The conversation will cover the most pressing human rights challenges, the role that Canada can play, and the strategies for defending rights in a world where leaders increasingly disregard international laws.
In Private Letters, Public Matters, Michael Pearson, the grandson of former Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson, draws on family correspondence to illuminate the personal side of one of Canada's most influential political figures. Through these letters, Pearson offers a window into the relationships, reflections, and private moments that accompanied Lester B. Pearson's very public life in diplomacy and politics.
Canada, Apartheid, and the Defence of the Liberal Order argues that for Canadians, the struggle against apartheid was not just about South Africa or racial injustice, but defending a global system predicated on norms, rules, and institutions in which Ottawa had a real stake both geopolitically and, more significantly, ideologically.
Join the Canadian International Council for a special virtual conversation between renowned historian Margaret MacMillan and CIC's Executive Director Melanie Walker, marking the 80th anniversary of International Journal.
Upcoming Event: Does Canada Need a Foreign Intelligence Agency?
Date: Tuesday, April 21, 2026
Time: 4:00 pm, Toronto time
Location: Boardroom | 315 Bloor Street West, Toronto, ON, M5S 0A7 & online
About the Event
Rising international instability and the increasing unreliability of the United States as an ally raise the question of whether Canada needs an independent foreign intelligence agency. During this event, former intelligence analyst Alan Barnes will review past debates within the Canadian government on this topic. Former foreign service officer Daniel Livermore will provide a critical assessment of arguments for such a Canadian capability.
About the Speakers:
Alan Barnes worked for over two decades in the Canadian intelligence community and is currently a senior fellow of the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University. He served as a military intelligence officer, in the Political Intelligence Division of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, and as director of the Middle East and Africa Division of the Intelligence Assessment Secretariat in the Privy Council Office. He is now a co-leader of the Canadian Foreign Intelligence History Project, which seeks to encourage the study of historical Canadian records on intelligence.
Daniel Livermore holds a Ph.D. from Queen’s University and was a foreign service officer in Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade for more than 30 years, prior to his retirement in 2007. He served as Ambassador to Guatemala and El Salvador, as s Canada’s ambassador for the international landmine campaign, and as director general for security and intelligence.
Watch the event recording here!
Join historians Stephen Azzi, Patrice Dutil, and Robert Bothwell, for a discussion of the ways Canada's Prime Ministers have managed their often fractious and difficult Cabinets.
Join Trinity alumni, faculty, and experts to explore the strengths, limitations and impact of international law in an increasingly complex global landscape. The evening will begin with a moderated panel discussion, followed by an audience Q&A and a reception to connect and continue the conversation.
Join historians Stephen Azzi, Patrice Dutil, and Robert Bothwell, for a discussion of the ways Canada's Prime Ministers have managed their often fractious and difficult Cabinets.
This conference will examine how Canada and the international community should respond to profound political changes underway in the United States.
This conference will examine how Canada and the international community should respond to profound political changes underway in the United States.
In The Beaver and The Dragon, acclaimed sinologist Charles Burton takes readers inside Canada’s most fateful geopolitical miscalculation. Drawing on a lifetime of engagement, Burton chronicles China’s strategic ascent and the naïveté that allowed it to happen.
Join us as George S. Takach shows us why Taiwan matters—to its own people and to the world—and why democracies everywhere advance their national interests when they support it.
Join us for a conversation with Dr. John F. Jungclaussen, historian, commentator and former London Bureau Chief of one of Germany’s leading newspapers, Die Zeit, on the ascendancy of right-wing populism in much of Europe.
As Canada's longest serving, arguably most successful, and certainly most eccentric Prime Minister, William Lyon Mackenzie King is a figure of perennial fascination. Join us for fresh perspectives on neglected aspects of King's life and career.
This talk will analyze the complexities inherent in the reciprocity of war and strategy by examining coalition warfare through the prism of the British Army’s experiences in Multi-National Division South East (MND SE) and Basra in the Iraq War, 2006-2009.
Join us for the launch of On the Ground: My Life as a Foreign Correspondent with special guest Brian Stewart. On the Ground is powerful memoir revealing the pressures, joys, and traumas of witnessing history up close and personal, from one of Canada’s most prominent and decorated foreign correspondents.
Join us for discussion of two recent books exploring a neglected dimensions of both Canadian and international history - Canadian Intelligence in the Cold War. Alan Barnes explores the role of Canadian intelligence in continental defence policies, while Timothy Andrews Sayle traces the evolution of intelligence cooperation between Canada, Britain, and the United States.
Join us for the launch of Chrétien and the World: Canadian Foreign Policy from 1993 to 2003 with special guest the Rt. Hon. Jean Chrétien. Books will be available for purchase. A private reception will follow the presentation. This book launch is part of 2025 Couchiching Conference, co-hosted by the Canadian International Council and the Aga Khan Museum.
Join a discussion with journalist Tim Mak about the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War. As founder of The Counteroffensive, a Kyiv-based publication that covers the war from the ground, Mak speaks with authority on questions of strategy and tactics, the role of changing military technology, the geopolitics of the conflict, and the experiences of those caught up in it.
This roundtable will debate what the International Journal's dictum, to 'contribute in a substantial way to the knowledge of Canadians on problems of international relations and [to] express to other countries the Canadian viewpoint on international questions,' means today.
The Canadian International Council is honoured to welcome Edward Luce, Chief U.S. Commentator and Columnist for the Financial Times, to deliver a special lecture on May 26, 2025 in Toronto.
Join us for an evening of expert insight and timely discussion exploring Canada’s approach to hosting the G7 Summit in Kananaskis, Alberta—marking both the G7’s 50th anniversary and the first multilateral engagement on the world stage for President Trump in his second term.
Join Canadian foreign policy expert and author Adam Chapnick for a discussion on our changing world, Canada's place in it, and the relationship with the U.S. under Trump.
Erin O'Halloran offers a compelling new account of the era immediately preceding decolonization and the epochal partitions of India and Palestine. Alongside well-known figures like Mohandas K. Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Saad Zaghlul, she introduces less familiar but no less intriguing personalities: feminists, diplomats, and poets; surrealists, socialists and spies.
Policy in Action: Spencer Wilkinson and the Foundations of Modern Grand Strategy
A Discussion with Paul Ramsey
Sponsored by the Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History
Date: Monday, March 10, 2025
Time: 4:00 pm-6:00 pm, EST
Location: Room 208, North House, Munk School, 1 Devonshire Place, Toronto, ON, M5S 3K7
About the Event
This talk examines Spenser Wilkinson's pivotal role in shaping modern grand strategy amidst nineteenth-century industrialization and globalization. Wilkinson broadened strategy to encompass all national resources, integrating military and policy dimensions to address the complexities of imperial defence. The talk explores his vision of grand strategy as national policy in action. It also traces how his ideas impacted later scholars, challenging the attribution of grand strategy’s origins to figures like J.F.C. Fuller and Basil Liddell Hart. By revisiting Wilkinson’s contributions, the talk illuminates the historical roots of grand strategic thought and its relevance to contemporary security challenges. It argues that Wilkinson laid the foundations of modern grand strategic thought, offering a comprehensive framework that remains pertinent today.
About the Speaker
Paul Ramsey is a historian of war and strategy. Paul is ABD in history at the University of Calgary, and a visiting researcher at the University of Toronto. He was the Edward S. Miller Research Fellow in Naval History at the United States Naval War College. He completed his MA in the History of Warfare in the Department of War Studies at King’s College, London, and his BA in Military and International History at the University of Salford. Paul’s research examines the early academic writing about national strategy and public opinion about war. His dissertation shows the role of Spenser Wilkinson, a leading thinker on war, strategy and society, in the professionalisation of strategic planning and national defence policy in First World War era Britain.
Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the more than 5 million Ukrainian Catholics worldwide, will deliver a public lecture at the Isabel Bader Theatre at Victoria College (93 Charles Street West) at the University of Toronto on February 25 at 7 p.m.
Professor and New York Times best-selling author Timothy Snyder will respond to the lecture. Snyder teaches at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy and is a leading public intellectual in modern Central European politics.
In 1962, Dr. Robert James Sutherland, a defence scientist and strategic advisor with the Defence Research Board (DRB), presented a paper at the Canadian Institute of International Affairs (CIIA) in Toronto. His talk, “Canada’s Long-Term Strategic Situation,” which explored the likely shape of Canadian strategic choice out to the end of the century, went far better than he might have expected. On February 25, Sutherland’s biographer, Dr. John Keess from the Royal Military College of Canada, will offer a brief discussion of Sutherland’s background, then present a refreshed version of Sutherland’s original talk and article.
At a critical moment for Pakistan, Canada stopped funding of women’s organizations, ending a legacy of leadership on women’s rights. Was it a lost legacy? Given violent extremism’s devastating impact on development gains including women’s rights, security, and the elimination of gender-based violence, what is the future role for international development?
Insurgency remains a challenge to global security but much thinking by both scholars and security practitioners remains mired in the past, treating mid 20th century insurgency as paradigmatic. Conceptualizing insurgency as a form of strategy rather than a variant of warfare or a type of organization can allow security experts to transcend this analytical ossification. Reflecting broader trends in the security environment, the most challenging of tomorrow's insurgencies will be dramatically different than those of the past and test the ability of states and suprastate security systems to contain or defeat them.
There was an important international context in which Tommy Douglas formulated and implemented his plans for universal health coverage in Canada while premier of Saskatchewan from 1944 until 1961. While much of the narrative in Gregory Marchildon’s Tommy Douglas and the Quest for Medicare in Canada focuses on domestic politics and policy, international politics and policy played a central but overlooked role at critical points.
