Canada’s first quantum defence hub headed to Calgary

Much of the public-key cryptography that runs today’s internet could eventually be broken by a quantum computer.

On Thursday, Ottawa announced $20.3 million over two years for a University of Calgary-led hub aimed at turning Canadian quantum research into technology the Canadian Armed Forces can use. The work covers secure communications, GPS-independent navigation, sensing, algorithms, and hardware assurance.

“Quantum technologies will fundamentally, and in my view, forever change how nations defend themselves and how they compete,” Defence Minister David McGuinty said Thursday. 

“They will redefine navigation when GPS is denied, communications when networks are contested, sensing when adversaries seek to remain invisible, and computing at speeds that will transform what is possible across defence, security, and industry.”

The Quantum Defence Innovation Secure Hub is the third launched under BOREALIS, the federal defence research program set up last year and now part of Canada’s Defence Industrial Strategy. Nova Scotia got the first for naval and undersea work in November, and Mirabel, Quebec got the second in July, focused on drones and other uncrewed systems.

The Calgary hub covers quantum sensing, communications, algorithms, and hardware assurance. The work includes navigation that doesn’t depend on GPS, spoofing detection, quantum-secure communications, and testing and validation of quantum devices and systems.

Ottawa has been telling Canadian organizations to get ready for quantum for more than a year.

The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security’s post-quantum cryptography roadmap set the milestones in June 2025, and the Treasury Board’s October 2025 policy notice turned them into requirements. 

By April 1, 2026, federal departments needed a high-level migration plan, and new federal contracts with a digital component had to require post-quantum cryptography, certified encryption modules, and the ability to update as standards change. 

High-priority systems need to be migrated by 2031, and everything else by 2035.

Federal departments aren’t the only ones on notice. The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI), which regulates federal banks and insurers, has issued its own quantum readiness bulletin, recommending institutions inventory their cryptography, assess third-party dependencies, and plan for migration.

The financial stakes are already being modelled. A January Citi Institute report, citing Hudson Institute modelling, put the indirect economic damage from a one-day quantum attack on a top-five U.S. bank’s Fedwire access at between $2 trillion and $3.3 trillion, or 10-17% of real GDP.

‘Harvest now, decrypt later’ creates a risk before a useful quantum computer even exists. An attacker can collect encrypted information today and hold it for future decryption. Health records, pension files, and long-term contracts are particularly exposed because they need to stay confidential for decades and often travel over public networks.

Federal procurement rules now require new digital contracts to account for post-quantum cryptography and make sure encryption can be updated as standards change. OSFI’s guidance also points financial institutions to their vendor and third-party dependencies.

If a vendor can’t explain how its encryption will be upgraded, that becomes the customer’s problem.

Calgary’s selection came out of a field of 27 applications for the quantum mandate.

McGuinty pointed to Quantum City, a U of C-led project launched in 2022 with the Government of Alberta and IT company Mphasis. It puts quantum research, the people who do it, and the companies that want to buy it all in the same postal code.

He also pointed to more than 20 real-world quantum applications the university is currently working on, saying this is “the next chapter” of Calgary’s quantum story. 

“History remembers the moments when countries recognized the technologies that would define the century ahead of us: electricity, aviation, computing, the internet, artificial intelligence. Quantum belongs in that company,” McGuinty said.

Defence policy was now economic policy, he added, and “the countries that build the technologies of tomorrow will shape the security of tomorrow.”

In a statement released with the announcement, U of C president Edward McCauley said the consortium of post-secondary and industry partners will “translate quantum technologies into real-world solutions that will strengthen Canada’s sovereignty.”

The $20.3 million is small beside the scale of Ottawa’s defence industrial plan. Quantum appears in two of the strategy’s 10 sovereign capability areas, digital systems and sensors.

Quantum is already reshaping federal contracts and IT timelines. Calgary now gets $20.3 million to find out what it can do for defence.

Final shots

• Canada is putting money behind moving quantum research into defence use. Calgary’s new hub gives researchers and companies a route into that work.
• Federal departments face high-priority post-quantum migrations by 2031 and full migration by 2035. 2035 sounds far away until you count the systems that have to get there.
• New federal digital contracts already have to account for post-quantum cryptography and future encryption changes. Vendors without a clear upgrade path have a habit of becoming someone else’s problem.