Opening Ceremony Keynote Speaker: His Excellency Witold Dzielski

Speech title: “Adjusting the Allied Security Posture to Contemporary Threats”

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Poland to Canada

Witold Dzielski was born in Cracow, Poland on 21 July 1977. Before assuming (April 28, 2022) current position in Ottawa, Ambassador Dzielski was for six years Director of the Bureau of International Policy at the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland. At the time he was responsible for the foreign activities of Poland’s Head of State. 2013-2015 he served at the Foreign Ministry of the Republic of Poland as Chief Specialist, covering a broad range of transatlantic political issues. 2007-2012 he was posted at the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Washington D.C. His portfolio included EU-US relations as well as Polish-Jewish affairs.

Prior to joining the public service, Ambassador Dzielski was actively engaged in Poland’s civic society organizations. Among others, he was President and founder of the US Matters Association, Office Director at the Pro Publico Bono Foundation, public relations representative for the Oswiecim Institute of Human Rights, lecturer at the Jagiellonian University, lecturer at the School of Banking and Management, and teacher at the High School of Fine Arts in Kraków. He is a published author in the area of international relations, as well as fiction (fantasy).

In his free time, he enjoys sports (Aikido black belt, formerly long time captain of a basketball team). For his professional achievements he was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (2022), Commander of Makarios III (2021), Commander of the Star of Romania (2019), Commander of the Order of the Lion of Finland (2017). He has a wife and two sons.

Closing Ceremony Keynote Speaker: Major-General G.R. SMITH, MSM, CD

Speech title: “TBD”

Director General – International Security Policy (DGIS Pol)

Major-General Greg Smith is an Infantry Officer who was born in Oshawa, Ontario. He has served in each of the battalions of the Royal Canadian Regiment (The RCR) at Platoon and Company level, was Commanding Officer of the Canadian Special Operations Regiment, Commandant of the Canadian Army Command and Staff College, and Director of the Royal Canadian Infantry Corps. He was Canada’s National Military Representative/ Commander Formation Europe and Assistant Chief of Staff J5 at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) in Mons, Belgium. He served in the Canadian Forces Intelligence Command as Director General Intelligence Enterprise.

Major-General Smith’s other staff appointments include serving at the Infantry School, the Army Headquarters, the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command, and the Defence Renewal Team. Major-General Smith’s operational deployments include UNPROFOR in Croatia in 1994-95 as platoon commander, a deployment to Kabul in 2003-04 as Battalion Group Operations Officer, to Kandahar in 2009-10 as Special Operation Task Force Commander, to Kabul in 2012 as Deputy Training Mission Commander, and to Baghdad, Iraq in 2016 as Chief of Staff of the Combined Joint Forces Land Component Command – Operation INHERENT RESOLVE.

He is a graduate of the Transitional Command and Staff Course at the Canadian Army Command and Staff College, the Joint Command and Staff Programme at the Canadian Forces College (CFC) Toronto, the National Security Programme at CFC Toronto. He is a Fellow of the U.S. National Defence University Capstone Course, the NATO Defence College General Officer Flag Officer Ambassador Course, and the Daniel K. Inoye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies Transnational Security Cooperation Course. Major-General Smith possesses a Bachelor of Arts in Military and Strategic Studies (Honours) from Collège militaire royal de St-Jean and three Masters of Arts in War Studies, Defence Studies, and Public Administration through the Royal Military College of Canada (RMCC) and the University of New Brunswick. He has been a Visiting Defence Fellow at the Queen’s University Centre for International and Defence Policy in Kingston, Ontario.

He is married to Major (retd) Danielle Garon and they have two children in university.