In person: Kevin Brushett (Royal Military College), Jill Campbell-Miller (Public Servant Government of Nova Scotia & Adjunct Professor Saint Mary’s University), Dominique Clément (University of Alberta), Jean-Michel Turcotte (Department of National Defense & Adjunct Professor at Carleton University); –
Virtually: Severyan Dyanikov (post-doctoral fellow, Carleton University); Henrique Schlumberger (PhD student at the Federal University of Paraná (Brazil); visiting scholar at Carleton University); Dominique Marshall (Carleton University).
0. Welcome and Introductions
All participants took 5 minutes each to present their work
Two Carleton research fellows took 10 minutes each for special introductions
Severyan presented his future work on the histories of the Red Cross as agent of development
Henrique presented the work he is doing in Canada
In addition, D. Marshall spoke of the work of upcoming visiting fellow Jonathan Crossen. Members of the CNHH are invited to the event in honour of his work, virtually or oin person, on Thursday June 25:
1. Next year’s CNHH session at the 2026 CHA Annual meeting
The meeting will be organised away from Congress, which has been cancelled for 2026. We agreed on a table on Canadian humanitarian and development aid and decolonization, with possible contributions from Severyan on the Colombo Plan; Kevin; Jean-Michel; D. Marshall on Oxfam; and maybe Jonathan Crossen, who is currently visiting fellow at Carleton University. Dominique will circulate the call in the Fall of 2025, when the CHAA makes its own call.
2. Archives
Severyan spoke of his initiative to digitize Red Cross archives and work with AI within these archives, and his attempt to find a faculty member in Europe to anchor the project.
Henrique invited suggestions to find archives about Ukrainian refugees and humanitarian organisations in Canada in the mid-20th century.
D. Clément and Kevin spoke of the wealth of documents deposited in the archives of External Affairs on the activities of NGOs in different countries, as embassies oversaw the activities of Canadian NGOs, often easier to access than those of CIDA.
D. Marshall presented the acquisition at Carleton University Archives and Special Collections (ASC) of the audio tapes of the dozens of interviews Ian Smille conducted for the making of his book on the history of CUSO; she also spoke of the collection of graphic novels and old photographs of East Africa acquired from the Dominican brother Yvon Pomerleau. All 3 fonds have been catalogues and the catalogue will be online soon. She repeated the invitation of ASC to help with archival rescue whenever CNHH members need support.
Jean-Michel spoke of the family archives of Jack Crawford he found on the Canadian involved in Peacekeeping diplomacy.
Jill who designed the website is asking for someone to update it, who has the technical knowledge to save it before the update. Dominique Marshall suggested to ask one research assistant at Carleton.
Possible blogs
D. Marshall invited D. Clément to write about the upcoming publication of his database on NGO budgets since the 1970s.
Hunter Mcgill (retired CIDA Official), taught courses at Carleton and Ottawa U on Humanitarian Aid and Development ; part of the archival rescue team
Stephen Osei-Owusu, University of Ghana, teaches history – focused on the role of aid and development in Ghana’s development post-colonialism – now working on Environmental History
Simplice Ayanma Post Doc Banting Fellow Working with David Webster- at Bishops University The politics of Canada and the Franco-phone
Claire Lefort-Rieu : Ph.D. Anthropology in Forced Migration in Cameroon – Institute of Development and Paris University in French
Rhonda Gossen : Also worked at CIDA – works as a consultant for UNEP and UNHCR consultant – retired from CIDA – interested in the archival rescue project and in the women development projects in Pakistan
John Foster: Teaching at the University of Regina – rewriting 3rd year course on International Human Rights. Involved in MITACS between Dominique et al. Kevin O’Sullivan’s book- the
Nassisse Solomon
Lydia Wytenbroek : Assistant professor at UBC,social historian of twentieth-century health care, with a particular interest in understanding and interpreting the historical forces that have shaped the nursing profession and practice. *Interests in Nursing in Iran. Will be responsible to Tweets and coordinating events for CNHH.
Sonja De Laat : Degree in Anthropology, specializing in the History of Humanitarian Representation. Involved with Dominique |Humanitarian Health Ethics – palliative care.
Kevin Brushett : Head of History at the Royal Military College, interested in CIDA work- government and non-government actors brokered the relationship btw the two
Jill Campbell Miller: Currently at Fisheries Canada. Interested in working on projects examining relationships b/w India and Canada.
Dominique Marshall: Oxfam Canada|Gender design in Science Technology and Mathematics
Sarah Glassford
Practicing archivist at the University of Windsor. History of The Canadian Red Cross; interested in collaborating
2. Updates on CNHH Projects:
CNHH Blog (Sarah):
The blog will continue to function as it has – a bit of a catchall. A great place to showcase ideas that are not big enough for an article- but you are looking to get it out there. Hoping to grow the list of Humanitarian Reads: “If you only read 4 things on topic x – these are the 4 that you should read”. Annotated bibliography.
E.g. Sonya – how to interpret visual histories
Rhonda Gossen offered the following in the chat: “I have a huge list of books written by humanitarians that has been compiled by the largest Facebook group of humanitarian workers called Fifty Shades of Aid”.
Bulletin: Dominique asked for feedback on how this has been working.
Report from ongoing NGO Collaborations (Anna, Helen, Elizabeth, & FRI):
MITACS project –
John- Latin American Working Group
Helen- Lebanese Reparations of the 1970s – helping authors with organizing the documents in the archives.
Farm Radio is hiring an RA to do 200 hours of work interviewing people in Africa to see how they benefited from Farm Radio funding
Archives (David, Dominique, Sarah) Library and Archives Canada – Hunter and Chris working on fishery data from local fisheries. Dominique and David are collaborating in this regard. David is thinking of going to Carleton to do more of this work.
Teaching: Recipro, upcoming courses, and other projects: History of the Spanish Civil War; Communist Aid; Environmental NGOs
Publications (Journal of Humanitarian Affairs) : Special issue of the Journal of Humanitarian Aid History
3. CHA Panels:
2022 update: (Stephen, Simplice, Robyn?)
Report on the panel from Wednesday May 18:
Jill – the panel for this year was organically formed as both Dominique and David had post docs attending. A CHA affiliated group can host a panel.| Enticing for emerging scholars/ current students in Ph.D. or MA programs| Pull the proposal together.
Simplice: A major 1968-1980s Cameroon to Canada diplomatic project – CIDA.
Stephen: spoke of an event in 1849 in Ghana. A christianized and indegnous African population. Beyond the normative implications of the clash- a christianized group invading a group that works with the indigenous population….Eurpoean Christianity and modality- often times the indigenous populations gets trumped out. Relevance during the pre-colonial| colonial | and post colonial periods.
Lydia – will be promoting these events on CNHH Twitter account.
Action Items: Dominique and Stephen will connect with Lydia for further action.
2023- Planning: (Nassisse, Jill?) Solicitation of ideas for a CHA Panel
a) Idea Number 1: Sarah- 2023 Panel on Archives- David Webster and Hunter McGill – a running theme is the presence or absence of archives and the crazy states in which they reach us. Jill suggested that the Round table Format might work best for this proposed discussion.
Jill – getting conference permission from the DFO is a long process. So start early if we are interested in getting CIDA or GAC involved in the panel.
b) Idea Number 2: Aid perspectives from the Middle East –
Lydia Wytenbroek: Area studies
c) Idea Number 3: Palliative Care| Aging – post-pandemic
*Cross-posting events – joint Congress Panel-
4. Book Launch (Lydia)
Great attendance- recording of events will be up soon.
NGO partners (& Annual Meeting of 2023): York University- Glendon College
Archives:
i. Kevin looking to work through CIDA files at LAC. Is there a way of getting more privileged access to these files? Contact Jennifer Anderson and Brandon Kelly at GAC.
ii. Archival Rescue Project: add CIDA to the meeting agenda of this group for ~30 minutes.
iii. Oral History with donors of the archives to understand the context of the donations.
iv. Rhonda Gossen- contact GAC / Historians to see if a funding proposal can be put forward to get access to files and start cataloguing materials.
The Twelfth Bulletin of the CNHH has now been sent out to the membership. If you missed it, the complete PDF of the bulletin can be found here: Twelfth Bulletin PDF
It has been more than a year since the last bulletin of May 2021. We hope that you are all well and that you will continue to send news, posts and announcements.
I. PANEL AND ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
The annual CNHH sponsored panel on Legacies of Colonialism in Africa: Reconsidering Conquest, Capitalism, and Transnationalism in the 19th and 20th Centuries Héritages du colonialisme en Afrique : nouveau regard sur la conquête, le capitalisme et le transnationalisme aux XIXe et XXe siècles will take place on Wednesday the 18th of May, from 11:00 am to 12:30 pm Ottawa time.
We are looking forward to watching our colleagues:
Stephen Osei Owusu (PhD candidate, Carleton University), “The Mankessim Riots of 1849: a Case of Contested Ethno-forestry practices or Conflict between ‘Europeanized’ and Indigenous Africans.”
Simplice Ayangma Bonoho (Banting Fellow, Bishop’s University), « Le « Centre de Rééducation des handicapés de Yaoundé » (CRHY) : Un projet humanitaire d’envergure ? : Pour une relecture des relations diplomatiques canado- camerounaises (1968-1980). »
The Annual meeting of the CNHH will take place at lunch time on the same day, on Wednesday the 18th from 12:30 to 2:00 Ottawa time. The agenda will include research updates, plans for the future, website update, discussion of the website, sponsored panel for 2023, and appointment of future officers. Let us know if you would like to add other points. Here is where to register: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/annual-meeting-of-the-canadian-network-on-humanitarian-history-2022-tickets-333051896187
Sarah Glassford started a series of best reads in humanitarian history, last Fall, in the blog of the CNHH. Three have been published so far.
Dominique Marshall published two articles: “‘CIDA Gives You the World!’ Visual Media and Development Education in Canadian Schools: 1980-2000” & “Ethical Traditions in Humanitarian Photography and the Challenges of the Digital Age – Four Conversations with Canadian Communications Officers”, in theJournal of Humanitarian Affairs, Special issue on “Humanitarian Action in the Age of Visual Media: The Past and Present of Humanitarian Communication” Fall 2021, which came from a CNHH panel at the Canadian Historical Association two years previously.
The recordings of the twelve group conversations of the “Oxfam Canada between 1964 and 1990: A collaborative memory project” coordinated by Oxfam veterans Marc Allain, Susan Johnson and Lawrence Cummings, with the support of Dominique Marshall, will be deposited at Carleton University Archives and Special Collections later in 2022.
V. COMMON INITIATIVES FROM MEMBERS
At an informal meeting held in January 2022, the CNHH adopted a small Steering Committee. Here are the responsibilities.
Blog and website: Sarah Glassford
Bulletin: Helen Kennedy and Dominique Marshall
Twitter: Lydia Wytenbroek
CHA work
Regular updates: Helen Kennedy
Annual meetings: Nassisse Solomon
Panel at Congress: Jill Campbell-Miller 2022 Nassisse Solomon & David Webster afterwards
Community links: Dominique Marshall
Events: Lydia Wytenbroek
Grants, joint research projects: Dominique Marshall
On March 30, Lydia Wytenbroek organised the CNHH sponsored Book Launch for The NGO Moment: The Globalisation of Compassion from Biafra to Live Aid, written by CNHH long-time partner in Ireland, Kevin O-Sullivan, with guest speakers Ruth Compton Brouwer, John W. Foster, Laura Madokoro, and Ian Smillie.
VI. WORK WITH NGOS
Carleton fourth-year student Cailtin Arbour has started an internship with Farm radio International to produce oral histories of the impact of FRI on local communities on Africa, under the supervision of Sylvie Harrison.
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Canadian Network of Humanitarian History’s (CNHH) seventh annual meeting was held virtually through the video conferencing platform Zoom. The virtual format of this year’s meeting resulted in a record high turnout with a number of overseas partners joining the meeting, demonstrating one of the rare benefits of the pandemic.
This was noted during the planning for the Canadian Historical Association’s (CHA) 2022 conference, where the goal is to have an Africa-centred panel as there has never been an area-focused panel focusing on development aid and humanitarianism in Africa. Organizers of the panel are considering the possibility of having a partially virtual format as that would allow for greater participation.
Digital media was central to a lot of the discussions that took place during the meeting. Dominique has recently collaborated with Nicolas Lépine, an Associate Professor of History at Lakehead University on Recipro – a collaborative teaching website, meanwhile, Jill undertook the important role of overhauling and modernizing CNHH’s website, which is currently seeking blog contributions.
In terms of future projects, suggestions for a larger, more comprehensive project that explores the history of Canadian development efforts and a project focusing on visual histories were discussed. Under normal circumstances, CNHH tries to partner with local NGOs from the region where the annual meeting is being held, however, with the current remote environment, any NGOs, regardless of their location, are welcome to collaborate. Sarah Glassford, an archivist at the University of Windsor, talked about the value of establishing connections with NGOs as these connections often become long-term partnerships.
This meeting served as a wonderful example of the ability to productively adapt to the turbulent times we are currently living in. Throughout the discussions taking place at this meeting, CNHH members demonstrated the many ways that our current remote and digital environment has helped to eradicate some barriers to participation and collaboration, bringing the development community closer together.
Anna Kozlova is a PhD Candidate in the Department of History at Carleton University. She was the lead researcher on the MITACS-funded project “Two case studies in the public history of international development policies in Canada: the Lebanese Special Measures Program (1975-1990) and The Life of Lewis Perinbam (1925-2008).”
Workshop Outline – Sixth Annual Meeting & Workshop of the CNHH
June 6, 2019
Buchanan B 141, UBC Campus
The Canadian Network on Humanitarian History (CNHH) will be holding its annual meeting and workshop on June 6, 2019, in Buchanan B 141, between 9:00 am and 12:00 pm. We invite all members of our network to join, either via Skype or in person. It is free to attend, but registration is required. Refreshments will be served.
Call for Papers for the CNHH sessions at the 2019 CHA Congress.
Deadline to submit: October 1.
The CNHH sponsored sessions at the Annual Meeting of the Canadian Historical Association in Vancouver in 2019 will be on Official Development Assistance, especially questions of training and education in the aid field, universities and internationalization, other aspects of settler colonialism and humanitarianism, Canada and international aid organizations, etc.
It is coordinated by David Meren, who is preparing a paper on “‘Development’: Settler Colonialism and the Origins, Life and Demise of the United Nations Regional Training Centre for Technical Assistance at UBC”.
The Canadian Network on Humanitarian History (CNHH) convened its fifth annual workshop during the 2018 Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, hosted by the University of Regina. In attendance were Dominique Marshall, Jill Campbell-Miller, Sonya de Laat, Valérie Gorin, Daniel Manulak, Kiera Mitchell (Technical Assistant), Cyrus Sundar Singh, Yordanos Tesfamariam, Jean-Michel Turcotte, and David Webster. Joining the meeting by Skype were Katie-Marie McNeill, Chris Trainor, and Anne-Emmanuelle Birn.
The Canadian Network on Humanitarian History met for its third annual meeting at Ryerson University on May 29th in the midst of the Congress of Social Sciences and Humanities. Dominique Marshall, Sarah Glassford, Kevin Brushett, Ruth Compton Brouwer, John Gilinsky, Katie-Marie McNeill, Rhonda Gossen, and Sonya de Laat were in attendance and John Foster and Jill Campbell-Miller joined the group via Skype.
