Good afternoon. Im jean harmon a president and ceo of the Wilson Center, someone who is fascinated by defense and Security Issues and its been a long time a while from here and a place thats getting a lot of attention. The United States congress. John kennedy use to say when he was president , that he accompanied his wife, Jacqueline Kennedy to paris. Well, i have accompanied laura dawson to canada and as a participant in the widely acclaimed hair fax form. Thats where i met minister san say singe. His police and military background makes him well equipped to understand threats across the world and those threatening his homeland. On his watch as a detective, sanjay took down drug gangs. He recognized early on the pattern of those networks. For example the breaking and entering episodes increased in neighborhoods after drug users rented houses there. And, by the way, my hold district in torrens california had a kind of similar thing. And people who were breaking and entering gas stations were finally, after warrants for security their places were checked. So its an important thing to understand. From those little dots of information he tracked the leadership and arrested those who had the biggest impact on distribution. Pretty good police work. He is is here for the second time, i sadly missed his first appears and was determined to be back, but this conversation will be moderated by the one and only dotson who is the director of our Canada Institute and no one has to introduce laura in canada. Shes led the institutes in 2016 and has been named one of the canadas 100 top influencers of all time. The history is the only nonpartisan institute in the world that focus on u. S. Relationship. Our Canada Institute focuses on key issues such as energy and environment, trade and arctic to arctic security. Those are more important than ever to analyze this for a timely discussion on defense policy and whatever else he wants to talk about. As i mentioned, i wouldnt here last time but please welcome mr. Singe who will give us some brief remarks and hell engage in discussions with laura and with you. And the entire representation will take an hour an hour and theres free beer afterwards. Cant do much more than that. Welcome to the Wilson Center. Thank you very much for the kind words and its good to have you at the secure form. Your presence and knowledge has always elevated the conversation for all of us in canada. Laura thank you very much for your great leadership as well. Its a real privilege to be back here and as minister of defense, about able to come here and be able to talk with so many older folks and security challenges, allows all of us to be able to work together. And thats what im going to be talking about, an important relationship with the u. S. And congresswoman talked about my policing back grown. We talk a lot about defense relationship, were not going to get into policing side but our agencies have worked so well together all across the board. Its a really impressive way, if people were able to see, theyd be extremely impressed of the relationship our Police Leadership has from canada all the way down into all the states here in the u. S. So its an honor to speak with you here at the Canada Institute. Our government is taking a proactiv approach to our continental security and ensuring the middle class canadians have wellpaying jobs. For all our nations Strong Economy is to all our countriesism so the work that are doing that is focused on our shared Border Security and have more integrated and impaired economy can increase jobs that we can all appreciate. Canada enjoys a multi faceted defense and partnership. We have a long history of operations every level of defense enterprise from tactical strategic to both our departments. As you know number rad is the corner stone of our bilateral partnership. You can understand the options in partnership with the u. S. To ensure that we modernize nor rad and enable it to continue meeting the challenges arising from todays Global Security environment. This includes working closely with our american counter parts to identify ways to improve surveillance of northern approaches to our kon innocent. The renewal of a joint canada u. S. System defense for north america is a key partnership. And fosters peace, security and stability in the euro atlantic area. So nato matters to canada, and canada bring value to nato. We do this by contributing highquality personnel from the leadership, our capabilities to the alliance that deliver real effects on the grown. So like the u. S. , we are one of just four countries leading natos enhance or battle groups in the baltics. Carbon dioxi canadas leading. And we are proud to have taken a leadership role. So because we understand that the security environment we face today is more diverse, more complex and demands more of us than any time since the cold war. We also understand that the security and prosperity of europe is directly linked to canada security and prosperity as well. In that vain canada has floied personnel to eastern and southern europe. And canada is Capacity Building efforts in ukraine as well. We also are making a significant contribution to the Global Leadership this team plays an important accord nation function with the Coalition Training effort. Our forces also provided training and assistance to the iraqui security forces, medical services to the Coalition Forces and capacity able to the region forces as well. I also must include the great work that our intelligence personnel are also doing because we doubled our intelligence capability in theater. Now canada remains ready and willing to do its part. We recognize the challenges facing the world are too come complex and to vast to be taken on by one single country alone. So Prime Minister trudeau come to canada to multi lat richl to deal with the issues confronting the Global Community today. Canada has made clear our intent to increase engagement across the full spectrum to Multi Lateral corporations. We are scaling up our contributions of police and civilian personnel and providing new support to the United Nations peace building, mediation and conflict prevention efforts. Among the other benefits of working within the u. N. , canada believes that when mandated and resource properly the u. N. Peace keeping mission is an essential way the Global Community can deal with the International Community challenges. Canadas goal is to continue to be a global and reliable partner. We understand being interconnected with our allies requires us we must make sure our troops have the necessary capabilities to successful take on the operations we assign they will. We are committed to being a good partner. We will reinforce this and canadas new policy which will be released on june 7th and i look forward to that. Based on extension consultation it has been a rigorously cost and fully funded defense policy that will be launched on june 7th. So as canada move forward with our efforts to champion peace and security around the world i take great strength to knowing we have access to innovative ideas. Thank you very much. [ applause ] thank you. Well done. Take a seat. Thank you printster. So i have the best job in the world because i get to sit in this chair and talk to folks like you. Two people from i went to bc. Youre in bc i graduated from ubc so were going to pretend these folks arent out there and the 34 million canadians watching on webb cast is not there and well have a bit of a chat. From bc as well. Really. And i know theres a drinking age did i have reshl. We use to go to seattle a lot too. For the aerospace museum. Right. First, thanks jean harmon for hiring me. This is the nerve center of the United States relationships with its allies is where ideas coming to in a nonpartisan ensiermt and its where folks like you can come and speak to broader audience. Your government has attracted a lot of attention sense the election. One approach was to embark on a no novel approach to cabinet selection. They put a doctor, astronaut transportation minister. Were working well right now. And your military service is bosnia, three in afghanistan, your a cop in air force. So my challenge to you which was more challenging . I would say you know where the enemy is when youre second thing you probably didnt know about minister sanjay, you hold the patent. Tell us what you patented . That was actually a necessity and most inventions are like that when i joined the military, i was told we had to wear a respirator. I didnt know anything about the military at that time. So as a recess rart i decided i was going to wear a turban and grow my beard. Well you had to be clean shaven and for me to be in the military i had to wear a respirator. I realized if i didnt pass this training id have to be released. So, i use to i was new york lg one day and figured out a way to design what i call the nbc hood so i can wear it over top of my turban as well. So any facial respirator the gas mask. Worked. The funny part is when i put it together i cant test it because you dont carry tear gas around. So i designed this and i was engaged in the combat center and im about to go into the test chamber where we practice or drills and i didnt know if that was going to work. So i went in and then the structure so i put this on it was working. He thought i was holding my breath. So he was making me running around more in the case of holding my breath and shaking my head. So it turned out well. I designed it because i wanted to stay in the military. I didnt make any money out of it because i didnt have any experience. But i got to go through the process of developing my own patent. Very cool. Your government, team here, and again we are strictly nonpartisan, the government has been good at accessing canadian relationships during this period of transition. I think there are more canadians in washington than there are starbucks in downtown d. C. I understand after the length Prime Minister trudeau phoned up mr. Trump and says congratulation, youre going to have a lot of problems in the world and im going to assure you canadas not going to be one of them. I took this as an affirmation that canada has the u. S. s back. Its a strong alliance, doesnt have any problems and because its so good i think it get taken granted. There are a lot of people in the United States that need to be reminded about the importance of this relationship. In relationships or on the defense koormgs, whats the mnl youd like people in michigan, ohio, north dakota to remember about their canadian members . Well, first of all i think the president set this up straight, in their leadership theres no greater relationship to us than the u. S. We see it, canadians and americans see it from only on t. V. And also tourism. But i already talked about the police relationship, we work on files together cooperatively in many different regards. Now also from the defense perspective, one probably one of the most deep relationships. Where we have our folks who have fought together, from going back to world war i where so many folks have served we have canadians that have served in the vietnam war. Now on a daily basis i get to see the work thats being done overseas but more importantly here in north korean American Defense as well. For example, we have whats called the north korean operations we send people down from drug addiction. Every single time our ship does a wonderful job. We intercept russian bears as well. This is im sorry bear . Im sorry the aircraft. Okay thank you. But it just goes to show, this happens behind the scenes on a daily basis. And so we do, i think both canadians and americans take it for granted of this unique relationship that we have. And i think that defense relationship, we also need to be mindful that because of our great defense relationship, our two economies are also connected just like our people. And so we have such great ties that we need to be able to talk about this more so that we can always have a good working relationship moving forward. Great great. Thank you. So youve been you got a couple of thing going on. You got a defense policy review that we are waiting to see the results of. Defense policy review took place ten years ago. The world has changed a lot since then. What since many of our audience members are not not canadian, can you tell us why Canadian Defense policy should be important to the United States and maybe some of the new things that came into your thinking and designing this new policy from ten years ago . Well, our defense policy, one that when the Prime Minister mandated me to conduct a defense policy, he wanted to make sure the Canadian Armed forces were well resourced, the members relevant well looked after and the only way to do it was to conduct a thorough defense policy, we did that. We did it within one year because we wanted to get action as quickly as possible. But more important we the u. S. Has a significant in put into our defense policy. We conduct operations overseas. As much as when were for us to be strong in canada for canadians we have to be secure in north america and weve taken that into account, making sure that the Canadian Armed forces and our people are well resourced. More importantly we took the device from our ally ls to get the costing down properly where we had multiple Companies Review our costing process to make sure we had the number. More importantly the funding has been approved by cabinet. So moving forward it will provide multiple funding for the militaries for years making sure they can plan. And the final piece to it is theres two thing we did not include into it because we needed much more dialogue before and thats the north morning system. So those are the thing well be working upon because thats something we cant do within a year. What we didnt want to do was put a number into our Defense System for nor rad. So we want no go through those discussions, have a good conversation, come up with the analysis and determine what the cost is and well be presenting that as a later date. Okay. Because Prime Minister trudeau and President Trump has arcticed that thats very important for our two governments. You share this view that no rad modernization is important . Absolutely. No rad is the only communication in the world. No ra robinson whos a former commander over 800 Armed Forces Personnel in the u. S. Serving. And nor rad is a large proponent of that. So we need to now take it to the next level. Its not just Aerospace Awareness we need to look at the multi fas faceted approach. We need to modernize the system, look at what unique innovation in technology and we need to put what type of command structure and integration is needed. So those are the conversations were of course having of the nor rad commitment as well. I want to underscore for the nonmilitary folks in the room, binational command, that means you have an american personnel whos serving under a cannot leader and vice very va. Do you ever get any push back on that . Compre no. The commander for u. S. The Deputy Commander is going to be canadian. The from and for us it goes to chief of defense, staff and then the Prime Minister. Its a relationship that works extremely well. Besides all the great work we do we can never forget, as my daughter remind me of the Santa Tracker as well. I didnt want to mention that. I got a 8yearold daughter and 5yearold son so have to. Great. Speaking of which we have an Arctic Program here and my director and i was just talking about some of the arctic issues. Aside from santa claus is the no we need to do more. Our defense policy started that so there is a significant focus in the arctic. Not just modernizing our equipment and making sure we start the conversation from defense perspective we need to look at it as a government perspective as well. Where it is that the government fit in, the environmental impact, the communities, where we meet the ports and how do we link in nor rad to this as well. Its not just security challenge that were going to be facing but its also a search and rescue. We had the first crew ship that went through it but we need to have a very constructive dialogue to making sure our continental defense and security and sovereignty is well protected as we move forward. All right. The elephant in the room may be nato. I noticed it this morning i read about canadas commitment in iceland only fighters jets and thats great. We hear a lot about the number, the numeral two, 50 by my calculation we could have doubled defenses. Do you think nato should defense north american security, border the thing we do together search and rescue, how do we square that circle . We were one of the founding members of nato so our commitment there was extremely important. Thats one of reasons why even before we launched the defense policy, we as the government decided to take a leadership role at nato and weve done that, they were leading the battle group in laugh ya. Keep in mind we have a consistent as well on operation insurance aas well. Itll move to romania as well. So we do take that obligation iks treatmently seriously but we have the other obligations for example, fighting is part of a coalition. Canadas responsibilities within north america is extremely important especially for every country feeds to look at their own security as well. So were very proud of what were accomplishing at nato and what were going to be doing into the future. Were also very mindful that we also have a pacific nation and we have the continental defense that we need to look after. We need to take into account when we look at our defense investment that it looks at everything moving forward. Okay. And youve been in town meeting with north American Defense chief. We got bat that sa jens meeting with mad dog. It sounds like wrestle mania. How have your meetings been doing . When i was a young officer his representation is legendary professional development that we brought. We use to read about the work that he used to write. So its a real privilege to be able to work with a colleague now and to be able to have that direct and honest dialogue on how were going to move forward so we can look out, you know have a conversation. For example we talk about the coalition in the country coalition. Nato. But hes got the experience to also know that all these things are interlinked. As we look at radical groups as well. For greater dialogue because of that understanding, and also more importantly the defense alone cant be the solution. Military buys you time. We need a government to approach a comprehensive approach to have an impact to security matters. So diplomacy is important and development as well. How do we engage the business in some of the security challenges. So weve been able to through a really good working relationship have constructive dialogue and move the conversation forward because we have very unique experience. But this experience i have been developed through some very difficult times. Leaning upward a bit from north america, canadas becoming more and more of a citizen with the americas. We got the latin institute, the brazilian institute, we got the Canada Institute. What is canada doing in the hemisphere as it contributes to security and defense . Military, we are engaging in the world as extremely important. Our relationship with south merk, Central America is extremely important. Some time ago we created the military Training Program which allows us to be able to sign agreements with countries and help train in a capacity profession. Every where from language and development. Weve done a lot of work in training their personnel. And it has allowed for that capacity for not only to have an impact on some of the security challenges, but one of the yew phoenix perspectives we built here because of the Training Program we have officers at the junior level as they to have that great working relationship. And so that has allowed us to kind of deal with some of the challenges that comes up, basically picking up a phone call. And that relationship has allowed us to kind of deal with some of the challenges and have a much greater discussion. So that relationship is very important to us. And i want to make sure in a place where there is stability, you want to make sure the constable remains. Great, great. When i love working with the americans, ive been working with the americans in various capacities for a long time. I use to work in the u. S. Embassy as a canadian adviser. I was proud with the economic tremendous contribution in afghanistan. I was pleased to be a canadian, to be recked as part of a country that has been such a great ally. But i also recognize in that conflict and others theres been a tremendous personal cost for canadian individuals. Can you talk a little bit about your commitment and your governments commitment to the health of Canadian Service personnel, current and retired . I think this is a responsibility of every nation to look after its members who are currently serving and those who are served. One thing i can assure you our policy is focused on its people. Because we talk about our capabilities, how many planes youre going to buy where youre going to invest and innovation, but our number one capability to the people. Ive had the privilege to work with canadian groups and operations but also with u. S. Troops as well. And when theyre appropriate resourced and have the properly capabilities to carry it out theyll do wonders for us. So we in canada and this defense policy will focus on making sure that our focuses are not just were not just going to look after them when theyre injured were going to focus on right from the get go is being preventive. The goal is for them to be for them to be released hale. If they do get injured its making sure we give them every opportunity to put the resources behind it and get them back into their units. If not, were going to make sure our folks have not released until they have their pension checks, government affairs, have a good trands six. Thats something we as canada owe our personnel dealerly not because of the tsacrifice but also training. They have to train to some extremely dangerous circumstances. And we look out for their families because their families served along side. All of us can relate to, if the family situation at home is good you can operator function very good at work. If things are not very good at home how can we expect members to work well in their job, especially in a dangerous environment. So were going to make sure their families are looked after as well. Great. Thank you. One last question. We were so busy talking about defense protection we forget you are a member of parliament. So for those people who have not had the fortunate to visit vancouver why should people out there visit vancouver, whats it got to offer . Well vancouver is one of the most scenic cities in the world. Still till this day every time i land i just thank my parents for selecting canada and vancouver as a place to live and raise my sister and i. And one of the i think the biggest things for me was the fact that its the people. Very diverse background. People have been there for many generations to newcomers as well. And the biggest testament to vancouver south is the south. Every single time i get to meet whether its the cadets or sports teams, is when i see the excitement in their faces, of the opportunity that they have. And they look at when they talk being making a difference in the world, and they will make a difference in their own way, i see that even for the challenges that whifen i was a Police Officer, and then a soldier, looking at the conflict around the world, the future is for them. Thai going to have an impact on this world. Well, canada has put awesome role models in the government. And ill now like to open this up for a few questions from the audience. And the first question is from representative jean harmon and theres a microphone coming right to you. I really should have said something about the u. S. canada relationship and that is your country punches above its weight. The defense and intelligence relationships have been seamless and you contribute every where to making for successful to thank you. My question is about borders. And that may not be in your strictly in your Job Description but it has to be something you think about. Our southern border with mexicos gotten enormous attention but our border with you involve some strategies that are very smart. And it also is and many people think this, a possible industen point for terrorist transiting through canada to try to harm american. So i wanted to ask you about that and also ask you about something i learned last week or two weeks ago when i went to a forum hosted by the Security Department on the arctic. And that is off of this new ocean that has developed because the polar icecap has melted there are entry points into our country and probably your country arent really well policed so what about the border for that . One thing about our borders and there is never any guarantee when it comes to terrorism, but the work that we do preventively is extremely important. One thing i can say with absolute assurety, our Police Agencies in canada work extremely well with other agencies as well. And we talk about intelligence, we talk about Police Forces, but the Real Security is actually the connection that we have with the canadian population. And intelligence or in the policing world we talk about clues, the starting point. The relationship thats built with communities, theyre the one that actually kon receive something thats outside the norm, and it allows us to when something is outside that norm for the community to have a relationship with some Police Agencies to be able to say hey, somethings up here. Because no terrorist is going to walk around with a sign on their back and say hey, im a terrorist. What normally happens is each community, or neighborhoods even, know what the norm is. And when something out of the norm, thats suspicious you have that trust with the Police Agency say, i dont know about either this person, i saw this person here or this vehicle it was something out of the norm. And it starts with a suspicious circumstance and that will lead to other things. That gives us a lot more assurety that we do have all the right connections. We want to make sure our Police Forces are well resourced in the military. We do provide assistance to the rgp thats needed for things. Our Intelligence Agency can provide support as well. So when it comes to our border its not a wall that can prevent anything, its the procedure and the relationships that we have in place thats going to make that difference and its working extremely well and were going to make sure it continues in the same manner and continue to improve. When it comes to the arctic policy were going to make sure thats properly resourced. Thats why were going to have arctic Patrol Vessels that will give the navy a greater presence. Our coast guard also are getting these ships to make sure we have this presence. Were making sure our search and rescue folks are going to have the right equipment and ability. Were reviewing some of those procedures as well. So when it comes to other aspect of the challenge of the arctic we need to make sure our Technology Keeps up. Were going to make sure we invest, theres a lot of thing i cant talk about but making sure our Technology Keeps up to have the right surveillance capabilities to keep the north safe but a lot more work needs to be done on this and i look forward to working with my counter parts here in the u. S. As well. Lady in the center. Lady is coming fr a microphon is coming from this direction. Thank you very much. My name is wendy i wanted to ask you about u. N. Peace keeping operations. You spoke very briefly about that. There have been a number of highlevel reports and panels on this. Id like to now how canada sees ways to improve u. N. Peace keeping operations that needs peace building, Peace Keeping, the whole plan of things youre doing including prevention and conflict resolution as well as forces on the ground . Thank you. Thats a really good question maam. One of the things is canada has had a tremendous way of Peace Keeping in the past and were very proud of that. But todays Peace Keeping is not the and whether its a conflict of what were dealing in iraq or other areas, we need to do get even better at understanding the situation in the countries and in the region as well because nothing just happens in isolation in one nation it has a regional impact. So we have to be very honest with understanding the situation in the room. Then we need to bring on this situation, are some of the things, operations that were connecting are they having an impact themselves i could that are providing troops in some wayes are not coming properly equipped and trained. And regrettably at times theyre sometime part of the problems. When it especially came to the Sexual Violence that the nations had to deal with. Its having honest protection. We need to make sure we have the right mandate, the right rules of engagement. The last thing we want to do is put troops into these difficult areas wouts having the right mandate moving forward. So we havent announced canada havent announced where were going to be going. So we at the same time other nations as well we need to work with ore nations, learn from them and bring it all together. The as speck that we are putting forward, we need to look at conflict in certain areas. I had as part of my defense advisory teams and shes now working at the u. N. She accompanied me on a trip to africa to five different companies. What that allows us to do is have a conversation. For example in some areas, the election process creates violence. What tso we need to look at what is the violence cycle and this period of violence that comes in. We also need to look at is if troop contributing nationes are not having impact then what are we going to do about it, we cant just complain about it. So why dont we potentially look at Capacity Building opportunities. Do we, for example contribute to nations, and potentially we can look at deploying with them on organizations. Not only are you increasing the Capacity Building of a nation, youre also making the mission for effective. This is a concept but the concept can only work in the right areas as well. So we want to make sure before canada decides to do anything we come up with the right we just dont want to provide troops and say, okay here they are. We want to make sure that if we offer something up, just like we did in iraq against die yash that were going to have a meaningful contribution. The final piece to it is one thing as government we have decided we will not do alone. Well also have a comprehensive approach thatll look at the Capacity Building, diplomacy and dwi as well. For example, along with the military contributions that were looking at, we have mandated that we can go up to 150 Police Officers as well. Because as you know, lot of the policing, the first interaction with any citizen is a Police Officer. So we need to look at some of those thing. The final piece to that as canada host the United NationPeace Keeping summit in november of this year, we also need to take a look at as businesses. So ive already had discussions with business leaders. How can business communities, some good experts out there to look at how do you provide jobs to the youth that can be recruited by radical organizations, because ive seen this firsthand, that the youth in afghanistan, especially where we were would rather have a job in building a well or whatever construction job or what ever that might be over choosing a taliban. So this is about giving opportunity. And because if we dont provide Economic Opportunity for the youth, were going to be continuely dealing with a threat which is these radical groups will always require Human Resources which is the youth to be able to recruit and keep their enterprises going. So we need to deal with the threat and reduce it. Thank you. Others . Yes, lady in the white. Hi Kate Robin Berg im a National Security personnel. Building off that question the Trump Administration has called for budget cuts to u. S. A. And maybe u. N. Keeping well hear more tomorrow when the fanl budget comes out. Do you think that nikki haleys desire to evaluate the process and make it for efficient is a correct way to go about dealing with some of those off Peace Keeping and do you think that cutting is the sufficient way to deal with that . Then i also have have a clarifying question you mentioned in the beginning something about doubling intelligence features, can you explain exactly what you mean by that . Ill just answer the question second first, i was talking about when we revamped our mission when we reelected as a government. Redoubled the Intelligence Capacity for the coalition in iraq and it was a certain type of capabilities that we put in to increase the intelligence in there. Thats what i was talking about, doubling it. Efficiency, when i attended the last years defense minute city on Peace Keeping summit in london its the u. N. Itself whoa made some of their concerns known. They know that they need to be more factefficient making sure cribbing nations can have impact, come in with the right equipment as well. I think a lot of work has already been done with the United Nations and we all agree there needs to be more efficiencies, but at the same time we also know that United Nations peace operations are having an impact but we need to make it better as well. And we need to continuely improve and evolve those operations. And the dialogue that will continue no vancouver when we have the Peace Keeping summit will be just that. How do we continually when we when we talked about last years concern have we moved the arctic forward. So well continue to look at efficiency making sure that every dollar that the nations commit to the u. N. Are going to the right areas. But more importantly, are we having an impact on the ground and reducing conflict and thats something that canadas committed to do. My friend from the defense association, the guy in the handsome purple shirt. I love the shirt. Thank you sir. First of all i appreciate what canada is doing right now in taking a lead role and deploying groups in the country and resolving states as well. I would like to ask one simple question. As a minister of defense what you will say to your soldier who is deploying to the Baltic States, and probably we had some discussion, for how long is they going to stay in the Baltic States sir . One, were very proud to take a leadership role but i also have to state, the other contributing nations that make up the battle group, its been nations from all across europe. And thats what makes it even more unique for us and its going to make for a very interesting hockey tournament as well. And i know were already setting one up. The the for me, i really dont need to actually say much to our canadian troops. One thing is im very proud of the work regardless of what mission we send them on. The innovation that they bring to every nation and the professionalism. They not only understand what their job is they also understand the Bigger Picture o role. Thats what this is about. This is not just about creating and setting a battle group because we know the force is not large. But what were demonstrating is natos ability to come together as nations, look at a threat, come together and its a message of deterrence and thats what this is about. So its the professionalism that our troops will bring to the table and the interoperability is that message of deterrence. And when it comes to the length, were going to make sure that we are there to make sure that we send the right message. I get the last question. When i was a kid, all politicians were named mcdonald and they came from certain schools and did certain things. And we now no longer have a traditional politician in canada. And your upbringing and your background are quite nontraditional compared to that Mcdonald Laurier group. You were mentioning that your father worked at a sawmill. I read that your mother worked on barry farms and you hated Summer Vacation because you had to go pick berries. What are the lessons that you learned from your parents that help you in your work today . I think regardless of what obstacle comes in front of you im going to be very selfish here talking about canada. My dad is so proud and my mom is so proud to be living in a country like canada where they come from a small village. My dad is a Police Officer in india, and my mom who had nothing, really, growing up can give the greatest gift to the children which is education and have the opportunity to say that if you work hard that you can achieve anything you want. And we in canada can honestly say that to our youth that if you really work hard you can reach the highest office of any profession. And for all the truths and the issues that we might have faced growing up whether it was berry picky and the racial issues and my dad used to always say in canada this is the only place that allows us to be able to have this conversation and move forward. And finally, and as a good example of this is when i became a Commanding Officer of the British Columbia regiment in vancouver, it was you guys heard of the maru incident where settlers from india, hindus and muslims during the commonwealth time were allowed to live anywhere in the commonwealth but were denied entry into canada over 100 years ago. And a hundred years to the day that the komagata rule was forced away and my regiment that i explained a hundred years later was one of my units and pushed that ship away. I commanded that regiment and that, to me, is a really good testament to canada. One, we learned from some of my mistakes and the Prime Minister made an official apology in the house last year. And so the lessons that my dad and my mom had given me is you are so fortunate to live in this country. Dont make excuses that you cant achieve something because every opportunity is in front of us, and in the u. S. You can say the same thing, as well. The honorable hajit singh sajin canadian minister of defense. Welcome and thank you. Thank you. [ applause ] thank you all for coming today and thanks to the wonderful Wilson Center for your support and assistance and thanks to our friends at the Canadian Embassy for putting this together, and i wasnt kidding. Theres free beer out there. Former cia director john brennan is on capitol hill tuesday for a house intelligence hearing. Hell be testifying as part of the Ongoing Investigation into russian influence between the 2016 president ial election and possible ties between the trump campaign. Thats live at 10 00 a. M. Eastern here on cspan3. And later in the day a house homeland subcommittee hearing with officials from the homeland Security Department. Theyll testify on efforts to identify and remove individuals who have overstayed their visas and pose a National Security and Public Safety to the u. S. That gets underway at 2 00 p. M. Eastern also live here on cspan3. Cspan, where history unfolds daily. In 1979 cspan was created as a Public Service by americas Cable Television companies. And is brought to you today by your cable or satellite provider. Now a look at how the Trump Presidency is being viewed by those who live and work outside of washington. From washington journal, this is 30 minutes. Were joined by two brothers who are traveling the uni