Laurier Centre for Military Strategic and Disarmament Studies

We are pleased to announce the fall program. Some details still need to be confirmed and will be shared when available.

Wednesday, November 25th at 7 pm

Dr. Kevin Spooner, Wilfrid Laurier University

Intervention in Africa: The Congo Crisis, the Cold War, and Canadian Peacekeeping

Within weeks of gaining independence from Belgium in 1960, the Democratic Republic of Congo descended into political anarchy and chaos. The international community responded by dispatching a United Nations peacekeeping force to assist in the restoration of order and to oversee the departure of outside military forces. The Diefenbaker government had immediate and ongoing reservations about Canadian participation in the Op?ration des Nations Unies au Congo, reservations that challenged cherished notions of Canada's status as a peacekeeper but that were ultimately eclipsed by a complex web of considerations, not the least of which was Canada's commitment to the UN.

Wednesday, December 9th at 7 pm

Captain Timothy C. Winegard, University of Oxford

"And Death Shall Have No Dominion: Indigenous Peoples of the British Dominions and the First World War"

Capt. Timothy C. Winegard is currently completing his PhD at the University of Oxford, and will soon take up a postdoctoral fellow position at the LCMSDS. He is currently teaching First Nations Studies at WLU and UWO. Tim recently published a book on the Oka Crisis and the role of the Canadian Forces. His talk continues with the theme of First Nations and military interaction by comparing the capricious and racially motivated policies concerning, and participation of, the Indigenous Peoples of the Dominions--Canada, Australia, Newfoundland, New Zealand and South Africa--during the First World War.