Monthly Archives: August 2025

100 images (Part 1): Legion Nationals produce record-breaking performances

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An item from the Legion Magazine.
Front Lines
Front Lines

Lily Stroda of B.C./Yukon defended her Nationals U-18 heptathlon title in dominant style, breaking fellow-B.C.er Niki Oudenaarden’s 10-year-old national record with 5,573 points. Stroda won the LeRoy Washburn Award as the championships’ top female Legion athlete. [Stephen J. Thorne/LM]

100 images (Part 1): Legion Nationals produce record-breaking performances

STORY BY STEPHEN J. THORNE

The 47th Legion National Youth Track and Field Championships proved memorable, producing a pair of national record-breakers in heptathlete Lily Stroda from British Columbia/Yukon and sprinter Dennis Iriowen of Ontario.

Confronting a variety of weather in Calgary, from cold and wet to hot and dry, Stroda turned in a dominating performance in the seven-event heptathlon. As she set out to defend her 2024 title, she swept all four events on the first day of competition and went on to break a 10-year-old record set by fellow-British Columbian Niki Oudenaarden.

Her 5,573 points were almost 1,000 ahead of her closest opponent. The spellbinding effort earned Stroda the LeRoy Washburn Award as the championships’ top female Legion athlete.

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Travel Mug—Adventure awaits. Go find it.
The Briefing
The Briefing

Military historian and author David O’Keefe. [@okeefehistorian/x]

Historian David O’Keefe on a suspicious WW II aircrew loss

STORY BY ALEX BOWERS

“This is the most intriguing story I’ve ever come across,” remarked historian David O’Keefe about the loss of Lancaster bomber LL862 in July 1944. Coming from the best-selling author of revelatory read One Day in August: The Untold Story Behind Canada’s Tragedy at Dieppe, it could be argued that that’s really saying something.

Rather than one day, however, this latest mystery is shrouded in a single night.

The mostly Canadian eight-man crew of 101 Squadron—a formation specializing in state-of-the-art electronic warfare—had embarked on a bombing mission over Homberg, Germany. That they hadn’t returned wasn’t suspicious in itself. On the contrary, Royal Air Force Bomber Command had long endured appalling losses, both of men and machinery, in its raids over the Reich. What didn’t add up, however, were the precise circumstances in which two flyers survived while others had perished.

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Canvet Publications Ltd.
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Director Hirota visits Toronto; grad fellowship deadline extended

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A newsletter from one of our fellow Canadian organizations in the Bay Area.

Canadian Studies Announcements

In This Issue:

Canadian Studies News

• Program director Hirota makes first official trip to Canada

Academic Opportunities

• Deadline extended: ACSUS-Enders Graduate Fellowship in Canada-US Relations

• Financial support – research stays at IRI, Concordia University for faculty & doctoral students

External Events

• Silicon Valley Terry Fox Run

• Kim’s Convenience at ACT San Francisco

PROGRAM NEWS
Program Director Hirota Makes First Official Trip to Canada

Professor Hidetaka Hirota made his first official trip to Canada last week in his capacity as director of the Canadian Studies Program. Professor Hirota travelled to Toronto to participate in a dissertation defense in the History Department at the University of Toronto as an invited external examiner. There, he met Canadian Studies Advisory Board member Kathryn Exon Smith and Hildebrand fellow Allison Evans for dinner. After enjoying good food and conversation, they took a walk through Cabbagetown, the city’s historical neighborhood. During his stay, Professor Hirota also met with two senior scholars in Canadian studies, Professors Franca Iacovetta and Ian Radforth, who both study labor and immigration history. It was an intellectually and socially exciting trip, and our director can’t wait to return!

ACADEMIC OPPORTUNITIES

Deadline Extended: ACSUS-Enders Graduate Fellowship in Canada-US Relations

Deadline: August 15

The Association of Canadian Studies in the United States (ACSUS) is seeking nominees for the ACSUS-Enders Graduate Fellowship in Canada-US Relations, generously supported by the Thomas O. Enders Endowment.

This fellowship supports advanced scholarship by US graduate students conducting research in Canada on topics that enhance understanding of the Canada-US relationship. It offers a $5,000 grant to fund 4-6 weeks of research at a Canadian university, research site, or business during the 2025-2026 academic year.

The award is only open to US citizens or permanent residents. For more information and to apply, please click here.

Financial Support – Research Stays at IRI, Concordia University for Faculty & Doctoral Students

Deadline: September 12

The Immigration Research Initiative (IRI), based in the Department of Political Science at Concordia University, Montreal, is pleased to share two distinct calls for applications for 2026:

  • A financial support program for in-person stays at Concordia, open to assistant professors, postdoctoral researchers, and faculty on sabbatical.
  • A doctoral visiting fellowship, offering support for a three-month stay at Concordia, open to PhD students.

Both programs provide financial support and the opportunity to engage with IRI’s research activities while developing a project related to immigration, ethnocultural diversity, and national identity. For questions or to apply, please email iri@concordia.ca.

EXTERNAL EVENTS

Silicon Valley Terry Fox Run

Sun., Sept. 14 | 9:30 am | Palo Alto, CA | Learn more

Honor the legacy of Terry Fox as you follow in his footsteps to raise money for cancer research! Join the Eh Team – Run for Terry, proudly sponsored by the Government of Canada, the Canadian Consulate in San Francisco, and the Digital Moose Lounge. Join with your fellow Bay Area Canadians running, walking, and biking to continue Terry’s efforts of finding a cure for cancer. Darrell Fox, Terry’s brother, will make an appearance as the guest of honor!

Kim’s Convenience at ACT San Francisco

Sept. 18-Oct. 19 | San Francisco, CA | Learn more

The hilarious and heartwarming, award-winning comedy drama that inspired the popular Netflix hit show is coming to SF! This feel-good play about a Korean family-run corner store is an ode to generations of immigrants who have made Canada the country that it is today. Mr. Kim works hard to support his wife and children with his Toronto convenience store. As he evaluates his future, he faces both a changing neighborhood landscape and the gap between his values and those of his Canada-born children. Playwright Ins Choi, who will also star in the production as the title character, calls Kim’s Convenience his “love letter to his parents and to all first-generation immigrants who call Canada their home.”

Kim’s Convenience opens at the American Conservatory Theater (ACT) Toni Rembe Theater on September 18. Thanks to our friends at the DML, you can click here or use code DML to save 20% on tickets!

Canadian Studies Program

213 Philosophy Hall #2308

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Canadian Studies Program | Univ. of California, Berkeley 213 Philosophy Hall #2308 | Berkeley, CA 94720 US

Canadian Snowbirds at the San Francisco Fleet Week

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This past week we noticed that the Canadian Forces Snowbirds were among the line-up for the San Francisco Fleet Week‘s Air Show on 11-12 October 2025.  This was confirmed based on the schedule posted to the Snowbirds website (as noted below in the graphic).

More details to come as they are available.

Dieppe, 83 years after the disastrous raid

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An item from the Legion Magazine.
Front Lines
Front Lines

Detectorists scavenge the main beach at Dieppe, France. The pickings were slim.

[Stephen J. Thorne/LM]

Dieppe, 83 years after the disastrous raid

STORY BY STEPHEN J. THORNE

For the purposes of an invasion—or, in this case, a raid—nautical twilight is an opportune time of day just before dawn when the sun is between six and 12 degrees below the horizon. It’s called nautical twilight because the brightest stars can still provide peacetime—and wartime—mariners with points of navigation.

On a typical pre-dawn morning along France’s Alabaster Coast, at Dieppe in particular, it’s often foggy. The twilight is just enough to give inbound vessels a shadowy land reference but, looking out from shore, there’s not much visibility.

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Sacred Canadian Sites of the world wars
The Briefing
The Briefing

Hours after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, this fire-storm cloud developed over the burning city. Author Iain MacGregor explores the Japanese experience of the bombing in his new book The Hiroshima Men. [WIkimedia]

Humanizing the enemy: author shines new perspectives on 1945 bombing of Japan

STORY BY ALEX BOWERS

It’s no surprise that the devastation the August 1945 atomic bombs brought to the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki has continued to be investigated by authors and academics alike. One of those authors, British historian Iain MacGregor, has chosen a surprising way to approach the much-discussed topic in his new book The Hiroshima Men: The Quest to Build the Atomic Bomb, and the Fateful Decision to Use It.

The narrative details the decades-long journey toward the detonation as much as the detonation itself. Moreover, instead of focusing solely on the U.S. perspective, MacGregor delivers a groundbreaking exploration of the Japanese experience so often missing from western discourse.

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Email sent to: mkbarbour@gmail.com

Canvet Publications Ltd.
86 Aird Place |
Kanata, Ontario | K2L 0A1 | Canada |
1-844-602-5737 | 613-591-0116 | magazine@legion.ca