Canada needs a new civil defence corps | The Tyee

When Sweden joined NATO last year, it wasn’t a decision made lightly. Swedes are famously independent, deeply pragmatic and serious about their security. During the Cold War, they built a robust civil defence system, training their population in preparedness, stockpiling critical supplies and ensuring that in any crisis — natural or man-made — Sweden could stand on its own feet.

But after the Berlin Wall fell, Sweden, like much of the West, took a “peace dividend.” Civil defence was scaled back and military spending shrank. That all changed in 2017. Seeing the world shift under its feet, Sweden reinstated partial conscription, restarted preparedness training and began fortifying its infrastructure.

Today, following the reactivation of its Psychological Defence Agency, every Swedish household receives a booklet titled “If Crisis or War Comes,” outlining what to do in an emergency. The country has retrained thousands of reservists and rebuilt its civil protection programs — not because it wants war, but because it takes security seriously.

Canada should be doing the same.

The US is changing and Canada must be ready

The threats facing Canada are real, and they are growing. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is not just a European conflict — it is a reminder that brute force is back on the table. NATO has had to rearm, and democracies are waking up to the fact that peace requires preparation.

Meanwhile, the United States is accelerating towards a period of profound political uncertainty. Donald Trump has made it clear that he views Canada as little more than a resource colony, proposing economic policies that could cripple our industries, tear up our trade agreements and undermine our sovereignty.

But a second Trump presidency is emphatically not like the first. In foreign policy, as in business, Trump does not deal with weaker counterparts — he dominates them. When engaging with countries that lack the leverage to push back, he is not transactional; he is predatory. His negotiations are not about mutual benefit but about extracting maximum advantage, imposing terms that serve his interests alone.

The shift from ally to adversary could happen overnight, as a protectionist United States looks at Canada’s vast energy reserves, fresh water and strategic Arctic position and sees weakness. Canadians must recognize that the luxury of assuming our security is someone else’s responsibility is over.

We must be strong enough to push back, resilient enough to survive cyberwarfare and economic coercion — including Tuesday’s arbitrary imposition of illegal tariffs. We must be prepared to defend our sovereignty — not just with military spending, but with a population that is engaged, trained and ready.

Pause for a moment and imagine the skills or time you could bring — whether it’s first aid, co-ordination and logistics, communications, engineering, IT support, counselling and caregiving or any other expertise — to contribute to our collective security and resilience if called upon.

What is civil defence, and why does it matter?

Civil defence is the ability of an entire society to withstand crisis — whether military, cyber, economic or environmental. It means that in the event of an emergency, the population is trained, infrastructure is resilient and communities can function without immediate government assistance.

Canada once had a civil defence program. During the Cold War, we built fallout shelters, trained civilians in emergency response and ensured our critical infrastructure could endure a nuclear strike. Today, we face a different but no less serious threat — cyberwarfare, disinformation, economic destabilization and geopolitical conflict over the Arctic. Just as Canada prepared for nuclear fallout in the 1960s, we must prepare for the crises ahead.

What would Canadians actually do?

A modern civil defence program is fundamentally about national participation — mobilizing the talents and capabilities of an entire population. In Sweden and Finland, civil defence is built around training, community preparedness and personal responsibility. Every adult is expected to have the knowledge and basic skills to help in an emergency — whether that’s first aid, defending critical infrastructure or organizing local response teams.

Here’s what it could look like in Canada:

Universal civil defence training: Every Canadian should receive basic training in first aid, emergency preparedness and cybersecurity. This would be mandatory for Grade 12 students and newcomers, with local, in-person and online options for all adults.

Optional defence skills track: Similar to the Swiss approach, tens of thousands of Canadians could receive additional firearms training, tactical first aid, search-and-rescue skills and survival techniques — not to militarize society, but to ensure that we can take care of ourselves.

Reserve forces expansion: We must add at least 20,000 reservists to ensure we have a force ready to respond to crises — military or otherwise — aligning us more closely with NATO norms and attainable given our population.

Cyber-resilience training: Every Canadian should be able to recognize and defend against cyberthreats, disinformation campaigns and economic coercion. Germany has invested in tackling disinformation by training its population in media literacy, foreign influence detection and digital resilience — Canada must do the same.

National youth service program: The existing Canadian Service Corps is far too limited with only a few thousand young Canadians participating each year. We should dramatically expand national service opportunities, offering paid programs in trades, emergency management and infrastructure resilience, allowing young Canadians to develop valuable skills and experience other parts of the country while actively contributing to national security.

Arctic protection and Indigenous leadership: As global powers eye the Arctic, Canada must train more Indigenous rangers and local defence units to safeguard the North. Inuit and other Indigenous communities must be at the centre of Arctic security planning, ensuring they have the resources to defend their land and way of life.

Readiness strengthens pride

A civil defence program isn’t just about protecting against foreign threats — it’s about building a stronger, more confident Canada.

Last month, Canada erupted with joyful patriotism after our victory in the 4 Nations hockey final. Bars, streets and living rooms were filled with people waving flags, chanting “Let’s go, Canada!” and coming together in the kind of unifying moment that reminds us who we are. Canadians are not a passive people. We don’t sit back and let history happen to us. We leap to our feet — on the ice or during a crisis.

Imagine if we channelled that energy into national readiness.

If Canada were to build a civil defence program on the scale of those in Sweden or Finland, the numbers would be game-changing.

In Sweden, 350,000 people — or about 3.5 per cent of the population — actively participate in voluntary defence organizations, learning emergency response, cybersecurity and national resilience skills. In Finland, over 70 per cent of men complete military service, and the country maintains a reservist force of nearly one million for a population of just 5.5 million.

If Canada matched Sweden’s per capita engagement, over 1.4 million Canadians would take part in civil defence programs at a cost of less than $2 billion annually. If we followed Finland’s model, we could train over 28 million people — not just making our adversaries think twice but ensuring that Canada is never seen as an easy target.

We must meet this moment

Right now, Canada is coasting. Our military is underfunded. Our cyberdefences are vulnerable. Only 0.07 per cent of Canadians are in our Reserve Force — one of the lowest rates in NATO. And unlike almost every other NATO country, we have no universal civil defence training. In a major crisis, we’d be left scrambling. That’s not who we are.

Canada also needs to increase its conventional defence spending to at least two per cent of GDP in line with our NATO commitments. That means modernizing our military, strengthening our Arctic presence and ensuring our national security policy reflects the realities of a world where authoritarian regimes are willing to use force. Our allies are watching. More importantly, so are our adversaries. A well-equipped military backed by a prepared civilian population is not a provocation — it is the foundation of true deterrence.

Canadians have always stepped up when it matters. But it shouldn’t take a crisis to get us moving. The time to prepare is now, while we still have the ability to do so on our own terms.

The world has changed. Canada, it’s time to get ready.