Laurier expert alert: Remembrance Day

Nov. 9, 2022
For Immediate Release

WATERLOO – Remembrance Day is Friday, Nov. 11. Wilfrid Laurier University will be marking Remembrance Day with events on the Waterloo and Brantford campuses.

Laurier has several experts available to speak about topics related to war, veterans and memorialization. The following list includes Laurier experts who are available to speak at this time but does not represent the full breadth of expertise that exists at our institution. For a more comprehensive inventory of our faculty researchers, please consult the Experts at Laurier database.

Cynthia Comacchio, Professor Emerita in the Department of History, is an expert on the sociocultural impact of war in Canada and veterans’ social reintegration after the First World War. She is also available for comment on war commemoration efforts, including memory and public memorialization. Contact: ccomacchio@wlu.ca

Ann Fitz-Gerald is the Director of the Balsillie School of International Affairs and a Professor in the Department of Political Science. Fitz-Gerald is an expert on military operations, global security, international relations, and peace and conflict resolution. She has advised and been seconded to work with a number of countries on issues relating to national security policy and strategy issues including: Canada, Ukraine, Lebanon, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Nepal, Botswana, Jamaica, Indonesia, Sierra Leone, Albania, Montenegro and Nigeria. In 2012, the Government of Canada awarded Fitz-Gerald the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal for her contribution to post-conflict resolution and national policy dialogue. Email: afitzgerald@wlu.ca

Amy Milne-Smith is an associate professor in the Department of History who is an expert on veteran mental health and military trauma. She specializes in 19^th-century British and Imperial history. Currently, she is working on a SSHRC-funded project on ideas of men's mental illness in the British military before shell shock. It explores military psychiatry and the horrors of war in the 19^th century. Contact: amilnesmith@wlu.ca

Roger Sarty, professor in the Department of History, is an expert in Canadian military history, Canadian foreign and defence policy, as well as the history of the First World War and Second World War. He has served as senior historian at the Department of National Defence and deputy director of the Canadian War Museum. Contact: rsarty@wlu.ca