John W. Foster, October 2016

I am currently teaching (distance education) in International Studies and Justice Studies at the University of Regina, while based in Ottawa. I continue to collaborate with researchers in Halifax, Fredericton, Toronto and Ottawa in a collective history of the thirty year experience of the Latin American Working Group (1966-96), based in Toronto.

Marie-Michèle Doucet, October 2014

I have recently completed my PhD at the Université de Montréal. As part of my doctoral research, I have worked on French women’s humanitarian aid in Germany after the Great War. My work on this subject as been presented at the international conference Vivere la guerra. Pensare la pace (1914-1921). Le espierienze delle donne, il pensiero feminista e la relazioni internazionali in Venice, Italy, in November 2014 and will soon be published under the title “Helping the German Children : French Humanitarian Aid and Franco-German Reconciliation After the Great War (1919-1925)” in a collective book at Cambridge Scholar Publishing (2015).  Dominique Marshall has told me about your network and I would therefore love to become a member of the Canadian Network on Humanitarian History.

Isabel Campbell, October 2015

I’m interested in how military history intersects with humanitarianism and negotiating the boundaries of public debate with respect to conflict and social well-being.

Matthew Bunch, September 2015

My research concerns the development of international humanitarianism in Canada and internationally since 1960. My focus has been on FAO’s Freedom From Hunger Campaign (FFHC), the Canadian Hunger Foundation (CHF) and the proliferation of NGOs as a result of FFHC and CHF. I operate a voluntary research and outreach project designed to commemorate and further the goals of FFHC and to combat hunger and poverty. Related interests concern the narrative arc of international development movements and popular campaigns to raise awareness on the problem of hunger and poverty. I have just become aware of the CNHH, and look forward to accessing and contributing to the work of the network and its members.

Francesco Rubio, August 2015

I am very interested by the topic. I worked during 20 years as Head of Legal Dpt of Médecins du monde France and I wrote several books about humanitarianism. All in french. Now I am retired from Médecins du monde and I teach at Webster University in Geneva (CH) but I live in Paris.
I work also about the philanthropy and the World War I.  With french friends we try to set up a protection of archives of french NGOs in the field of the “sans frontièrisme”.  We work with the help of the french administration and we have the gathering of Médecins du monde, Handicap International, Action contre la faim, Médecins sans frontières etc.  The will is to write a history of the french humanitarianism, more accurate the french humanitarianism and the “Sans frontièrisme”.  Maybe we could share your work and our project.

Jennifer Anderson, August 2015

I am an historian at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Québec. I would be interested in joining the Canadian Network on Humanitarian History primarily to discuss the theme as it applies to public history initiatives (museum/archival exhibits, virtual exhibits, films, etc.) and possibilities for the collection of related 3-D material culture (artifacts).

Shezan Muhammedi, August 2015

I am deeply interested in joining the network as a means of learning about and contributing to the history of humanitarianism. I was fortunate enough to attend the first CNHH held in 2014 and I thoroughly enjoyed my experience. My work focuses on the resettlement of Ugandan Asian refugees in Canada between 1972 and 1974. It uses archival research and oral histories to capture the experiences of refugees who have transitioned into becoming active Canadian citizens. My hopes are to continue networking with the wonderful team of researchers and practitioners that I met at the conference. I hope that I can aid in expanding the network itself.

Francisco Rubio, August 2015

I am very interested by your Society because I worked during 20 years as Head of Legal Department of Médecins du monde and I wrote several books about the NGOs and humanitarian action. Now I am retired but I continue my job at the University in Webster (Geneva Campus)
In Fance we try now to protect the archives of french humanitarian NGOs with the goal to wrote an history of French NGOs and the “Sans-Frontièrisme” To share your informations and your work I think it is important.

Sanjukta Ghosh, August 2015

I would like to join the network to learn about research methods relevant to studying humanitarian aid both from the point of domestic philanthropy and international aid. I am a post-doctoral researcher based in the UK (SOAS alumna), working on post-famine conditions and the post-partition decade in Bengal (India) 1945-59, and researching documents related to politics of relief and distribution of food supplies.

Anthony Michel, July 2015

I am a Canadian cultural historian by training, currently working in strategic policy at the Dept. of Canadian Heritage. I have had a long-standing interest in international development, human rights and refugee policy.

Leighann Neilson, Carleton University, May 2015

I’m interested in the history of marketing in not-for-profit institutions including NGOs and humanitarian aid organizations. My previous research has examined the nature of charitable donations and fundraising strategies in Canada, along with examining advertising strategies used by Plan Canada to recruit foster parents.

John D. Pringle, McGill University, May 2015

Hello! My name is John Pringle. I am a Postdoctoral Fellow in humanitarian health ethics at McGill University. I am also a nurse/epidemiologist with field experience with MSF, including the West Africa Ebola crisis. I take a critical approach to the role of humanitarianism under global capitalism, finding a Foucauldian approach particularly valuable. I was happy to come across the humanitarian history project! Thanks and best wishes.

Shirley Tillotson, Dalhousie University, May 2015

A point of connection between my current research and humanitarian aid is that arguments about excessive federal taxation in the 1950s and early 1960s frequently refer to federal govt spending on international aid as a prime example of unjustified spending. Though I’m not likely to pursue the interpretation of that fact myself, I’ll be interested to see what develops around this question of Canadians’ conception of their international obligations.

Brian Tomlinson, Executive Director of AidWatch Canada, May 2015

I have worked for the past 40 years within the Canadian international civil society community, the last 15 years up to 2011 as senior policy analyst for the Canadian Council for International Cooperation. I am currently the Executive Director of AidWatch Canada, a very small CSO focusing on analysis of trends in Canadian and global aid. In this capacity, I am engaged at the global level, co-chairing a multi-stakeholder Task Team on issues relating to closing space for civil society as development actors. I work closely with CCIC and some of its members on analysis of Canadian aid trends. With Betty Plewes, we contributed a chapter to the 2013 edition of Canada Among Nations on a short history of “Canadian CSOs in Africa: The end of an era?”. As a Board member of the Atlantic Council for International Cooperation, we are currently reconstructing key moments in the history of solidarity and internationalism in the Atlantic Region to commemorate the 40th anniversary of ACIC.

Elise Carlson-Rainer, May 2015

William Tait invited me to join this network. We both recently presented at aconference in Paris regarding NGOs and Global Governance. I am a PhD Candidate at the University of Washington in Seattle. I am a former diplomat working on human rights in the U.S. Department of State and humanitarian assistance in the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Siobhan Airey, Ph.D. candidate in International Law, University of Ottawa, March 2015

I’m completing my doctorate in international law at the Faculty of Law at U/Ottawa on the nature of the international legal framework governing official development assistance (IDCL – international law of development co-operation). My research draws from critical and post-colonial perspectives on international law. As part of my research, I aim to demonstrate how the contemporary legal framework on IDCL has its origins in the colonial era. I explore this through an examination of the EU’s legal aid architecture, and specifically in relation to the Cotonou Partnership Agreement. I’d welcome becoming a member of the network and to share insights from my own research, along with learning from others.

Meyer Browstone, March 2015

As a former long time chair of Oxfam Canada ( and now chair emeritus) and Vice Chair of Oxfam international as well as a political economist I have had an extensive experience in the conceptualization of humanitarian aid and its application. I am interested in both humanitarian aid as it and its elements (food, shelter, health etc.)  are normally defined,  but also in a more extensive linkage between this and broader human rights (gender equality, security/protection, sexual orientation, empowerment etc.)  with the latter as an integral element in the content of aid.

Zehra Mawani, March 2015

I work as an archivist at Library and Archives Canada and have taken over the social justice portfolio. As such, I am interested in staying current with trends in the history of humanitarian aid.

David Webster, Bishops University, March 2015

Currently I am writing a book on Canadian development advisors in Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, and Burma) from 1945 to 1965. Related publications: Fire and the Full Moon: Canada and Indonesia ina  Decolonizing World (UBC Press, 2009); “Development Advisors in a Time of Cold War and Decolonization: The UN Technical Assistance Administration, 1950-1959,” Journal of Global History 6 no. 2 (2011): 249-272; “Modern Missionaries: Canadian Postwar Technical Assistance Advisors in Southeast Asia,” Journal of the Canadian Historical Association 20 no. 2 (2009): 86-111. Upcoming at the 2015 CHA: “The CCF beyond the seas: Canadian social democrats as development advisors in Southeast Asia, 1950-1965.”

Nacisse Solomon, Doctoral Student, History, Western University, London, Canada, January 2015

The history and nature of Humanitarian aid fundamentally shapes the narrative of Ethiopian history in the latter half of the twentieth century. The study of humanitarian aid isinherently transnational and is reflective of national and global, economic and social developments. I am interested in the dichotomies that are presented in the narrative(s) of benevolence and  beneficiaries, benefactors and recipients. Humanitarian aid embodies a humanistic ethos, at the same time as it is situated in a complex geo-political and cultural  world order.

Joseph Morgan Hodge, Associate Professor of History, west Virginia University, January 2015

I am interested in the history of international development and its relationship with European colonial empires, especially British colonial development policies and practices in the twentieth century. I have written on the role of experts and expertise in the history British colonial development and its legacies: Triumph of the Expert: Agrarian Doctrines of Development and the Legacies of British Colonialism (Ohio UP, 2007). I have also co-edited two related collections: (with Brett Bennett), Science and Empire: Knowledge and Networks of Science across the British Empire, 1800-1970 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011); and (with Gerald Hodl and Martine Kopf), Developing Africa: Concepts and Practices in twentieth-century colonialism (Manchester UP, 2014).

David Meinen, MA student in Legal Studies, Carleton University, November 2014

This looks like a fascinating forum and I am excited to engage with the material and its members. My interest in the history of humanitarian aid lies in my personal graduate studies, which includes an exploration of humanitarianism in Haiti, humanitarian transformations over the 19th and 20th centuries, and the inscription of security discourse into the work of contemporary NGOs/humanitarians.

Jim MacKinnon, Oxfam Canada

Understanding humanitarian history allows us to make more informed humanitarian choices today.

Anne-Andrée Plourde, doctorante, Université Laval, Septembre 2014

Votre groupe me semble très intéressant et j’aimerais vraiment m’y joindre afin de pouvoir échanger avec d’autres historiens de l’aide humanitaire et pour être tenue au courant des plus récentes publications, conférences, nouvelles et activités, qu’il y a dans mon domaine d’étude au Canada. Je vous remercie beaucoup.

Brooke Gibbons, Care Canada

Part of my role at CARE Canada is the coordinator of PAGER, the Policy Action Group for Emergency Response, a 32 member agency which includes all major operational humanitarian organisations with Canada. It would be great to participate in this group, and I will be able to disseminate information to other PAGER members via out listserve.

Ruth Compton-Brouwer, Professor Emerita, King’s University College, July 2014

Very glad you are doing this, Dominique and Will.  Sorry I had to miss the one-day workshop, but I’ve been having good email conversations with Kevin.

Jill-Campbell Miller, PhD candidate, History, Waterloo, July 2014

I think this is excellent – I think you have really covered what we discussed in terms of the categories for the site.

Brooke Gibbons, CARE Canada, July 2014

It would be great to participate in this group, and I will be able to disseminate information to other PAGER members via out listserve.

N. Marion, PhD candidate, Carleton, July 2014

I would very much like to be a member of the group and to receive news related to it. Thank you.

Sarah Glassford, Department of History, UPEI, July 2014

What an excellent idea, Dominique & Will!  Thank-you for taking this on.  I look forward to being more “in the loop” in future.  I’m glad to hear the workshop was a success.

Lydia Witenbroek, PhD canadate, York, July 2014

This is a great idea. Thanks, Dominique and Will!

Tina Loo, Department of HIstory, University of British Columbia, July 2014

I’m looking forward to the posts on this site. Thanks for taking this initiative.

John Foster, Ex Director of Oxfam Canada, and Instructor at Carleton University, Public Administration, July 2014

I look forward to continuing exchange following the excellent July workshop.