Since my arrival at Trent University, I have served on the Northern Studies Committee (2019-), Research Policy Committee (2019-20), and Senate (2020-).
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 have 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.
I was part of the Global Governance MA Program selection committee at the Balsillie School for International Affairs in 2013, 2014, and 2015.
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.
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 have served on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Arctic Resources Committee (CARC) (2015-20), Canadian Canoe Museum (2020-), and Champlain Society (2019-).
I currently serve on the Scientific Advisory Committee for the Canadian Northern Corridor Research Program, School for Public Policy, University of Calgary, 2020-25.
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 am also an Associate Air Force Historian with the Office of Air Force Heritage & History, a Research Associate with the Wilfrid Laurier Centre for Military and Strategic Disarmament Studies, 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:
Conference and Workshop Co-organizer:
Conference Program Committees:
Elected co-chair, CHA Graduate Students’ Committee, 2001-2003.
I am a frequent session chair, facilitator, and discussant at academic conferences.
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:
Peer-reviewer for article submissions to:
Peer-reviewer (including Tenure and Promotion):
External review:
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:
I have spoken with parliamentarians and appeared before parliamentary committees on several occasions:
I have also had numerous informal meetings with Canadian and international parliamentarians over the last decade.
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].
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].