Amid soaring costs of essentials, could a basic income guarantee be the game-changer? Both the market economy and welfare system are falling short, with minimum-wage workers, and people receiving social assistance trapped thousands of dollars below the poverty line....
The Chatham Coloured All-Stars, a Black baseball team from Chatham, Ontario was among a number of Black teams that joined white-dominated amateur leagues in the 1930s. The All-Stars developed a high profile in southwestern Ontario baseball over their eight years...
On the 80th anniversary of the invasion of Sicily and the mainland battles at Salerno, the Sangro and Ortona, Terry Copp examines the effects of Anglo- American strategic conflict on the operations of both Fifth and Eighth Armies, with special reference to the...
This talk explores R v. RDS twenty years after this landmark legal case in Canada. A number of legal scholars and historians of Black Canadian history and Black Canadian legal history have taken the opportunity presented by this anniversary to reflect upon its...
In the first ruling of its kind in Ontario, on 27 January 2023 the Ontario Superior Court of Justice found that the Region of Waterloo’s attempt to evict encampment residents at 100 Victoria St. N was a violation of Charter rights (CV-22-717). Moderated by Laura Pin,...
In the 20th century’s greatest war, one battlefield held the key to victory or defeat – the North Atlantic. It took 2,074 days and nights to determine its outcome, but the Battle of the Atlantic proved the turning point of the Second World War. For five and a half...
The Irish Canadian Rangers began as a Militia Regiment in 1915 after Catholic and Protestant Irish agreed to cooperate. After the battle of Second Ypres, the regiment contributed a full company to the 60th Battalion and began a campaign to persuade Sam Hughes to...
The Second World War brought many crucial changes to the lives of Canadian women, including the opportunity for wider military service. Recruits who joined the Canadian Women’s Army Corps, the Royal Canadian Air Force Women’s Division, and the Women’s Royal Canadian...
The Dieppe Raid is shrouded in controversy and tragedy. For decades, it dominated Canadians’ collective memory of the war. Considered a tragic failure since 1942, its story is as complex as it is nuanced. The presentation will explore the challenges of putting...
The Second World War became a total war for Canada, drawing in virtually every person in virtually every region of the country in diverse ways, including Canada’s First Nations population. As wards of the state, this was not Status Indians’ war to fight, and yet more...
In a few short years, the Royal Canadian Air Force expanded from a small domestic force of 8 squadrons and 4,000 personnel to a globe-spanning air force with 80 operational squadrons and 250,000 personnel (including 17,000 women). The RCAF defended London, led the...
Over five days in November 1944, the Algonquin Regiment played a pivotal role in the capture of the tiny Dutch town of Welberg. In 2018, twenty Canadian university students returned to the site as part of an experiential learning course focused on the Regiment’s...
Active on many fronts during the Second World War, the Royal Canadian Navy played its best-known and arguably most crucial role in helping to keep Allied shipping lanes open in the Atlantic. Meanwhile, Canadian merchant ships and merchant sailors transported vital...
33rd Canadian Military History ColloquiumHosted by the Laurier Centre for the Study of Canada, the 33rd Canadian Military History Colloquium will be held at Wilfrid Laurier University on 26-27 May 2023.This page will be updated frequently. Last update: 22 December...
The Maple Leaf Route, Part II Historians have traditionally criticized the 3rd Canadian Division for its 'slow' progress after 6 June, for its failure to take Caen when it had a chance, and for succumbing to German counter-attacks and digging in on the Oak Line. But...
The Maple Leaf Route, Part I Terry Copp first visited the Normandy beaches in 1981 when researching Maple Leaf Route: Caen. Armed with the original maps and air photos, he studied the terrain, a key primary source for tactical and operational history. Copp has...
In October, David O'Keefe gave a talk as part of our webinar series based on his book Seven Days in Hell: Canada's Battle in Normandy and the Rise of the Black Watch Snipers. His talk is now available on our YouTube channel. More than 300 soldiers from the Black Watch...
Select Images from Barry Gough's The Elusive Mr. Pond On September 17th the Laurier Military History Speaker Series featured award-winning author and historian Dr. Barry Gough, who spoke about the release of his new book, The Elusive Mr. Pond: The Soldier, Fur Trader...
On 24 August 1914 (Captain) Harry Colebourn, a Canadian soldier and veterinarian, made a pit stop at the train station in White River, Ontario where he bought a bear cub and named her ‘Winnie’ after his hometown of Winnipeg. In celebration of the 100th anniversary of...
Most of us know the names of Vimy, Passchendaele and Juno Beach. Most of us know the haunting words of John McCrae’s “In Flanders Fields.” Not many of us, though, get the opportunity to walk the battlefields of Europe and engage in meaningful discussion on how best to...