Strategic and operational level insight for BCP related activity in a large government department. Exploring the nexus of policy, multidisciplinary teams and senior leadership through the eyes of a former CSO using COVID 19, international operations and introduction of the new (at the time) TBS Policy on Government Security to guide the discussion.
 

Speaker Biography - Andre Demers

A highly capable bilingual strategic senior leader (Director General level) with extensive experience in both domestic and international operations with more than 38 years of service in the Canadian Armed Forces.  Throughout his career, Andre held a progressive series of military leadership and staff positions.  Of note he commanded the Canadian Infantry battle group deployed by the government of Canada in response to the Haiti Earthquake in 2010.  As the Canadian Armed Forces Chief Security Officer from 2019 to 2022 he reported directly to both the Chief of Defence Staff and DND Deputy Minister for all defence security matters.  During that time, he led a complete revision of the Department of National Defence overarching security plan as well as managing the integration of the COVID-19 business continuity planning efforts with the Treasury Board Secretariat.  From 2019 to 2021, Andre was the Co-Chair of the Government of Canada Security and Readiness Committee and from 2019 to 2022, he was acting as the senior representative of the DND/CAF to the PCO/TBS Assistant Deputy Minister Security Committee.  A veteran of domestic and international deployments to Bosnia, Rwanda, Afghanistan, Haiti and the Democratic Republic of Congo, he has gained significant insight in delivering operational success for complex multidisciplinary teams in peacetime and in combat operations.  He holds a bachelor’s degree in military arts and science from the Royal Military College of Canada, a master’s degree in military science and a master’s degree in Operational Studies both from the US Marine Corps University.  Andre is also a distinguished graduate of the USMC Command and staff college, a graduate of the USMC School of Advanced Warfighting and the Canadian National Security Program.