Civil - Military Relations

In Canada, the study of civil-military relations is often confined to relationships between politicians and defence chiefs in Ottawa. I am interested in relationships on a more general level, but also on an intensely more local one: in terms of the military’s historic and continuing footprint in regions and communities across Canada. In addition to my work on the Canadian Rangers, specific studies that I am currently working on include:

The Pacific Coast Militia Rangers (PCMR)

Following the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the Canadian government faced increasing pressures from worried residents on the West Coast who cried out for protection from possible attack. Although a full-scale Japanese invasion was unlikely, the federal government had to find a way to create a military presence in remote and sparsely populated areas where it would be too expensive to station full-time soldiers. As a result, the Pacific Coast Militia Rangers (PCMR) formed in August 1942. They would be voluntary citizen-soldiers who would help to defend Canada while pursuing their ordinary jobs and lifestyles. Their explicit duties were to patrol their local area, to report any findings of a suspicious nature, and to fight using guerrilla tactics in the case of enemy invasion. At its peak, the PCMR comprised 14,849 British Columbians, many of them trappers, loggers and fishermen, in 126 companies located in isolated communities from the Queen Charlotte Islands to the American border.

I am currently co-authoring a history of the PCMR with Kerry Steeves, who has also been interested in the history of this unique force for more than a decade. We plan to have a draft monograph complete by summer 2010.