Author Archives: Michael K. Barbour

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About Michael K. Barbour

Michael K. Barbour is the Director of Faculty Development and a Professor of Instructional Design for the College of Education and Health Sciences at Touro University California. He has been involved with K-12 online learning in a variety of countries for well over a decade as a researcher, teacher, course designer and administrator. Michael's research focuses on the effective design, delivery and support of K-12 online learning, particularly for students located in rural jurisdictions.

[REMINDER] Request for Participation – “I Joined” Membership Campaign

In 2020, as a way to get membership engaged all across the country, Dominion Command of the Royal Canadian Legion engaged in an “I Joined” campaign.  In preparation for a membership drive that we are going to undertake in the Fall, US Branch 25 – representing the San Francisco Bay Area – is replicating this campaign.

Our members are the lifeblood of the Royal Canadian Legion.  Without your support, we could not do all we do to honour, support, and remember Canada’s veteran and their families.  We invite you to share why you joined the Legion.  For some it may be to give back to those who served, to honour family members, or to support our branch and communities.  So tell us your Legion story!  Why did you join the Legion?  What do you like about being a member?  What is your favourite Legion memory?  Please visit https://tinyurl.com/branch25-ijoined/ to contribute your own story, and be sure to upload a photo of yourself or our branch to accompany your story – or even a video.

If you visit https://www.legion.ca/news/articles/2019/11/28/in-their-own-words-why-our-members-joined-the-royal-canadian-legion you can see the stories of nine of our comrades from the Dominion Command campaign.  Some of the videos that were produced included:

Here are some examples that have already been submitted from our own Branch:

If you have any questions, please let us know.

Zoom Webinar: Matthew Barrett on Canadian Army Officer Discipline and Martial Justice, 1944–45

This up-coming webinar may be of interest to members.


View this email in your browser

DR. MATTHEW BARRETT

Canadian Army Officer Discipline and Martial Justice, 1944-45

August 11th, 7:00 PM ET

The webinar is FREE on Zoom.

Registration is required. You do not need a Zoom account to watch.

CLICK HERE to Register

Of all the stories from Normandy during the hard fighting of summer 1944 few were stranger than the experience of Lieutenant Reginald Woods of the Lake Superior Regiment. After his platoon came under German attack on 17 August, Woods vanished. When he suddenly re-emerged two months later claiming amnesia Canadian military authorities needed to grapple with assumptions about combat leadership, mental responsibility and criminal culpability. Using an illustrated, graphic history approach, Matthew Barrett explores Woods’ medical diagnosis and eventual court martial to highlight the challenges of uncovering what happened and piercing through the fog of war. Using Woods’ fascinating story as a case study, this talk examines the topic of officer discipline more broadly to study the legal, medical, and administrative responses to perceived misconduct and failure on the battlefield.

DR. MATTHEW BARRETT is a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow with the Canadian War Museum. His postdoctoral project explores the creation of graphic history scholarship as a visual form of historical interpretation and analysis. His forthcoming book, Scandalous Conduct: Canadian Officer Courts Martial, 1914-1945, will be published by UBC Press.

UPCOMING WEBINARS

25 August | LCMSDS
Marie Eve Vaillencourt, JBC
“Remembering the Canadians in Normandy”
Click HERE to Register

8 September | LCMSDS
Geoff Hayes
“The Canadians in Normandy: Another Go-Around”
Click HERE to Register

Presented by:
Click here to listen to the latest episode of On War & SocietyA War of Emotions with Lucy Noakes.

On War & Society features authors discussing their research, the challenges associated with doing history, and life ‘behind the book.’

Copyright © 2021 LCMSDS, All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:
LCMSDS
75 University Ave W
Waterloo, ON N2L 3C5

Laurier Centre for Military Strategic and Disarmament Studies · 75 University Ave W · Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3C5 · Canada

Diver discovers suspected wreckage of Halifax Explosion

An item from the Legion Magazine.


Legion Magazine
Front Lines
Diver discovers suspected wreckage of Halifax Explosion

Diver discovers suspected wreckage of Halifax Explosion

Story by Stephen J. Thorne

Tufts Cove is a shallow, innocuous little inlet nestled at the back end of Halifax Harbour on the Dartmouth side between a power station and the abandoned military neighbourhood of Shannon Park.

Because of its proximity to the 56-year-old generating plant and what was once housing for Cold War-era sailors and their families, the cove is fenced off, blocking access to both the water and land. No one ever goes there, anyway; they have no reason to.

READ MORE

Canada and the Great War: Liberation
Military Milestones
Ambush in Afghanistan

Ambush in Afghanistan

Story by Sharon Adams

For Canadian troops in Afghanistan, 2008 was another year in hell.

Canadian soldiers had been in the wartorn country since 2001, helping to oppose Taliban insurgents, provide security while Afghans rebuilt, train members of the Afghan National Army (ANA) and support Canadian programs for political and economic reconstruction.

READ MORE

Belair

RCL members and their families can benefit from exclusive discounts on car 🚘, home 🏡, condo & tenant’s insurance @belairdirect. Call 1-833-294-2911 (BC, AB, ON & QC) or
1-866-473-9676 (NB, NS & PE) & mention you’re a Royal Canadian Legion member.
Learn more at legion.ca/belairdirect.

LEARN MORE

Canvet Publication Ltd.

Media Advisory: Commemorating National Peackekeepers’ Day in the National Capital Region, August 8, 2021

An item from the Merchant Navy Commemorative Theme Project.


Dear Sir/Madam:

Please find attached the Media Advisory: Commemorating National Peackekeepers’ Day in the National Capital Region, August 8, 2021, for reference.

My very best regards,

Stéphane Ouellette
Founder/President
Colonel John Gardam Lifetime Achievement Award Institute/
President & CEO
Merchant Navy Commemorative Theme Project (MNCTP)

Tel: 613.421.9005
E-mail: ouellettes@rogers.com
Website: www.alliedmerchantnavy.com

Attachment: MEDIA ADVISORY-COMMEMORATING NAT PEACEKEEPERS’ DAY IN NCR-AUG. 8, 2021.pdf

A Canadian’s journey to Tokyo via Cal; meet our board; Artist talk & picnic

A newsletter from one of our fellow Canadian organizations in the Bay Area.  We also wanted to take the opportunity to thank them for promoting our up-coming 90th anniversary family picnic.


Canadian Studies Announcements
In this issue:
  • Happy “August Long Weekend”?
  • Meet Canadian Studies: Board Member Kathleen Thompson Hill
  • A Berkeley athlete’s journey from Canada to Tokyo
  • External event: “Meet the Artists” conversation showcase
  • External event: Royal Canadian Legion Branch 25 90th anniversary picnic
Happy “August Long Weekend?”
Today, people across Canada are enjoying a well-deserved day off. But what holiday are they actually celebrating? The answer, as with many things Canadian, depends on which province you’re in.
Some provinces, including British Columbia, New Brunswick, and Saskatchewan, mark this day as an official celebration of the province. In Alberta, it’s celebrated as “Heritage Day”, recognizing Albertans’ diverse cultural backgrounds. Manitoba honors cancer research activist Terry Fox, while the cities of Toronto and Ottawa commemorate city founders John Graves Simcoe and John By. (And Quebec, Newfoundland, and the Yukon don’t celebrate at all!)
Whatever the official name, most Canadians are just glad to have a long weekend to relax and spend time with the family.
Image: Campsite at Mystic Beach, Vancouver Island. (Michal Klajban, Wikimedia Commons.)
Meet Canadian Studies: Board Member Kathleen Thompson Hill
A Berkeley native, Kathleen Thompson Hill received degrees from U.C. Berkeley and the Sorbonne, followed by a Fellowship in Public Affairs with the Coro Foundation in San Francisco. Eventually, she earned an M.A. in political psychology at Sonoma State University. Kathleen served as executive coordinator of the 25th Anniversary of the United Nations, worked for the Peace Corps and in the White House, and with her husband co-authored three political dictionaries, four law dictionaries, and an Encyclopedia of Federal Agencies and Commissions. She is currently Food and Wine Editor of the Sonoma Index-Tribune. Kathleen collects antique kitchen implements; an exhibition of her collection opens at the Napa Valley Museum later this month.
Excerpts from our interview with Kathleen are below: click here to read the full piece.
What is your connection to Canada?
I am not Canadian, but my husband Gerald and I had a home and lived in Victoria for 15 years and taught at Canadian universities. Out of deep interest in Canada, we researched and wrote papers comparing Canadian and US governmental approaches to environmental, justice, medical, and political systems.
What has your career been like in the US and Canada?
My husband and I taught American politics and government at the University of British Columbia, the University of Victoria, and Sonoma State University. Simultaneously, we were writing guidebooks to wine regions of the west coast of North America. We were awarded UBC prizes for our books on Victoria, Vancouver Island, and the Northwest Wine Country, and received UBC’s Just Desserts Award for “exceptional service to the students.”
How did you get involved with Canadian Studies?
One of the organizations that expressed interest in our papers was the Canadian Studies Program at my alma mater, Berkeley. We got to know {Program founder Tom Barnes} professionally and personally. I was most grateful to have been invited to join the Advisory Board, as I always learn from the many experts who attend and present at our colloquia.
What are your goals as an advisory board member?
I would like to help develop a program to study and present a forum to create greater understanding among the countries of Canada, the U.S., and Mexico about what the three might do to work together on problems we share in these fast-changing times. I would also like to help create programs that attract Canadians and Americans around the Bay Area to participate in what we do and what we offer. To that end, I helped organize Canadian Studies’ first ever wine tasting of Canadian wines this year.
IN THE NEWS
Cal at the Olympics: Mom’s Example Lifts Canadian Camryn Rogers to Her Athletic Dreams
People from Vancouver to Berkeley are cheering on Camryn Rogers, the student athlete representing Canada in women’s hammer throw at the Tokyo Olympics. Born in British Columbia, Camryn swept Canada’s youth circuit before coming to Berkeley for university and joining the Cal Golden Bears. With the assistance of Cal coach Mo Saatara, she broke a collegiate record this spring. And tomorrow, she’ll be trying for a medal in the hammer throw finals after coming in an impressive fourth in yesterday’s qualifying round.
Sports Illustrated’s FanNation profiled Camryn on the eve of the qualifiers Sunday. In a touching joint interview with her mother Shari, Camryn reflects on her mother’s influence on her life and athletic career. She credits her mother, a single parent, with making her the woman she is today. “Watching her make sacrifices, do everything she could… so I could try and achieve everything that I wanted to. I don’t know if I could ever give her enough thanks for that,” says Camryn.
Image: Camryn Rogers ’22. (Cal Athletics Track & Field roster.)
EXTERNAL EVENTS
Meet the Artists: The Chaos Conversation x Primal Impacto
August 19 | 10 am | Webcast | RSVP here
The Consulate General of Canada in San Francisco invites you to attend a Connecting Perspectives “Meet the Artists” virtual event on Thursday, August 19, at 10 am PT.
Connecting Perspectives is a cross-border art initiative produced by the Toronto-based Social Distancing Festival and the Consulate General of Canada in New York. Drawing inspiration from the theme “Art Today,” 26 exceptional artists who identify as Black, Indigenous, and/or People of Colour in Canada and the U.S. were paired and funded to create 13 new, interdisciplinary, collaborative art.
This event will feature artist pairs Kimmy Katarja (Cleveland, OH) and Chancz Perry (Regina, SK), co-creators of The Chaos Conversation, and Deb Leal (Oakland, CA), and Josefina Rodriguez (Calgary, AB), co-creators of Primal Impacto. The event will be moderated by Tawhida Tanya Evanson, with remarks by representatives from the Consulates General of Canada in Detroit and San Francisco.
Royal Canadian Legion Branch 25 90th Anniversary Picnic
August 21 | 12 pm | Richmond, CA | RSVP here
After almost 18 months of virtual events, Royal Canadian Legion Branch 25, representing the San Francisco Bay Area, is hosting a picnic to celebrate their 90th anniversary. Chartered on 12 August 1931, the San Francisco Branch is the sole remaining branch of the 13 branches that once formed the Northern Zone of the Western United States Command of the Royal Canadian Legion.
The picnic will be held at the Marsh Hawk picnic area in the Miller/Knox Regional Shoreline Park. Attendees are asked to bring their own food. The branch will provide beverages for everyone, as well as something sweet and celebratory.
The picnic is open to the public, but guests are asked register in advance. For more information, please visit Branch 25’s website.
Canadian Studies Program
213 Moses Hall #2308
Canadian Studies Program | Univ. of California, Berkeley, 213 Moses Hall #2308, Berkeley, CA 94720