By Alan Barnes In recent decades, Canadian historians have become reliant on the Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) process for the release of government historical records. This was not supposed to happen: when the Access to Information Act (ATIA) was passed in 1983 it was not intended to replace the existing mechanisms for declassifying …
Historical Research Officer: Global Affairs Canada
Global Affairs Canada is hiring a Historical Research Officer. Reporting to the Head of the Historical Section at Global Affairs Canada, the Historical Research Officer contributes to the Section’s research and outreach programs designed to promote greater understanding of the history of Canadian diplomacy and international relations, including such flagship research projects as the Documents …
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“‘Posting a chap’: Attaching a Canadian intelligence officer to British intelligence in Cold War Germany”
Timothy Andrews Sayle, University of Toronto | This is a short description of a minor episode – a small snapshot of Canada’s intelligence history. On one hand, it is little more than a factual description of correspondence between offices in London and between London and Ottawa, all of it making arrangements for a Canadian to …
Greg Donaghy: Remembering a Scholar, Mentor, and Friend
*Please post a comment or memory at the bottom of this page if you wish to write a short message about Greg. -- By Asa McKercher, Royal Military College of Canada On 1 July 2020, Greg Donaghy died. The director of the Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History at the University of Toronto and …
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Remembering Gregory Owen Donaghy, September 8, 1961 – July 1, 2020
The Canadian International History Committee/Comité d'histoire internationale du Canada is deeply saddened by the passing of historian Greg Donaghy, a long-time mentor, colleague and friend to our entire community. Greg Donaghy joined the Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History as Director on 1 July 2019, after serving as Head of the Historical Section, Global …
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Brendan Kelly (The Good Fight) Wins 2020 John Wesley Dafoe Book Prize
The CIH/HIC is delighted to share the news and offer its congratulations to historian Brendan Kelly, recently named winner of the 2020 John Wesley Dafoe Book Prize for The Good Fight: Marcel Cadieux and Canadian Diplomacy. The Good Fight is published by UBC Press as part of its vibrant C.D. Howe Series in Canadian Political …
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The Nuclear North: Histories of Canada in the Atomic Age
Publication Notice | The Nuclear North: Histories of Canada in the Atomic Age. Susan Colbourn and Timothy Andrews Sayle. Eds. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2020. By virtue of resources and technologies Canada is a nuclear nation. But the country does not have the ultimate symbol of nuclear power – a weapons program of …
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Canada in the Age of Eisenhower
Symposium | In his accomplished study of US President Dwight Eisenhower, The Age of Eisenhower: America and the World in the 1950s, prominent US historian William Hitchcock argued that the era from the mid-1940s to the early 1960s was defined by three overarching themes: the Cold War and its implications for the national security state; …
Job: Head of Historical Section, Global Affairs Canada
Global Affairs Canada - Foreign Policy Research - PORH Ottawa (Ontario) HR-04 $88,704 to $98,569 Apply Online Closing date: 8 January 2020 - 23:59, Pacific Time Reporting to the Director - Foreign Policy Research and Foresight Division, the Head of the historical section of Global Affairs Canada is responsible for managing the overall program of work …
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Challenge the Strong Wind: Canada and East Timor, 1975-99
Publication Notice | Challenge the Strong Wind: Canada and East Timor, 1975-99. David Webster. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2020. In 1975, Indonesian forces overran East Timor, just days after it had declared independence from Portugal. Canadian officials knew the invasion was coming and initially endorsed Indonesian rule. The ensuing occupation of the Southeast …
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The Good Fight: Marcel Cadieux and Canadian Diplomacy
Publication Notice | The Good Fight: Marcel Cadieux and Canadian Diplomacy. Brendan Kelly. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2019. Before official bilingualism was established in 1969, francophones were scarce in the Canadian public service. Marcel Cadieux was one of the few, becoming arguably the most important francophone diplomat and civil servant in Canadian history. …
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A Samaritan State Revisited: Historical Perspectives on Canadian Foreign Aid
Publication Notice | A Samaritan State Revisited: Historical Perspectives on Canadian Foreign Aid. Greg Donaghy and David Webster. Eds. Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 2019. Canada’s foreign aid programs are an area of ongoing interest, yet there is little knowledge of Canada’s 70-year aid history, the historic forces that have shaped Canadian aid policy, and …
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Canada on the United Nations Security Council: A Small Power on a Large Stage
Publication Notice | Canada on the United Nations Security Council: A Small Power on a Large Stage. Adam Chapnick. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2019. As the twentieth century ended, Canada was completing its sixth term on the United Nations Security Council, more terms than all but three other non-permanent members. A decade later, …
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CFP: 2020 CHA Annual Meeting, Western University
Call for Papers Canadian Historical Association Annual Meeting Western University London, Ontario 1-3 June 2020 In June 2020, Western University in London, Ontario will host the 99th annual meeting of the Canadian Historical Association. This year’s Program Committee has elected not to designate a conference theme. Instead, all are invited to submit proposals in English …
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Call for Chapter Proposals: Canada’s Military-Industrial Complex
The “military-industrial complex” (MIC) is defined as an informal alliance between a nation’s military and defence industries. The term gained popularity following President Dwight Eisenhower’s farewell address in January 1961 in which he warned Americans about the powerful “conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry” and its potential for acquiring “unwarranted …
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Resisting Rights: Canada and the International Bill of Rights, 1947–76
Publication Notice | Resisting Rights: Canada and the International Bill of Rights, 1947–76. Jennifer Tunnicliffe. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2019. From 1948 to 1966, the United Nations worked to create an international bill of rights that would provide a common standard for human rights protection around the globe. Canadians celebrate their country’s central …
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Listening in on Brian Mulroney and George H.W. Bush
By Asa McKercher, Royal Military College of Canada | As several recent articles attest, former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney is experiencing a renaissance of sorts. Although he left the Prime Minister’s Office amid scandal and historically low approval ratings – indeed in the election held soon after his departure, the Progressive Conservative Party was …
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Canada and the World since 1867
Publication Notice | Canada and the World since 1867. Asa McKercher. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2019. This book is a history of Canada's role in the world as well as the impact of world events on Canada. Starting from the country's quasi-independence from Britain in 1867, its analysis moves through events in Canadian and global …
Fighting with the Empire: Canada, Britain, and Global Conflict, 1867–1947
Publication Notice | Fighting with the Empire: Canada, Britain, and Global Conflict, 1867–1947. Steve Marti and William John Pratt. Eds. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2019. Canadians often characterize their military history as a march toward nationhood, but in the first eighty years of Confederation they were fighting for the British Empire. From 1867 …
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How a colonial dispute almost stopped NATO from forming
By David Webster, Bishop's University | Seventy years ago, delegates from Canada, the United States and ten European governments fulfilled the dream of many policymakers in Ottawa as they signed the North Atlantic Treaty. Signed on 4 April 1949, the pact marks the birth of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), formalized a little bit …
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Breaking Barriers, Shaping Worlds: Women and the Search for Global Order, 1919-2019
(Le message en français suit.) The Historical Section (PORH) is pleased to sponsor a two-day conference on the history of women and Canada’s international history on the theme, Breaking Barriers, Shaping Worlds: Women and the Search for Global Order, 1919-2019. Linking past and present, this symposium will explore how Canadian women have influenced Canada’s …
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Access to Information – Petition to Justin Trudeau
Members of the Canadian Foreign Intelligence History Project (CFIHP) have begun a Petition to ensure the proper archiving of historical records, including intelligence files. Please read and consider signing at this link. Petition to Justin Trudeau Whereas: The Government of Canada promotes values of transparency and openness through the provisions of the Access to Information …
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CFP: Canadian Foreign Intelligence History Project, Ottawa (July 10, 2019)
The Canadian Foreign Intelligence History Project invites paper proposals for a one-day workshop on the history of Canadian foreign intelligence to be held in Ottawa on July 10, 2019. Paper topics might include (but are not limited to): The management structures governing foreign intelligence in Canada The organizations involved in foreign intelligence collection and analysis …
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The Selected Works of George R. Lindsey: Operational Research, Strategic Studies, and Canadian Defence in the Cold War
Publication Notice | The Selected Works of George R. Lindsey: Operational Research, Strategic Studies, and Canadian Defence in the Cold War. George R. Lindsey; edited by Matthew S. Wiseman. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2019. During a government career that spanned nearly the whole of the Cold War, George Roy Lindsey gained a reputation as …
Enduring Alliance: A History of NATO and the Postwar Global Order
Publication Notice | Enduring Alliance: A History of NATO and the Postwar Global Order. Timothy Andrews Sayle. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2019. Born from necessity, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has always seemed on the verge of collapse. Even now, some sixty years after its inception, some consider its foundation uncertain and its …
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