Speakers

Lieutenant-colonel Yves Desbiens joined the Canadian Forces in 2006 as a Public Affairs Officer. He is currently assigned as a Project Officer at the NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence in Riga. 

From 2018 to 2020, he was the Chief Strategic Communications and Effects at Task Force Latvia in Riga, where he ensured the full integration of communication and information aspects in planning and execution of all Canadian activities, in support of NATO aims and objectives. Prior to that, LCol Desbiens worked at the 2^nd Division and Joint Task Force (East) Headquarters, the Military Police and National Investigation Group, the Director General Public Affairs, Combat Camera, and the Strategic Joint Staff. 

LCol Desbiens also served on operational missions abroad, in Afghanistan, Italy, the Philippines, and Latvia. He also served on several domestic operations: G7 Summit, floods, forest fires, sovereignty operations in the High Arctic, asylum seekers crisis, and drug interdiction efforts.   

LCol Desbiens holds an Executive MBA from McGill and HEC-Montréal, a Bachelor in Communication from Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, and is a graduate of the Canadian Forces Joint Command and Staff Program.

LCol Desbiens and his wife have one child.