SERVICE

University Service

Since my arrival at Trent University, I have served on the Frost Centre for Canadian Studies & Indigenous Studies Executive Committee (2019-22); Frost Centre Director Search Committee (2021); Frost Centre PhD Applications Committee (2020, 2022, 2024); Graduate Scholarships Subcommittee of Academic Planning & Budget (2024-25); North @ Trent Speakers Series Committee (2021-); Northern Studies Committee (2019-); Promotion Committees (2020-21); Research Policy Committee (2019-20, 2023-24); School for the Study of Canada Director Search Committee (chair, 2021); School for the Study of Canada Hiring Committees (2019-24); Senate (2020-23); W.L. Morton Lecture Committee (2021-2022); and Windy Pine Committee (2022-).

From 2007-15, I served as Chair of the St. Jerome’s University (SJU) Department of History. Although a small department of three full-time faculty, this involved the hiring of contract instructors for up to a dozen courses, scheduling, liaison with the University of Waterloo History Department on undergraduate and graduate affairs, managing the departmental budget, and general administration. It also involves membership on Academic Committee, which meets monthly or bi-weekly, and serving as the undergraduate adviser. I served as an SJU representative on the University of Waterloo Senate from 2009-12, and as a faculty representative on the SJU Board of Governors from 2014-16. I chaired the search committee for a tenure-track assistant professor in Canadian history at St. Jerome’s (2008), and served on other hiring committees in History (2006), English (2012), and Legal Studies and Criminology (2007). In fall 2006, I was cross-appointed to the Legal Studies and Criminology program and served as a member of the Legal Studies Advisory Board from 2007-09. As the SJU Research Grants Officer from 2006-09, I encouraged faculty to apply for research grants and served ex officio on the Research and Scholarship committee which awards annual faculty research grants. I acted as chair of the Research and Scholarship committee from 2007-10. Other SJU committees on which I have served include Academic Planning (2014-15); President’s Nomination (2015-16); Building (2011); and 150th Anniversary (2012-13). I also was nominated by the Federated University and Affiliated Colleges to represent them on the University of Waterloo Vice-President, Academic & Provost Nominating Committee in 2013.

I was part of the Global Governance MA Program selection committee at the Balsillie School for International Affairs in 2013, 2014, and 2015.

Professional Service

My professional service is diverse, including the following affiliations outside of my home universities:

I am a member of the Arctic Security Working Group, a forum for information sharing and cooperation amongst federal and territorial government departments, Aboriginal organizations, non-government organizations and other stakeholders operating in the North, since 2009. I was also a member of The Council of Honorary Colonels of the Canadian Army Executive Committee from 2014-2020. I was appointed a member of the Yukon Arctic Security Advisory Council by Premier Ranj Pillai) in 2024.

I have served on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Arctic Resources Committee (CARC) (2015-20) and Champlain Society (2019-).

I have served on the Scientific Advisory Board for the Arctic Centre, University of Lapland, Finland, 2024-2026; the Scientific Advisory Committee for the Canadian Northern Corridor Research Program, School for Public Policy, University of Calgary, 2020-25, and the International Team for the Study of Security (ITSS) Verona Expert Commission (Scientific Committee), Arctic Security, in 2024.

I served as a member of the Canadian High Arctic Research Station Advisory Council (led by Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada), tasked with overseeing the development of the research program and facility in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. I was the social science and humanities representative on this federal and territorial advisory group.

From 2011-13, I served as co-chair of the Arctic Peoples and Security Working Group, Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation and Canada Centre for Global Security Studies (CCGSS) Arctic Security Program, a four-year program to improve public policy in the Circumpolar Arctic, with Udloriak Hanson (formerly of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami). My contributions to the program included a series of Arctic dialogues and substantive policy research on critical issues.

Since 2015, I have been a Senior Fellow with the Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary History, Trinity College and the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario.

I have been a Fellow with the Canadian Global Affairs Institute (Canadian Defence & Foreign Affairs Institute) since 2009.

I have been a Research Associate with the Arctic Institute of North America based in Calgary, Alberta, since 2004.

I have served as an Associate Air Force Historian with the Office of Air Force Heritage & History, and a Research Fellow with the Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary.

I served on the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, Awards to Scholarly Publications Program Committee, 2013-2016; and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Postdoctoral Fellowships Committee, 2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19 (in latter two terms as committee chair).

Other professional scholarly activities include:

Award and Scholarship Committees:

Canadian Historical Association (CHA) Political History Group Article Award committee, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016.
CHA Aboriginal History Award committee, 2009-12. (Chair 2010-11)
CHA Clio North Award committee, 2006-09.
Canadian Northern Studies Trust Committee, 2016-19.
Canadian Studies Network PhD Dissertation Prize Committee, 2022.
Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, Awards to Scholarly Publications Program Committee, 2013-2016.
Institute of the North, Arctic Resilient Communities Youth Fellowship selection committee, 2022.

Speakers’ Series

Organizer, NAADSN Ideas Series, 2020-
Co-organizer, Arctic eTalks Series, with US Northern Command, Indo-Pacific Command, European Command, Joint Task Force (North), University of Alaska Fairbanks, and others, 2020-2022
Co-organizer, Arctic Academic eTalks Series, with US Northern Command, North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), and others, 2021-2022

Conference and Workshop Co-organizer:

Strategic Communications and the Arctic Information Environment workshop, organized in partnership with the Observatoire de la politique et la sécurité de l’arctique (OPSA), Ottawa, Ontario, 10 December 2024.
ICE Pact Unpacked, organized in partnership with the Canadian Maritime Security Network, Ottawa, Ontario, 9 December 2024.
North American Arctic Security Emerging Expert Symposium, Yukon University, Whitehorse, Yukon, 29 November 2024.
Ocean Governance and Lawfare in the Arctic, organized in partnership with the Faculty of Law, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, 20 September 2024.
Arctic Governance – The Role of the Arctic Council, organized in partnership with the Arctic Council Secretariat and Fridtjof Nansen Institute (FNI), Ottawa, Ontario, 19 September 2024.
Canada in the Arctic: What Now?, organized in partnership with the Fridtjof Nansen Institute (FNI), Toronto, Ontario, 17 September 2024.
Getting the Arctic Message Right: Increased Focus on Security Underlines the Need for Strategic Communication in the Arctic, organized in partnership with the NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence (StratCom COE), Riga, Latvia, 9-10 September 2024.
Canadian Armed Forces Pan-Domain Arctic Campaigning Workshop, organized in partnership with Joint Task Force North and Canadian Joint Operations Command, Ottawa, Ontario, 10-11 June 2024.
North American Arctic Security Workshop 2 (NAASW2), organized in partnership with the Ted Stevens Center for Arctic Security Studies and the Ilisimatusarfik (University of Greenland) Nasiffik Center, Iqaluit, Nunavut, 21-24 May 2024.
Designer and co-facilitator of a tabletop exercise for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Federal Policing Law Enforcement Workshop, Yellowknife, NT, 6-7 March 2024.
Geostrategic Competition in the Arctic, in partnership with the Canadian Embassy in Washington and the Department of State’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) and National Intelligence Council (NIC), Washington, DC, 28 February 2024.
Emerging Arctic Security Threats: Nordic and North American Perspectives workshop, in partnership with the Centre for Peace Studies, The University of Tromsø – The Arctic University of Norway (UiT) Tromsø, Norway, 29 January 2024.
Canada-Norway Cooperation on Arctic and High North Security: Information and Influence Operations workshop, Ottawa, ON, 13 December 2023.
The Gauntlet Seminar on Arctic and High North Security, in partnership with the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Canada, Ottawa, ON, 12 December 2023.
Multi-Domain Awareness and Arctic Security Workshop, Yellowknife, NWT, 1 December 2023.
Gender and Arctic Security: Canadian and Circumpolar Perspectives Workshop, Yellowknife, NWT, 15-16 October 2023.
Northern Young Leaders’ Summit on Climate Change, organized in partnership with Ecology North, Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, August 2023.
North American Arctic Security Workshop (NAASW), organized in partnership with the Ted Stevens Center for Arctic Security Studies and the University of Greenland’s Nasiffik Center, Nuuk, Greenland, 21-23 April 2023.
Canadian Perspectives on Arctic Alignments with the Kingdom of Denmark: A Hybrid Workshop, Peterborough, ON, 20 March 2023.
The Future Arctic Security Environment, co-organized with Global Affairs Canada International Security Research and Outreach Program (ISROP), Ottawa, ON, 16 March 2023.
Framing Russia’s Arctic Interests: Implications for Canada and NATO, co-hosted with the Canada-Russia Research Initiative (CRRI), Victoria, BC, 24 February 202
Nunavik Search and Rescue Roundtable, co-hosted with the Department of Civil Security, Kativik Regional Government, Montreal, QC, 11-13 December 2022.
Kitikmeot Search and Rescue Roundtable, co-hosted with Nunavut Emergency Management, Yellowknife, NT, 20-22 November 2022.
Kivalliq Search and Rescue Roundtable, co-hosted with Nunavut Emergency Management, Rankin Inlet, NU, 15-17 November 2022.
Qikiqtani Search and Rescue Roundtable, co-hosted with Nunavut Emergency Management, Iqaluit, NU, 11-13 November 2022.
Norway, Canada, and Arctic Security: A Conversation with Norwegian State Secretary for Foreign Affairs Eivind Vad Petersson, co-hosted with the Canadian Defence and Security Network (CDSN) and the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Ottawa, 8 November 2022.
Northern Nationalisms, Arctic Mythologies, and the Weight of History: A Conference in Memory of Shelagh Grant, Trent University, 22 October 2022.
Sovereignty or Security? Canada’s Arctic Strategies in Changing Political and Geostrategic Contexts conference, Trent University, 21 October 2022 (hybrid).
Special Operations Forces in the 21^st Century Arctic Roundtable, co-hosted with the Centre for Arctic Security and Resilience, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 21 April 2022 (virtual).
Advancing Collaboration in Canada-U.S. Arctic Regional Security (ACCUSARS) III Workshop, organized in partnership with the Centre for Arctic Security and Resilience, University of Alaska Fairbanks; Nasiffik, Ilisimatusarfik/University of Greenland; Ted Stevens Center for Arctic Security; and the Arctic Domain Awareness Center, University of Alaska Anchorage, 24-25 March 2022 (virtual).
Kitikmeot Roundtable on Search and Rescue II, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, January 2022 (cancelled owing to COVID travel restrictions).
Northern Young Leaders’ Summit on Climate Change, organized in partnership with Ecology North and the Arctic Athabaskan Council, Dettah, Northwest Territories, August 2021.
North American and Arctic Defence and Security Network (NAADSN) and Network for Strategic Analysis (NSA) Expert Academic Discussions on Continental Defence and NORAD Modernization, 17-22 June 2021 (virtual).
Advancing Collaboration in Canada-U.S. Arctic Regional Security (ACCUSARS) II Workshop, organized in partnership with the Arctic Domain Awareness Center, Anchorage, Alaska, March 2021 (virtual).
The North American Arctic Forum: Navigating the Operating Environment conference, co-hosted by the Norwich University Peace and War Center, North American and Arctic Defence and Security Network (NAADSN), Norwich University Center for Global Resilience and Security, and Fulbright Canada, March 2021 (virtual).
Trent University – Canadian Pugwash Group Webinar Series on Arctic Security (in lieu of Pugwash’s annual conference), January-February 2021 (virtual).
NATO Strategic Foresight Analysis 2021: The Environment – Trends and Implications, 12 November 2020 (virtual).
Voices from the Arctic: Diverse Views on Canadian Arctic Security, organized in partnership with the International Security Research & Outreach Program (ISROP) at Global Affairs Canada, 5 November 2020 (virtual).
Advancing Collaboration in Canada-U.S. Arctic Regional Security (ACCUSARS) Workshop, organized in partnership with the Arctic Domain Awareness Center, Anchorage, Alaska, 17-18 September 2020 [postponed from 26-27 March 2020 owing to COVID-19] (virtual).
Arctic Trix: How Could Russian and Chinese Near Peer Competition Surprise Us? conference, co-hosted by hosted by the North American and Arctic Defense and Security Network (NAASDN), the Center for Resilient Communities (CRC) at the University of Idaho, and the Department of Homeland Security, Global Strategies (DHS), 2-3 June 2020 (virtual).
Kitikmeot Roundtable on Search and Rescue, Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, 31 January – 1 February 2020.
Russia’s Arctic Interests: Implications for Circumpolar Relations and Canada’s Arctic Foreign Policy conference, Montreal, 2 December 2018.
“An Important International Crossroads”: Implementing Canada’s Arctic Priorities in Strong, Security, Engaged conference, organized in partnership with the Centre for National Security Studies, Canadian Forces College, Ottawa, 10-11 October 2018.
People, Politics, and Purpose: Biography and the Structure(s) of Canada since 1939 – A Conference Inspired by the Scholarship of John R. English, Trinity College, University of Toronto, 17 May 2018.
Russia’s Arctic Interests: Implications for Canadian Defence, Security, and Foreign Policy, Canadian Forces College, Toronto, ON, 23-24 March 2018.
The Confederation Debates workshop, St. Jerome’s University, Waterloo, ON, 11 February 2017.
A Comprehensive Approach to Canadian Security and Safety in the Arctic: Discerning Opportunities for Academic-Practitioner Collaboration workshop funded the DND Defence Engagement Program, hosted at Joint Task Force (North) Headquarters, Yellowknife, NT, 2 December 2016.
One Arctic? The United States and the Arctic Council workshop hosted at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC, April 2016.
Understanding Sovereignty and Security in the Circumpolar Arctic conference, Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History / Centre for Foreign Policy and Federalism, Toronto, ON, January 2016.
Understanding Arctic Sovereignty and Security: A Generative Workshop, St. Jerome’s University, Waterloo, ON, June 2015.
Arctic Peoples and Security: Designing Public Policy for the 21^st Century Arctic, Toronto, January 2013.
Arctic Sovereignty and Security Symposium, Laurier Centre for Military Strategic and Disarmament Studies and Canadian Forces College, Toronto, October 2009.
Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) / Norman Paterson School of International Affairs (NPSIA) Young Scholars Conference, Waterloo, November 2005.
Laurier Centre for Military and Strategic Disarmament Studies Military History Colloquium, St. Jerome’s University and University of Waterloo, May 2005, May 2008.

Field School Co-Organizer:

Strengthening Canada-US Arctic Defence and Security Cooperation and Policy Field School, Anchorage, Alaska, to Whitehorse, Yukon, November 2024. Organized in partnership with the United States Air Force Academy Behavioral Science Department.

Conference Program Committees:

Association for Canadian Studies in the United States (ACSUS) history co-chair for the 2007 biennial conference, Toronto, Ontario.
CHA Program Committee for the 2007 annual meeting, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
Advisory Council, Committee for the National Conference on Canadian Content and the Internet, April 2001-January 2002

Elected co-chair, CHA Graduate Students’ Committee, 2001-2003.

I am a frequent session chair, facilitator, and discussant at academic conferences.

Peer-Reviewer and Editorial Work

Professional obligations include acting as a peer reviewer on manuscripts submitted to journals and academic presses, in addition to adjudicating grant applications.

Manuscript reviewer for:

University of British Columbia Press
McGill-Queen’s University Press
Routledge
University of Calgary Press
University of Manitoba Press
University of Toronto Press

Peer-reviewer for article submissions to:

Acadiensis
American Review of Canadian Studies
Arctic
Arctic Yearbook
Canadian Geographer
Canadian Foreign Policy Journal
Canadian Historical Review
Journal of Borderlands Studies
Journal of Forestry Studies
Journal of the Canadian Historical Association
Journal of Canadian Studies
Journal of Military and Strategic Studies
Journal of Military History
Journal of Tourism Futures
Native Studies Review
Northern Review
Polar Geography
Polar Record
Polar Research
Social History/Histoire sociale
Urban History Review
Yearbook of Polar Law

Peer-reviewer (including Tenure and Promotion):

Australian Catholic University
Calgary Institute for the Humanities
Canada Research Chair program
Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
McMaster University
Royal Military College of Canada
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
University of Saskatchewan

External review:

Algoma University History Department, December 2011

Editor. Landmark Northern Canadian Legal Cases and Trials series. Trent Centre for the Study of Canada (2020-).

Editor. Northern Canadian Life Stories Series. Trent Centre for the Study of Canada (2020-).

Co-editor. Documents on Canadian Arctic Sovereignty and Security series. Centre for Military and Strategic Studies/Centre on Foreign Policy and Federalism (2014-). With Adam Lajeunesse.

Editor, Arctic Security Working Papers series, Munk-Gordon and ArcticNet Arctic Security Projects (2012-14). 9 working papers published.

Editorial Boards:

Canadian Military History (2010-)
Journal of Historical Biography (2008-)
Northern Review (2010-)
Book and Multimedia Review Editor, Journal for Military and Strategic Studies (2000-01)

Parliamentary Committees and Presentations

I have spoken with parliamentarians and appeared before parliamentary committees on several occasions:

Witness before the Special Senate Committee on the Arctic, Ottawa, ON, 18 March 2019.
Witness before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs on Arctic Sovereignty, Ottawa, ON, 24 October 2018.
Witness before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs on Indigenous veterans and the Canadian Rangers, Ottawa, ON, 12 June 2018.
Presentation on “Domain Awareness in the Arctic: Defence and Security” to NATO Parliamentary Assembly, Sub-Committee on Transatlantic Economic Relations, Science and Technology Committee, Ottawa, ON (by videoconference), 11 September 2017.
Expert participant, National Defence Policy Review Consultation Roundtable, Yellowknife, NT, 24 May 2016. My submission on “Arctic Defence and Security: International and Domestic Dimensions” is available online at http://dgpaapp.forces.gc.ca/en/defence-policy-review/docs/yellowknife/lackenbauer-yellowknife-submission.pdf.
Presentation to Members of European Parliament on “Canada’s Northern Strategy: Convergence or Divergence with EU Interests?” Brussels, Belgium, 23 March 2015.
Witness before the House of Commons Standing Committee on National Defence (SCND) on Arctic security and North American defence issues, Ottawa, ON, 9 December 2014. My testimony is published in Proceedings of the SCDN, Evidence, 2^nd Session, 41^st Parliament (2014), http://www.parl.gc.ca/content/hoc/Committee/412/NDDN/Evidence/EV6830309/NDDNEV43-E.PDF. I am quoted in the SCND report Canada and the Defence of North America published in June 2015 and available online at http://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2015/parl/xc34-1/XC34-1-1-412-13-eng.pdf.
I was invited to a dinner meeting with the Danish Foreign Policy Committee at the Embassy of the Kingdom of Denmark in Ottawa, 19 June 2014, to discuss Arctic security and Canada-Denmark relations.
On 22 November 2012, I appeared as a witness before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade about Canada’s upcoming chairmanship of the Arctic Council. My testimony is published in Proceedings of the SCFA, Issue No.56, 1^st session, 41^st Parliament (2012). My ideas are quoted extensively in its report Canada and the Arctic Council: An Agenda for Regional Leadership presented to the House on 10 May 2013.
The Library of Parliament invited me to participate in a morning seminar roundtable for parliamentarians (MPs and Senator) on “Canada’s Arctic Challenges,” on 17 February 2011.
The Danish Embassy invited me to Ottawa to meet with Gitte Lillelund Bech (the Danish Minister of Defence) on 4 November 2010 to discuss Arctic security issues and Canada-Denmark relations.
On 22 March 2010, I appeared as a witness before the Senate Standing Committee on National Security and Defence (SSCNSD) (chair: Pamela Wallin) on Arctic Sovereignty issues. My testimony is published in Proceedings of the SSCNSD, Issue No.1, 3^rd session, 40^th Parliament (2010): 1:38 – 1:60. My ideas are quoted extensively in the SSCNSD interim report Sovereignty & Security in Canada’s Arctic released in March 2011.
On 3 June 2009, I appeared as a witness before the House of Commons Standing Committee on National Defence (chair: Maxime Bernier) on Arctic Sovereignty issues. My testimony is published in Standing Committee on National Defence: Evidence, no. 24, 2^nd session, 40^th Parliament, 3 June 2009: 1-9.
Breakfast meeting with the Hon. Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Foreign Affairs, on Canadian leadership in the circumpolar world, Montreal, QC, 27 March 2009.

I have also had numerous informal meetings with Canadian and international parliamentarians over the last decade.

Consultant and Advisor

In addition to my paid contracting work [link to webpage], I continue to serve in various advisory capacities to government and non-governmental organizations. For example, the Commander of Canada Command (responsible for domestic and continental defence) flew me to Calgary as one of three academics to provide advice on the development of a Canadian Forces Northern Employment Support Strategy, in 2011. I also served as an advisor to Gwich’in Council International executive director Bridget Larocque (an unpaid position) from 2010-11. In addition to ongoing dialogue about Arctic issues, I attended the Arctic Council Advisory Committee in Ottawa in March 2010; the Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment Working Group in Washington, DC, in September 2010; and the Senior Arctic Officials meeting in Torshavn, Faroe Islands, in October 2010, as part of the GCI team.

As a consultant, I have produced various reports for the Government of Canada and non-governmental organizations. For example, I have completed reports on real property management issues, non-Arctic state interests in the Canadian Arctic, historical work on boundary issues; Indigeonous use of sea ice; building Permanent Participant capacity at the Arctic Council; and work on Indigenous peoples and resource development. For more on these activities, please go to my Consulting page [link to webpage].

Community and Media Outreach

I believe that, as academics, we are obliged to share our knowledge with the broader community. I have delivered public lectures on topics related to my research interests to a wide variety of local history societies and civic groups. All of these events provide me the opportunity to exchange ideas with public audiences and stimulate interest in topics of historical and current interest to Canadians. I have given guest lectures to high school classes in northern and southern Canada to stimulate interest in Arctic sovereignty and security issues, and I regularly present to kindergarten and primary classes (grades 1-3) in elementary schools in Waterloo and Oxford counties (Ontario) to introduce children to Arctic flora, fauna, and peoples, using the pelts, clothing, and photographs that I have amassed on my research trips over the last decade.

Finally, I have commented in print media, on the radio, and on television related to my research on Arctic security and sovereignty, Aboriginal-military relations, and the Canadian Rangers. For more on these activities, please go to my Newspaper and Magazine commentaries page [link to webpage].