Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) defence ministers acknowledged Canada’s application to join the framework and advanced work towards a shared recommendation on membership for the group’s leaders. Ministers outlined that work in the joint statement from their 2 October meeting at Keflavik Air Base in Iceland.

Published on 3 October by the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence, the statement says Minister of National Defence David McGuinty joined discussions on closer cooperation between Canada and the JEF. The statement does not record a decision on whether to admit Canada.

Canada formally applied on 16 September, during Prime Minister Mark Carney’s meeting with UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham in Liverpool. Anvil North covered the ministers’ agenda on the day they met, before the outcome was published.

The ten JEF participants are Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Admission to the framework would make Canada its 11th participating nation. McGuinty met bilaterally with his Icelandic, United Kingdom, Swedish and Norwegian counterparts and engaged with ministers from the remaining six nations.

The Department of National Defence (DND) said Canada’s application builds upon existing Canadian Armed Forces exercises and planning with JEF members. These include Exercise TARASSIS in Latvia and Estonia in 2025, in which Canadian CF-188 fighter aircraft participated.

On 26 March, Carney joined a virtual gathering of JEF leaders as a special invitee. At that meeting, the group discussed joint exercises that would build on that Canadian participation.

The statement places the application within the second of three priorities: strengthening the northern flank of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) through the JEF’s focus on the Arctic, High North, North Atlantic and Baltic Sea regions.

As part of that priority, ministers agreed on the JEF’s overall policy direction and a common framework for engagement with partners.

Ministers also examined the progress of defence industrial cooperation, following two JEF National Armaments Directors meetings since the Ankara Summit. Ministers said they expected concrete proposals ahead of their next meeting.

The stated objectives of that defence industrial cooperation work are interoperability, capability innovation and shared industrial resilience across the participating countries.

Ministers were briefed on the Lion Protector exercise series, held in Iceland and Norway this autumn, and reviewed the JEF’s five-year program of activity.

Ukraine’s defence minister joined the meeting virtually. The statement says Ukrainian mine countermeasure vessels joined Lion Protector for the first time this year through the JEF-Ukraine Enhanced Partnership, established in 2025.

Ministers considered Russian hybrid activity targeting JEF nations and other NATO allies, agreeing to keep developing common approaches through JEF mechanisms.

They described the JEF’s role as operating below the threshold of Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty and welcomed efforts to align its response options with NATO’s regional plans.

Canada participated as a special guest. Discussions addressed Northern European security, Ukraine and hybrid threats.

At the close of the statement, ministers thanked Iceland for hosting the next JEF Leaders’ Summit in Reykjavik next spring. That summit is the next scheduled gathering of the leaders to whom the recommendation on Canadian membership is addressed.

Related coverage: Background on the bid is in Canada’s original JEF application. Canada’s observer role in the Global Combat Air Programme is covered in the Future Fighter Capability Project guide.