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The Government of Canada is committed to helping unlock the full potential of Canada’s space sector and responding to the realities of the new and evolving space ecosystem in Canada and abroad.
Budget announced the establishment of a National Space Council, a whole-of-government approach to support space exploration, space utilization, technology development, research and security. The new National Space Council will enable greater coherence and the level of collaboration required to address cross-cutting issues that span commercial, civil, and defence space domains.
What is the National Space Council?
The National Space Council is a multi-level governance structure of Ministers and senior government officials (Assistant Deputy Ministers/Vice Presidents and Deputy Heads) comprised of members from over 20 departments and agencies across the federal government whose area of responsibility supports and/or benefits from Canada’s space capabilities and broad space ecosystem. More and more federal government departments and agencies are reliant on the benefits of space services, infrastructure, and data to deliver on their mandates. Participating member departments and agencies are listed below.
The National Space Council includes an Assistant Deputy Ministers’ Committee, co-chaired by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and the Department of National Defence, which will report to a Deputy Heads’ table, culminating with an annual meeting of Ministers. The CSA will act as the Secretariat for the National Space Council.
Existing mandates and authorities of participating departments and agencies will remain unchanged by the establishment of the National Space Council.
Members
The National Space Council is comprised of members from over 20 departments and agencies across the federal government whose area of responsibility supports and/or benefits from Canada’s space capabilities, including:
- Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
- Canadian Security Intelligence Service
- Canadian Space Agency (co-chair)
- Communications Security Establishment
- Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada
- Fisheries and Oceans Canada
- Environment and Climate Change Canada
- Finance Canada
- Global Affairs Canada
- Indigenous Services Canada
- Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada
- Justice Canada
- National Defence (co-chair)
- National Research Council Canada
- Natural Resources Canada
- Parks Canada
- Privy Council Office
- Public Health Agency of Canada
- Public Safety Canada
- Public Services and Procurement Canada
- Shared Services Canada
- Transport Canada
- Treasury Board Secretariat
- Other departments and agencies as required
Stakeholder participation
Stakeholders from across the space sector will be invited to participate in select meetings of the National Space Council at the Assistant Deputy Minister/Vice President, Deputy Head and Ministerial level to strategically engage with senior government officials, as well as share their perspectives on opportunities and challenges related to the space ecosystem in Canada.
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