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Niagara's Military Past and Present: A Symposium

Bill Smy

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Niagara's Military Past and Present: A Symposium

"Niagara’s Military Past & Present,” which will be held on Friday evening, 9 November, and Saturday, 10 November at the Lake Street Armoury, 81 Lake Street, St. Catharines, Ontario. Admission is free; the public is welcome. This event is sponsored by The Lincoln and Welland Regiment, the Laurier Centre for Military Strategic and Disarmament Studies, and the History Department at the University of Waterloo.

The symposium will begin on Friday evening with a keynote address by Terry Copp, professor emeritus, Wilfrid Laurier University. Professor Copp is one of Canada’s best-known military historians. With Robert Vogel, he is the author of the Maple Leaf Route series, as well as numerous books , including Fields of Fire: The Canadians in Normandy (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2003) and Cinderella Army: The Canadians in Northwest Europe, 1944-1945 (Toronto: UTP, 2006). Terry Copp is also a popular contributor to Legion Magazine.

On Saturday 10 November, our morning historical panel will explore Niagara’s Military past over two centuries. John Grodzinski of the Royal Military College of Canada has written widely on the War of 1812, and is a regular contributor to many publications. He will speak on “Men of Good Character and Circumstance”: The Lincoln Militia of the War of 1812.

Dr. Russell Johnston is the Chair of the Department of Communication, Popular Culture and Film at Brock University. Dr. Michael Ripmeester teaches in the Geography Department at Brock.  They will present an intriguing study on a monument built to remember Alexander Watson, a St. Catharines resident who died during the Northwest Rebellion of 1885. They ask: How do present-day residents understand this long-time feature of the local landscape?

Mark Humphries is an award-winning doctoral candidate in the history department at the University of Western Ontario. He was the featured historian in April 2007 for the History Television Production of Vimy Ridge: Heaven to Hell. Mark was able to explore the lost tunnels beneath Vimy Ridge. What he found offers an important reflection on the men who fought for the ridge 90 years ago.

Geoffrey Hayes teaches Canadian military history at the University of Waterloo. He is the co-editor of Vimy Ridge: A Canadian Reassessment (Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2007) For this event, he will discuss the Lincoln and Welland Regiment’s most celebrated triumph, an event still celebrated in St. Catharines: the liberation of the Dutch city of Bergen op Zoom, on 27 October 1944.

In 1986, Hayes published The Lincs: A History of the Lincoln and Welland Regiment at War. Long out of print, Hayes will launch at this symposium a second, limited edition of The Lincs with a new introduction and many new photographs.

Under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Matt Richardson, the Lincoln and Welland Regiment continues as an active unit of the Canadian Forces. Its members have served in such places as Cyprus, Sierra Leone, Bosnia, East Timor and Afghanistan. Our afternoon panel will bring together unit veterans of these missions to talk of their experiences and discuss what impact these deployments have had on the Canadian Forces.

For more information,

Geoffrey Hayes, 519 888 4567 ext. 35138
Captain Chris White, 905 685-6777, ext. 3531

Friday, November 9, 2007

7:30 pm Keynote Address
Terry Copp, Wilfrid Laurier University
“Cinderella Army: The Canadians in Northwest Europe, 1944-45”

Saturday, November 10, 2007

8:30 am Doors open - Coffee

War and the Niagara Peninsula in Historical Perspective

9:00-9:15 am Opening remarks

9:15-9:50 am John Grodzinski, Royal Military College of Canada
“Men of Good Character and Intelligence:
The Lincoln Militia in the War of 1812”

9:50-10:25 am Russell Johnston & Michael Ripmeester, Brock University
“A Monument’s Work is Never Done: The Watson Memorial, Memory and Forgetting in a Small Canadian City”

10:25-10:50 am Coffee

10:50-11:25 am Mark Humphries, University of Western Ontario
“The Tunnels of Vimy”

11:25 am-12:00 pm Geoffrey Hayes, University of Waterloo
“The Battle for Bergen-op-Zoom, October 1944”

12:00-1:15 pm Lunch (sandwiches and drinks will be provided)
The Canadian Military Today: Experiences and Prospects

1:15-3:00 pm Panel discussion with local unit members who have deployed to
Canada’s overseas missions.

3:00-3:30 pm Closing Remarks

The conference will also feature displays of militaria and various book vendors.

www.canadianmilitaryhistory.com
 
Bill,
will you be going ? If so can you or somelse who attends post a write up or some notes on it ?
 
Shucks, I missed this.  Hmm.. I don't suppose there will be any other symponsiums will there?
 
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