Canada and Poland signed a renewed Defence Cooperation Agreement in Kielce on 7 September, covering military cooperation, joint exercises and projects between the two defence industries, a day before Canada opened Europe's third-largest land defence exhibition as its lead nation.

Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, Poland's deputy prime minister and defence minister, signed for Poland. David J. McGuinty signed for Canada. Poland's defence ministry said the document covers bilateral military cooperation, joint exercises including Arctic training at Canadian sites, Polish participation in NATO exercises, equipment sales and industrial work through the European Union's SAFE mechanism.

"Canada is our ally. Canada is our friend. We have long-standing ties with Canada," Kosiniak-Kamysz said at the signing. "Polish-Canadian relations have never been so good."

"Polish soldiers will go to Canada and take part in exercises in the Arctic," he said.

McGuinty said Canada and Poland are "strong Allies with a shared understanding of what is required to protect our people and strengthen our collective security." At the end of his visit he said the two governments had "renewed a Defence Cooperation Agreement that will deepen our work together for years to come," and that Canada "will continue to stand with Poland as we build a stronger and more secure Euro-Atlantic region."

Why Poland turned to Ottawa

Kosiniak-Kamysz set out the reasoning in Ottawa on 26 May 2026, after signing a letter of intent with McGuinty covering procurement, industry cooperation, joint Arctic drills, emerging technologies and ammunition production capacity.

"You are an extremely important partner to us," he said. "Transatlantic ties are not just about the Polish-US relationship. The Polish-Canadian relationship is taking on a new shape."

"The security situation is undergoing dynamic changes," Kosiniak-Kamysz said in Ottawa, citing "Russia's aggressive policies" and saying Poland and Canada "need solutions that will meet these challenges."

Kielce marked Poland's shift "from a country that purchases foreign equipment" to one that "becomes a producer as well," Kosiniak-Kamysz said on 7 September.

Poland will spend 200 billion zloty, about 46.8 billion euros, on defence in 2026, equal to 4.8 per cent of GDP and the highest share in NATO. Canada reached the 2 per cent NATO target in March 2026 and launched a Defence Industrial Strategy on 17 February 2026 projecting more than 180 billion dollars in procurement opportunities over 10 years, with a target of 70 per cent Canadian content in defence acquisitions.

Maninder Sidhu, Canada's international trade minister, said the Canadian defence industry "contributed over $11 billion to Canada's GDP and supports 82,000 jobs," and that "by deepening these trade relationships, Canada can contribute to more resilient supply chains."

McGuinty put the same case in NATO terms before flying to Poland: "A stronger Canadian defence industry means a stronger Canada, a stronger NATO and a more secure Alliance."

Industry and drones

Canada intends to buy unmanned systems from Poland's WB Group, including the Warmate loitering munition, the FlyEye reconnaissance drone and the Gladius strike-reconnaissance system, under the Ottawa letter of intent. Kosiniak-Kamysz said on 7 September that the drone deal would be completed the following day. No contract, value or delivery schedule has been announced.

CAE and WB Electronics signed a memorandum at Kielce on 8 September to develop training and mission readiness products for unmanned and autonomous systems, aimed at buyers in Canada, Poland and allied states, with no financial terms disclosed.

Piotr Wojciechowski, president of WB Electronics, said the memorandum "allows us to explore how best to combine our respective strengths to create advanced training and mission readiness capabilities for current and future operators of unmanned systems."

Thibaut Trancart, CAE's vice-president and general manager for defence and security in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said autonomous and unmanned capabilities "are becoming a defining element of modern defence forces."

Canada sent 158 companies and 29 government bodies to Kielce, out of a delegation the defence department put at nearly 500 people, to an exhibition of about 900 exhibitors, 60 official delegations and more than 40,000 visitors. Bilateral merchandise trade reached 5.3 billion dollars in 2025, with Canadian exports of 1.5 billion, up 35.6 per cent on 2024, against 3.8 billion in imports from Poland. Polish direct investment in Canada reached 4.4 billion dollars, against 2.1 billion dollars of Canadian investment in Poland.

The SAFE route

Canada became the first non-European state admitted to the European Union's Security Action for Europe instrument, a 150 billion euro loan facility for joint defence procurement, when EU member states endorsed the agreement on 19 December 2025. The deal was signed on 14 February 2026 and concluded by Council decision on 15 June 2026. Canadian firms and Canadian-origin products can now compete for common procurement contracts inside the EU. Poland, the largest borrower under the instrument, supported the application.

Marconi Technologies of Montreal holds the first SAFE contract awarded to a Canadian company, more than 10 million dollars of ORION tactical radios for Polish Cyber Command, with deliveries to 2030.

Roughly 70 cents of every Canadian defence dollar went to U.S. suppliers before the shift. "Days of our military sending 70 cents of every dollar to US are over," Carney said in April 2026.

Energy alongside weapons

Former PM Justin Trudeau and Donald Tusk signed a Canada-Poland nuclear energy cooperation agreement on 29 January 2025, covering nuclear technologies for research and safety, joint research projects and exchanges of specialists. "This agreement is strategic for us," Tusk said. Trudeau said the agreement would let "Canadian companies apply their nuclear expertise to support Poland's energy transition."

Bloomberg reported on 8 September 2026 that Canada was in talks to sell nuclear power technology and liquefied natural gas to Poland, the same day EU and Canadian officials were described as preparing a wider trade and security alliance.

The two armies

The United States leads NATO's multinational battlegroup in Poland, with Croatia, Romania and the United Kingdom contributing. Canada is not part of it.

Canada leads the multinational brigade in Latvia instead, and Poland contributes troops to it alongside Albania, Czechia, Denmark, Iceland, Italy, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden. Canada has more than 2,000 personnel deployed under Operation REASSURANCE and plans up to 2,200 in Latvia during 2026. NATO confirmed Canada on 8 July 2026 as the third nation to lead Multinational Division North, with the deployment extended to 2031.

Poland invoked Article 4 of the North Atlantic Treaty on 10 September 2025, after between 19 and 23 Russian drones entered Polish airspace overnight. Polish F-16s, Dutch F-35s, Italian early-warning aircraft and a Belgian tanker responded, and up to four drones were shot down. NATO launched Eastern Sentry two days later. Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom committed aircraft, air defence systems and a frigate to it. Canada committed none.

Canadian fighter deployments to NATO's eastern flank have gone to Romania rather than Poland, most recently an Air Task Force flying enhanced air policing from Romanian bases in 2022.

Training since 1917

Camp Kościuszko opened at Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, in September 1917 under Colonel Arthur D'Orr LePan and closed in March 1919, putting more than 20,000 Polish recruits from Canada and the United States through training for the Polish Army in France. Poland had been partitioned off the map for 120 years, and Canada was training soldiers for a state that did not yet exist.

LePan described the camp at a banquet in Buffalo in March 1919. "It was no unusual sight to have gatherings of officers at which the countries of Poland, France, United States and Canada were represented and on each occasion was found officers who from their environment and education had different ideas and ideals, all cooperating with the one great ideal of making this new creation as big a factor as possible, not only in the creation of a national Poland, but as an agency for freeing the world from an oppression that not only Poles had heard of as we have on this continent, but also that they had felt in body and soul," he wrote.

A second Camp Tadeusz Kościuszko operated at Owen Sound, Ontario, from 1941 to May 1942, training about 700 Polish soldiers and airmen under General Bronisław Duch and Major Stefan Majewski. Men who passed through Polish formations in the west fought at Monte Cassino, Ancona, the Gothic Line, the Falaise Gap, Arnhem and Breda.

Poland's national treasures reached Halifax on 12 July 1940 aboard the Polish ship Batory, in the same convoy as British gold reserves and British evacuee children. The Szczerbiec coronation sword, a Gutenberg Bible and 32 Chopin manuscripts stayed in the National Archives at the Experimental Farm in Ottawa until 1945, then moved to bank vaults and two monasteries. Curators Jozef Polkowski and Stanislaw Zaleski split the collection to keep the Soviet-backed government in Poland from recovering it. The last of the collection returned to Poland in 1961. Canada and Poland opened formal diplomatic relations in 1942, while Poland's government remained in exile in London.

NATO

Canada was the first NATO member to ratify Poland's accession protocol, in 1998. Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary joined the alliance on 12 March 1999, when Poland's foreign minister handed the instrument of accession to the U.S. secretary of state at Independence, Missouri.

More than 400 senior Polish officers have taken advanced training in Canada since 1997 through the Military Training and Cooperation Program. A joint Defence Action Plan followed in August 2025.

Canada deployed a Land Task Force to the Drawsko Pomorskie training area in Poland from May 2014 to August 2017, cycling more than 1,000 soldiers through eight rotations. Anita Anand signed the first Canada-Poland Defence Cooperation Agreement in Poland in October 2022 and announced about 40 Canadian combat engineers for training in Poland under Operation UNIFIER.

Poland has committed soldiers to NATO exercises in the Arctic in Canada, and Kosiniak-Kamysz has raised a larger Polish presence at Canadian training areas.