and control, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities to allow understanding of the environment and decision making at the right time, at the right place. We are very much focused on operational support and operational sustainment — so how do we make sure that we can sustain our operations? Those are the two areas that I spend a lot of time on with my headquarters in order to support our troops forward.

CDR: Drone attacks have penetrated Polish airspace in recent days. Canada had been sending relatively regular rotations of NATO Enhanced Forward Air Policing with CF-18 fighters, however that stopped a couple of years ago. Are you looking at restarting that?

LGen Boivin: We are always working with our NATO partners, looking at what is required, what is the NATO approach, and what we can contribute. In terms of the policing role, at this point in time, we are very much focused in working with the Royal Canadian Air Force to sustain our fighter platform, so no we’re not participating as we speak, but we’re always involved in the planning and looking at what we could contribute moving forward.

WHAT ARE THE MOST PRESSING THREATS
TO CANADA’S NATIONAL SECURITY?

CDR: From your operational perspective, what are the most pressing global threats to Canada’s national security today?

LGen Boivin: The operating environment continues to be very complex. I define it as uncertain and chaotic. When you look at the Russian invasion of Ukraine in Europe, when you look at the tensions in the Indo-Pacific, and when you look at what’s going on in the Middle East there’s a number of challenges that we need to pay a lot of attention to. Now, what does that mean for Canada? I look at it through the lens of domain specific threats. In the maritime domain, I’m quite concerned with strategic competition in the Arctic. We’re seeing joint Russian/Chinese sails conducting dual purpose activities, and it’s going to be of concern to all of us for our sovereignty in the North. In the air domain, we’ve seen incursions into NORAD air defence identification zone, to include long-range bombers, and that continues to test our binational detection and deterrence capabilities. NORAD, as you know, detects, tracks and intercepts those. In the cyber domain we’re seeing state and non-state sponsored activities targeting critical infrastructure. When I say I’m very much focused on C4ISR capabilities, our capability to sense and act, I’m also focused on defending against any cyber threats. In the space domain, there are some concerning technologies that disrupt space-based communications, navigation systems and ISR capabilities, and that threatens the integrity of the space domain. I would add, although not a formal domain, per se, when you think about misinformation and disinformation, the facts that are being distorted, and the confusion that this causes and how it erodes societal trust in democracies is of high concern to me. So when you ask me the most pressing global threats, you can put all of these together, and it explains why I define that operating environment as complex, uncertain and chaotic.

READ: 2024 FEATURE INTERVIEW: Steve Boivin

CDR: Force generation is a function of the Army, Air Force and Navy, and force employment is the remit of CJOC. So how are you evolving the operational readiness of CJOC to respond to increasingly complex threats?

LGen Boivin: I continue to believe that we have got to apply a mission command approach, and that’s what we do here in CJOC. For every operation, I’m focused on communicating clear objectives and the commander’s intent with end state, assigning resources, and then it comes down to delegating authorities to the lowest level to sense and understand the environment, and make decisions — trusting and allowing commanders at the lowest levels to bring success on our operations. So, when you talk about how do we evolve? That’s something that we’ve been applying for years, and it continues to be the best way to achieve success. Now here within CJOC, we are implementing what’s called the pan-domain force employment concept, or all domain operations. The idea here is we’re evolving into integrating as much as we can our understanding of the operating environment across the maritime, land, air, cyber and space domains; working as tight as we can with other government departments, with an interagency approach, and with our allies to get the best possible picture of our environment, make the best decisions, and then move forward with our operations.

CDR: That speaks to operational agility — how are you achieving operational agility if you embrace that term?

LGen Boivin: I do embrace that term. I always ask for more agility and flexibility of thoughts, so I’ll answer this question in two parts — a CJOC aspect, and then there’s operational agility for the CAF. You referred to the force generators, the branches generating people and sending them to CJOC. I look at operational agility within CJOC from the point of view of doing everything we can to sense our environment, make decisions or command, and then act upon the situation faster than adversaries. That’s how you achieve a strategic advantage and that’s how you achieve operational agility within CJOC as we command and control operations for the CAF. I really believe that it’s about adjusting quickly to the situation in order to best prepare our people as they look at future deployments. It’s about lessons learned on operations. It’s about pushing those lessons back to the services, to the force generators for these lessons learned to be included in the individual and collective training of our people to prepare them better for operations.

WHAT CHALLENGES DOES
THE CAF FACE IN THE ARCTIC?

CDR: You referenced Op NANOOK earlier. How would you characterize the operational challenges of deploying forces in the Arctic, and how are those operations evolving in light of increased international interest in the region?

LGen Boivin: We’re evolving it from what’s been a presence operation to near persistent, and I use the term ‘near persistent’ because of the operational challenges. Whenever you conduct a military operation, you go through an estimate process where you look at a number of factors that lead to decisions that dictate how you’re going to conduct your operation. In the case of the Arctic, there are two factors that are operational challenges that disproportionately influence how we operate. The first one is time and space. People have a hard time understanding the challenges of time and space. The distances are massive when we look at the Arctic. When you look at the distance from Trenton to Inuvik, we’re talking 4000 kilometers. Trenton to Iqaluit, 2500 kilometers, and that compares with Toronto to Vancouver being 3300 kilometers. Therefore, you can see that as we force project towards the north, those are very long distances, and it’s a challenge of force projection for us. That’s the first factor — time and space. The second factor is weather and climate. Yes, we talk about climate change and how the environment is more accessible, but it remains extremely harsh, and it remains very challenging for our operations. The weather factor has a disproportionate effect on how we plan and how we conduct operations. This is why a headquarters like JTFN that is based out of the north and is our permanent presence understands the environment, is linked up with local governments and local communities — it is so important to command and control our operations there.

CDR: Speaking of time and space, I assume that is why the new operational support hubs have been announced and will be so critical. I recognize you are not in procurement, but you certainly drive some requirements, so do you have enough aircraft and ships to move meaningful elements of the Canadian Armed Forces?

LGen Boivin: I’ll go back to the operational priorities I listed for you. The defence of Canada, including the Arctic, in that North American context, is our priority number one. So when you ask if we have enough resources, we prioritize resources on that first priority. In terms of air assets, the combined air operations centre in Winnipeg, acting as our Joint Force Air Component Command, does a really good job prioritizing forward planning for those Operation NANOOK serials, and making sure that we’ve got the capability to force project. Now what’s really hard to forecast is weather and the impacts of that, and how this is going to force us to adjust our operations. On the maritime portion that you asked about, the Arctic Offshore Patrol Ship has been a really good addition to the Navy’s capabilities, and it’s making some really impressive contributions in the Arctic and other regions. So I tell you that it’s a good time to be in the CAF, and we are learning and doing better and better on Operation NANOOK.

CDR: I note with interest that HMCS Max Bernays and HMCS Regina have recently been in the northern latitudes and were shadowing some Chinese ships. I think that speaks very clearly to operational agility and prioritizing the right assets.

READ: HMCS Regina Participates in Exercise JoLTEX 24 off the Coast of Southern California

LGen Boivin: You were talking about operational and tactical agility and you just referred to HMCS Max Bernays. So Max Bernays was on operations in the Arctic, and as we speak, it’s transitioning towards the Indo-Pacific theatre and will be on Operation HORIZON without coming back to port, so a straight transition from one operation to the other. That’s the kind of tactical and operational agility that we are working towards.

CDR: Touching on Op HORIZON, I want to ask about some of the transits that Canadian navy ships have done in the Strait of Taiwan. I appreciate this is not the first time for Canada, but I’m curious about the significance of that?

LGen Boivin: I think it’s important for people to understand what we do is we reinforce the international rules-based order, and we conduct Taiwan Strait transits when it makes sense for us as part of our concept of operation in the region. You’re absolutely right, HMCS Ville de Quebec, just conducted a Taiwan Strait transit, as it was transiting from one area to the next in the region, and that was the most rapid direct route to take. We do that because that’s what makes sense in the context of our operations. By the way, HMCS Ville de Quebec will have sailed around the globe when it comes back to Halifax at the beginning of November. It left last March, made its way east, went all the way to the Indo-Pacific, sailed with the UK Carrier Strike Group, participated in Exercise TALISMAN SABRE, and is now on its redeployment, coming back through the Panama Canal. So a very long sail, and a very successful sail for HMCS Ville de Quebec.

NORAD & CANADA-U.S. RELATIONS

CDR: How does CJOC coordinate with NORAD and other partners to maintain situational awareness and sovereignty in the Arctic?

LGen Boivin: I’d say we talk on a constant, permanent basis, where we exchange between those three commands: CJOC, NORTHCOM, and NORAD. The best example I’ll give you is two weeks ago, we hosted here in Canada the Commander US NORTHCOM / NORAD in Goose Bay as he was conducting his annual conference where we discuss interoperability and best practices. We de-conflict with training, exercises, and operations, and we continue to build a relationship. So there’s constant discussions. We have a Canadian Lieutenant General in NORAD as the deputy commander, and General Guillot and myself exchange very often, both verbally and in writing, on many different aspects. 

CDR: There’s obvious tension with the trade war with the United States. Has those tensions impacted the working relationship that the Canadian Armed Forces, and specifically CJOC has with the United States?

LGen Boivin: I can’t speak for all of the CAF however, what I will tell you is my relationships at my level and my Commands relationship are still extremely good, and we continue to build on them and make sure that we’ve got a really solid relationship. That’s true with NORTHCOM here, and it’s also true with all of the other U.S. combatant commands where I continue to spend a lot of time coordinating Commander to Commander. So the relationship, from my point of view, from where I sit, continues to be very strong, militarily.

CDR: How would you assess the Canadian Armed Forces’ current operational integration with NATO, especially in the context of the deterrence mission in Eastern Europe?

LGen Boivin: I assess it as improving exponentially, especially as I look at the Multinational Brigade in Latvia, being in our second year operating at brigade level and integrating the capabilities of all the sending nations. I would define or assess that integration with NATO as improving exponentially at all levels tactically, bringing all of these nations together, and then operationally as we get better at understanding how we work together at each and every level — brigade, multinational divisions, Corps and up into the Joint Forces Command. On Operation REASSURANCE, as you know, it’s a challenge to integrate the capabilities of 14 nations, and we have made some adjustments to our own doctrine and tactics, techniques and procedures to make sure that that integration is favoured, and to set the conditions for that brigade to be combat capable and effective in a fight tonight scenario.

CDR: How is CJOC supporting the Government of Canada’s stated intention to enhance its presence in the Indo-Pacific region? We talked about HMCS Ville de Quebec, and we talked about Op HORIZON. Is it still the intent to have three ships a year in the Indo-Pacific region?

LGen Boivin: That is still the intent. As I’ve covered, HMCS Ville de Quebec is on its redeployment. HMCS Max Bernays is transiting from operations in the Arctic towards the Indo-Pacific, and is going to replace HMCS Ville de Quebec, so it remains the intent to have three warships a year. On top of it, we’re also active in the other domains. The Air Force constantly supports our operations in the Indo-Pacific. They’re involved very often on different serials of Operation NEON, the UNSCR enforcement. We also have some cyber capabilities that are operating in the region with some different partnerships, so that’s how we support the implementation of the Indo-Pacific strategy.

CDR: How are aging platforms and equipment impacting CJOC’s ability to deliver on its mandate?

LGen Boivin: It’s obviously a challenge for the force generators, for the services, and it becomes a challenge from an operational perspective. I tell you that anybody sitting in my chair wants new equipment and wants lots of it, but we’ve got some really good investments that are coming in defence, and defence procurement is going to deliver a number of new capabilities. If you think about the maritime domain, investments into River class destroyers, submarines are being discussed, uncrewed surface and subsurface systems. On land, the Canadian Army is looking at upgrading their land systems, UAS fleets, and acquiring long range precision fires. In the air you’re very much tracking the upgrades, the fifth-generation fighter, buying a modern maritime patrol aircraft. These platforms, once connected — because the real strength in today’s operating environment is to connect these platforms digitally so that we optimize them — most of these platforms rely on collecting and using data that we share, therefore that aspect of C4ISR and digital enablement is really important to us. So it’s a good time to be in the Canadian Armed Forces. Really good investments that are being made into defence, and as an operational commander, it’s looking really good.

CAPABILITY GAPS FOR THE CAF

CDR: Are there any really big capability gaps that are increasingly affecting operational performance for you?

LGen Boivin: The biggest gap remains recruiting, and I continue to completely support the Chief of the Defence Staff’s first priority, which is recruiting. We’ve got some stressed trades: signals, intelligence, medical — those are areas where we need to continue recruiting, because the most important resource that we have is our people. It’s our most important capability, and therefore recruiting in order to help our force is critical.

CDR: Will CJOC have the ability to task Canadian Coast Guard assets, and if not, how will the CAF work with the Canadian Coast Guard for greater security of Canada now that the Coast Guard is under the defence portfolio?

LGen Boivin: The integration of the Coast Guard within the Department of National Defence is ongoing. How it’s going to look at the end-state I don’t know exactly, but we’ve already been working with the Coast Guard for years. If you think about the search and rescue mandate, we do that hand in hand with the Coast Guard. If you think about our Joint Rescue Coordination Centres, you’ve got representatives of each organization working together on the floor every day to turn search and rescue into success. So this is not new to us. We’ve been working with the Coast Guard a lot. In my previous and current job, I’ve always had a number of bilats with the leadership of the Canadian Coast Guard, and staff to staff exchanges — they have always happened and will continue to happen. So going to the core of your question of can we task them? What’s more important to me is unity of purpose, and I believe that’s there. We all understand the importance of priority number one, the defence of Canada, and we’re all aligned and marching in the same direction.

CDR: Thank you, General.

Joetey Attariwala is CDR’s Senior Staff Writer