News and Announcements
CALL FOR PAPERS TO THE CFP 2023 North American Society for Intelligence History (NASIH) Conference
The deadline for submission to the CFP 2023 North American Society for Intelligence History (NASIH) Conference has been extended to January 9th, 2023. Paper and paper proposals about all aspects of intelligence history are welcomed.
Please click the button below to learn more information if you are interested.
remembering Bill Graham (1939-2022)
Bill Graham, RIP
We at the Bill Graham Centre are saddened to note the death of our patron and friend, the Hon. William C. Graham, on August 7, at the age of 83.
Coming from a background of privilege, Bill could have chosen to coast through life, but that was not his way. Indeed, he seemed a natural leader from his days as a student at the University of Toronto’s Trinity College, and later its Faculty of Law, where he won the Gold Medal for his year. He was a citizen of the world from an early age, and his friends cherished his anecdotes from his youthful trips to the Middle East and the Hindu Kush, including encounters with wary Iraqi security personnel. After finishing law school, he made the then-eccentric decision to pursue a doctorat in international law at the University of Paris, at a time when international law was seen in the academy as a subject of marginal significance.
As a practitioner with the firm of Faskens, he was involved in many precedent-setting cases before returning to the U of T law school to teach the now relevant subject of international law. As a professor, he was popular and respected, while as a philanthropist and volunteer he supported numerous good causes. He saw French-English bilingualism as central to Canada’s identity and was a consistent supporter of Alliance Francaise. Of the many honours and accolades that came his way, perhaps none meant more to him than the legion d’honneur for services to the French language and culture.
In 1993 he was elected to the House of Commons for the riding of Toronto Centre-Rosedale, and served as Chair of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade, until he was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs by Prime Minister Jean Chretien. As Chair of SCFAIT, he coauthored several significant reports and was deeply interested in forming bonds with other parliamentarians across national borders, particularly in the US. A special friend was the Chair of the US Senate Intelligence Committee, Florida Democrat Bob Graham, who would introduce Bill as his “Canadian cousin.”
On his appointment, Bill told Chretien he would like to make Canada more a nation of the Americas, and the Prime Minister replied “well, that sounds like a good project for you, professor.” But, as Bill liked to quote Harold Macmillan, “events, dear boy, events” overtook his time in office, notably 9/11, the advent of the War on Terror, and the decision not to involve Canada in the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
On Bill’S appointment, his US counterpart, the late Colin Powell, phoned up to welcome him to the most exclusive club to which Bill would ever belong. And he and Powell formed a cordial and effective working relationship that transcended the occasional difference. When Bill told Powell on the phone that Canada would not be joining in the invasion of Iraq, Powell replied “well, you’re a sovereign country and you’re entitled to make your own decision.” Bill replied “well, you’re a sovereign country too, and we respect your decision even if we disagree with it.” Even if too many on both sides were not, Bill was prepared to disagree without being gratuitously disagreeable, and able to work with the US on other issues. He once wryly observed that “people don’t realize Colin and I spent more time working on Haiti than on Iraq.”
But he was always capable of speaking up for Canada. Soon after his phone conversation with Powell, he had a tense meal with the US Ambassador, Paul Cellucci. When Cellucci lamented Canada’s abstention from the invasion and remarked that, due to various exchange agreements, Canada actually had more troops in the region than some nations ostensibly supportive of the invasion, Bill responded “that just shows you don’t want our help, you just want our flag.”
After Bill’s law school classmate Paul Martin succeeded Chretien and was reduced to a minority government in the subsequent election, he moved Bill to National Defence. This was widely seen by the press at the time as a demotion, but as Martin explained to Bill, he planned to act as his own foreign minister, and wanted someone with drive to take on the task of rebuilding the Canadian military after a decade of neglect. As Minister, Bill presided over the reequipment and reconfiguration of the Canadian military for the age of post-Cold War conflicts. His 2005 defence budget was the largest peacetime increase to defence spending in Canadian history, and he was crucially involved in the early stages of our involvement in Afghanistan. At one point, he told Prime Minister Martin that he was no strategist and not particularly well-equipped to prepare a new defence statement, and Martin replied “you’re the Gold Medalist, you figure it out.” And he did.
After the Martin government lost power, Bill served as interim Leader of the Liberal Party and Leader of the Opposition, holding the Harper government to account before handing the Liberal Party over to Stephane Dion.
Bill retired from electoral politics in 2007, but his retirement was an exceptionally active one. He published his memoirs, gave numerous speeches, and was involved in good causes from fundraising for a local hospital to supporting opera in Toronto. He retained his keen interest in defence matters, serving as Honorary Colonel of Princess Patricia’s Horse Guards and then Special Operations Forces Command, as well as serving on the committee tasked with producing a defence review for the Justin Trudeau government.
Perhaps no cause was closer to Bill’s heart than his alma mater, Trinity College, where he served as Chancellor for fifteen years, until his death. He did not approach this position as a sinecure, but was instead a “working Chancellor”, involved in everything from fundraising to classroom teaching, and bringing the same insight and empathy with which he advised the “great and the good” on matters of state to counselling an unsure undergrad looking for a place in the world.
Bill had long been concerned with educating U of T students about international affairs, including in his one-time capacity as head of the Centre for International Studies. The Centre for Contemporary International History began as an outgrowth of Bill’s memoirs and a seminar on Canadian foreign and defence policy that he taught, first in partnership with John English and Jack Cunningham, then with Cunningham alone, and most recently with Cunningham and John Meehan. Then in 2013, at a lively conference marking the 50th anniversary of the election of Lester Pearson’s government, it was renamed the Bill Graham Centre, based at Trinity College and the Munk School.
Bill generously founded and endowed the Graham Centre out of a conviction that traditional international history, now something of an orphan in academe, required a home at the U of T, and a belief that the historian and the policymaker had much to teach each other. He enjoyed bringing onetime associates and other policymakers into the defence seminar, and was himself always eager to share the fruits of his experience. His generosity extended to making time in his crowded schedule for students who wished to interview him for their papers. For Bill, unlike many other political figures, history was a deep and abiding interest. He would quote with relish Napoleon’s description of Talleyrand as “shit in a silk stocking”, and at a luncheon ostensibly devoted to Centre programming, would deal with the matter at hand before moving on excitedly to discuss a recent biography of de Gaulle.
As founder and patron of the Graham Centre, he was interested in what we did but respected our academic independence. Up until the end of a very long battle with cancer, he exhibited the same joie de vivre and was looking forward eagerly to our upcoming conference on the foreign policies of the Chretien governments, at which he was going to present a paper.
Bill had an old-fashioned sense of public service and was always a gentleman who commanded respect and indeed affection across party lines. And while we celebrate his career and accomplishments, our sense of loss is great.
Read more about Bill Graham here.
The John W. Holmes Book Series in Canadian Foreign Policy
Image credits: University of Calgary, Centre for International Governance Innovation, and the Toronto Star
This open-access book series, to be published by the University of Calgary Press in partnership with the Centre for International Governance Innovation, honours and celebrates the intellectual legacy of John Wendell Holmes (1910-1988), one of Canada’s foremost diplomats and foreign policy educators.
In the words of his late colleague, John Halstead: “John Holmes had the knack of shedding new light on old truths, of going to the heart of the matter and of winning understanding for unpleasant facts with wit and elegance. His simplicity was never oversimplified and his objectivity was never offensive… Humility was his hallmark, tolerance was his touchstone and moderation was his motto.”
Holmes was trained in history. He used his understanding of the past, drawn from a combination of his personal experience in Canada’s Department of External Affairs and his comprehensive engagement in the relevant historiography, to offer thoughts and observations on the state of Canadian foreign policy and prospects for Canada’s future. Paradoxically, inasmuch as he was a traditionalist – a strong believer in the importance of personal diplomacy and the role of the state in the international realm – later in life Holmes found himself at the forefront of calls to embrace a more expansive understanding of global statecraft to include a variety of non-traditional threats to what is now known as human security.
Prospective authors are invited to submit manuscript proposals that consider Canada’s historical relationship to a major geographical region; an international organization or institution; or a significant issue in international relations or global governance. We are interested in comprehensive works of synthesis that integrate the wealth of new research on Canadian foreign policy that has been produced since Holmes’s passing.
Books must be no longer than 100,000 words (including notes), written in accessible prose. They should be drafted with the needs of Holmes’s traditional audiences – university undergraduates, foreign policy practitioners, and informed Canadians with an interest in foreign policy – in mind.
Proposals should be formatted as per the University of Calgary Press’ scholarly prospectus form and emailed to adam.chapnick@rmc-cmr.ca along with a covering letter explaining how the manuscript meets the intent of the series.
Proposals will be adjudicated by an editorial board comprised of representatives of the John Holmes Trust, CIGI, and senior scholars in history and political science. Successful proposals will be forwarded to the University of Calgary Press for further consideration.
Authors whose proposals are accepted for the series by both the editorial board and the University of Calgary Press will have access to modest financial support. The funds can be applied towards research assistance, the publication process, and promotion efforts.
Any proposals received by 15 June 2022 will receive a response from the editorial board in July. Depending on the results of the first adjudication process, a second call for proposals could take place in the fall.
The series is sponsored by the Centre for International Governance Innovation with funding from the John Holmes Trust.
For further information and/or for support in drafting a suitable proposal, please contact Adam Chapnick at adam.chapnick@rmc-cmr.ca.
TRINITY COLLEGE APPOINTS NEW DIRECTOR OF THE BILL GRAHAM CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY INTERNATIONAL HISTORY
Dr. John Meehan (Photo courtesy of the University of Sudbury)
Trinity College is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. John Meehan as Director of the Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History (BGCCIH).
“We are thrilled to have John Meehan in this leadership role as Director of the Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History. He is an accomplished historian, academic administrator and practitioner, and a student-focused leader who is known for bringing people together to promote dialogue. As the study of contemporary international history is by nature interdisciplinary, John’s diverse background will bring an innovative and dynamic approach to the work of the Centre,” said Prof. Mayo Moran, Provost and Vice-Chancellor of Trinity College.
Since its inception, the BGCCIH has focused on promoting the historical study of contemporary international relations, and bringing scholars, policymakers and political practitioners together with students to exchange perspectives and knowledge. Along with programs in the areas of undergraduate and graduate teaching, the Centre is involved in organizing conferences, public lectures and publications.
“The Directorship provides a great opportunity to be a connector of people from around the world. I hope to promote dialogue and global citizenship, and expand the reach of the Bill Graham Centre’s work on contemporary international issues. I look forward to working with colleagues and connecting students to the wider world of scholarship and Canada’s role in international diplomacy – this will be incredibly enriching and what excites me about this new opportunity,” said Dr. John Meehan, noting that the Centre’s mission of merging academics with practice and engaging the wider community, along with Trinity’s commitment to academic excellence, were among the main drivers that drew him to the role.
A historian by training, Dr. Meehan is an experienced academic leader, scholar, professor, author and Jesuit. To the BGCCIH role, he brings interdisciplinary expertise in the study of history, international relations, Asian studies and religious studies. His research interests include the history of Canadian foreign relations, Canadian relations with East Asia, Asia Pacific studies, Jesuit history, and the history of relations with Indigenous peoples. Dr. Meehan has taught numerous courses in these areas of study.
“We are delighted to have recruited such an outstanding scholar, administrator and leader to the Directorship. We look forward to working with him as he leads the Bill Graham Centre into the next exciting phase of its development,” said Prof. Michael Ratcliffe, Dean of Arts and Vice-Provost of Trinity College.
Dr. Meehan will start his Directorship later this summer, following the completion of his two-year term as President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sudbury. He was previously the Interim Director, Newman Centre at McGill University, Rector of the L’Église du Gesù in Montreal, and the President of Campion College at the University of Regina. Dr. Meehan holds a PhD in History (University of Toronto), ThM/STL and MDiv/STB (Regis College), MA in International Relations (Johns Hopkins University-SAIS), DipTheol (Oxford University), and BA in History and Russian Studies (McGill University). His book on Canada’s early diplomatic relations with Japan, The Dominion and the Rising Sun, won the Prime Minister’s Award in Japan.
Dr. Meehan is no stranger to Trinity College. In the late 1990s, while competing his PhD at the University of Toronto, he was Trinity’s Academic Don in History and Social Sciences. “Trinity has a very positive academic community, and I’m looking forward to the exchange of ideas and new perspectives, and being a part of the vibrant community,” he added.
His approach to understanding cultures, people and world views is evident through his cross-cultural experiences and multilingualism (English, French, Russian, Japanese, some Spanish, Italian and Latin). “Engaged global citizens are what the world needs. If we are committed to world peace, dialogue and reconciliation, we need to start with truth – about our challenges, histories and relations – and we need to reach out beyond a Eurocentric focus. International relations involves all of the cultures in the world, including Indigenous and marginalized communities,” said Dr. Meehan, noting that he will also be teaching in Trinity’s International Relations (IR) Program.
“I am thrilled that John Meehan will be teaching in the IR Program. He brings a tremendous wealth of historical knowledge on Canada’s relationship with the Pacific world – an area of keen interest to IR students,” said Prof. Timothy Sayle, Director of the International Relations Program at Trinity College, and Senior Fellow at the BGCCIH.
“The College would like express sincere gratitude to Dr. Jack Cunningham, the Bill Graham Centre’s Program Coordinator, for stepping in to manage the Centre’s work following the sudden and tragic death of Dr. Greg Donaghy last summer,” Provost Moran said. Dr. Donaghy joined Trinity College in 2019 as the Director of the BGCCIH following the retirement of the Centre’s founding Director Dr. John English.
The Centre for Contemporary International History was established in 2011 and in 2013, the Centre was renamed the Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History (BGCCIH) in honour of a $5 million gift to the College by The Hon. William C. Graham (Trinity College’s 12th Chancellor) and Cathy Graham. Based at Trinity College, the BGCCIH works in close cooperation with the College’s International Relations and the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy’s Master of Global Affairs programs, as well as the University of Toronto’s departments of History, Political Science and Economics. In addition, the Centre promotes international history through partnerships with other institutions and organizations in Canada and abroad.
Matthew Fisher, RIP
The Graham Centre regrets to announce that Matthew Fisher, the inaugural Massey College-Graham Centre Visiting Fellow in Defence and Foreign Policy, died April 10 in Ottawa, after a short illness.
Prior to joining us, Matthew spent more than 35 years as a foreign and war correspondent, for SunMedia, the Globe and Mail, and latterly the National Post. He covered some of the biggest stories of his times, including the fall of Communism in the Eastern Bloc, the inauguration of Nelson Mandela as President of South Africa, the Rwandan genocide, and the conflict in Afghanistan. He was a war correspondent of the Old School, and his was very much a "grunt's eye" view of war.
During his time with us, he was an eager and informed participant in the seminar on Canadian defence policy taught by the Hon. Bill Graham, John English, and Jack Cunningham, and then Jack Cunningham's seminar on war and its theorists. He had a dry sense of humour, and was no respecter of fashionable taboos. He was always great fun and was cherished by those at Massey College and the Graham Centre who had the memorable experience of getting to know him.
At the time of his death, Matthew was contending for the Conservative nomination in Kanata-Carleton, and it is a source of keen regret that he was deprived of the opportunity to enliven the House of Commons. We will miss him.
Greg Donaghy, RIP
On July 1, 2020, the Graham Centre's Director, Greg Donaghy, died, a week after suffering a severe heart attack. Greg was a distinguished historian of Canadian foreign relations, and spent most of his career with Global Affairs Canada, retiring as Head of the Historical Section in the spring of 2019. Born in London, England, of Irish heritage, Greg quickly adapted to Canadian ways and became one of his generation's foremost practitioners of Canadian diplomatic history. He was trained at the University of Toronto (where he was a proud alumnus of St. Michael's College), Carleton University, and the University of Waterloo.
His doctoral dissertation was published as Tolerant Allies: Canada and the United States, 1963-1968. This work established him as a leading scholar of Canada-US relations, and compelled fundamental revisions to our understanding of the bilateral relationship in a tumultuous and much-mythologized period. At Global Affairs Canada, he edited several volumes of Documents on Canadian External Relations (DCER), the official collection of Canadian diplomatic documents, and, with John Hilliker and Mary Halloran, wrote the third volume of the official departmental history. This volume covered the event-packed years of the first Prime Minister Trudeau, and provides an essential, departmental, perspective on that period. Greg was a remarkably prolific scholar, turning out more than fifty articles and editing a number of collections of essays and conference papers. Eventually he turned to biography, with Grit: The Life and Politics of Paul Martin, Sr., which revived a major figure in Canadian political and diplomatic history for a new generation of readers and was a finalist for the 2015 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize.
In the summer of 2019 he succeeded his doctoral adviser John English as Director of the Graham Centre, and, latterly, became coeditor of International Journal, published by the Graham Centre and the Canadian International Council. While his tenure at the Graham Centre was tragically short, it was productive. He introduced a new seminar course on Canada's relations with a revolutionary Asia, and co-taught a course on Canadian defence policy. As a historian, he was scrupulous and exacting in his analysis of what the pertinent documents actually said, and demanding in matters of both prose and argumentation, with nothing but scorn for the fashionable and the slipshod. Yet he was always generous to colleagues, particularly younger historians, including those whose views were far from his own. And his short time at the Graham Centre saw him take much pleasure in classroom teaching, where he was a rigorous but empathetic guide to his students, and took great pride and happiness in their successes. His students were among those who will miss his dry wit and gift for easy camaraderie. He is mourned by his extended family, and many friends and colleagues.
The Good Fight: Marcel Cadieux and Canadian Diplomacy
The Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History is delighted to offer its congratulations to Junior Fellow Brendan Kelly, 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 History, which is supported in part by the Bill Graham Centre, and edited by Robert Bothwell and John English.
The J.W. Dafoe Book Prize is awarded to the best book on Canada, Canadians, and/or Canada’s place in the world published in the previous calendar year.
Introducing the Network for Strategic analysis
The Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History is delighted to join over 60 researchers from across Canada, the US, and Europe in the exciting new Network for Strategic Analysis, part of the Department of National Defence’s Mobilizing Insights in Defence and Security (MINDS) programme.
Covid-19: Perspectives on its Global Security Challenges
The Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History and the Toronto branch of the Canadian International Council hosted a roundtable discussion on the implications of the Covid-19 pandemic for international security on 28 April 2020. The free-flowing dialogue ranged from the 1919 influenza pandemic to the UN Security Council and WHO to the shifting balance of power in Asia.
Ambassador Salome Meyer of Switzerland served as moderator for this panel, which featured the following three distinguished experts, who each brought a unique professional and scholarly perspective to bear on this vital question:
Mark Humphries holds the Dunkley Chair in War and the Canadian Experience and is Director of the Laurier Centre for Military Strategic and Disarmament Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University. He is the author of The Last Plague: Spanish Influenza and the Politics of Public Health in Canada.
Rosemary McCarney is the Pearson-Sabia Scholar in International Relations at Trinity College, University of Toronto. An award-winning humanitarian and business leader, she served as Canada’s Ambassador to the UN in Geneva with responsibilities for the World Health Organization from 2015-2019.
Bruno Charbonneau is Professor of International Relations at the Collège militaire royal de Saint-Jean and Director of the Centre FrancoPaix en résolution des conflits et missions de paix at the Université du Québec à Montréal.
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