Eliot Pence: It's time to rethink Canada's space agency through a national security and innovation lens
Tomas Kauer 
The search for the next leader of the Canadian Space Agency is underway, but unlike past transitions, this moment should be used to rethink the agency’s true purpose and reposition Canada’s credibility as a spacefaring nation.
Over the years, the CSA has advanced space science, contributed to allied missions such as Artemis and the International Space Station and built expertise in Earth observation and robotics. But when it first launched in 1990, space was viewed as scientific and industrial.
The agency’s model wasn’t made for the world of today, when space is intertwined with national security and essential to communications, navigation, intelligence gathering and Arctic awareness.
In Canada, the gap separating civil space and national defence programs is now narrowing to the point that it barely exists. This month, NATO confirmed it is working on a feasibility study for a potential new satellite ground station in Canada. That follows last year’s launch of the Enhanced Satellite Communications Project, a $5-billion effort to support communications for the Canadian Armed Forces in the Arctic. Then there is the Golden Dome, U.S. President Donald Trump ’s continental defence effort, which would be based on space-based systems.
To compete in such an environment, Canada urgently needs to bring commercial speed and a defence lens to its space efforts.
Yet the CSA remains structured as a program-delivery and research organization within Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada. That approach isn’t designed for the speed, iteration, or industry engagement that’s needed to define technological leadership in space.
But there is an alternative approach, if we’re open to change. Twenty years ago, NASA launched the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program and, with that, introduced milestone-based funding, advanced purchase agreements, shared risk and competition among multiple firms.
This program unlocked rapid iteration and brought new industrial players, including Elon Musk ‘s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. , to the table. The model has since become the operating logic of U.S. defence innovation, where risk is managed rather than eliminated, and industry is a true partner.
If we apply that same model to reorient the CSA, the agency could become a pathfinder of national capability, with space becoming a base for defence-adjacent innovation and industrial growth. Such a move would require repositioning the agency closer to the centre of government, with a mandate tied directly to sovereignty and security, while preserving its core scientific and human spaceflight functions.
In turn, the CSA would become leaner and more technical with a higher concentration of engineers, operators and program leaders. Its operating model could shift toward milestone-based competitions aligned with national priorities, such as Arctic defence. Early contracts could fund different approaches at a smaller scale, with follow-on funding for systems that can perform in real conditions.
Through science-led, dual-use programs, the CSA could make this restructuring a reality. Earth observation focused on animal migration and vegetation patterns, for example, could double as Arctic awareness infrastructure.
Such an approach would require the agency to accept measured risk. Not every program would succeed, but more would reach deployment, and they would get there faster.
It would also require closer alignment with the Department of National Defence. Many capabilities Canada needs in space are inherently dual-use: surveillance, communications, sensing and integration with autonomous systems, to name a few. Treating them as shared mandates would allow faster progress and more coherent investment without collapsing the distinction between civil and military space institutions.
Industry would also need to be brought in earlier. Canadian companies already operate at the frontier of AI, sensing and communications. A more active CSA could become an early customer by providing contracts that validate technology and enable companies to scale. Compared to a traditional procurement process, it would accelerate engagements and attract private capital alongside public investment.
Canada has a long history of building infrastructure to connect and secure its geography. Space is becoming the next layer of that system. Canada’s scale, which is often viewed as a limitation, can become an advantage if paired with a clear mandate and political backing.
The Arctic illustrates this point. The northern region presents a defined set of problems: the need for persistent awareness across a wide stretch of territory and for reliable communications at high latitudes. The CSA could be positioned to deliver sovereign space-based infrastructure as a solution.
A leadership transition provides the ideal opportunity to ground the CSA in today’s reality and build an agency that moves at the speed the moment requires.
Eliot Pence is a member of the Advisory Council for Canada-U.S. Economic Relations and the founder and chief executive of Dominion Dynamics Inc.
