Waterloo/St. Catherines - The Laurier Centre for Military Strategic and Disarmament Studies (LCMSDS), together with the Lincoln and Welland Regiment and the history departments at Brock University and the University of Waterloo, are hosting the third annual symposium on “Niagara's Military Past & Present.” The symposium takes place November 6 and 7 at the historic Lake Street Armouries, 81 Lake St., St. Catharines, Ontario.

Terry Copp, Laurier professor emeritus and director of LCMSDS, will deliver the keynote address, titled: “The Last Great Battle: The Canadians in the Rhineland, February – March 1945,” November 6 at 7:30 p.m.

Copp is considered Canada’s leading historian of the Second World War and is well-known for his books Fields of Fire (2003) and Cinderella Army (2006), which detail the First Canadian Army’s role in the liberation of Northwest Europe in 1944-45. Copp is also a regular columnist in Legion Magazine and the co-author of several battlefield guides of Northwest Europe.

On November 7, from 9 a.m. to 10:45 a.m., the symposium will examine Niagara’s early military roots. David Schimmelpenninck van der Oye, a historian at Brock University, will talk about “Robert Rogers: The Original Ranger.” Those interested in the upcoming bicentennial of the War of 1812 will enjoy Heather Moran’s “digital” tour of the battlefields, while author James Elliott will discuss the subject of his new book: Strange Fatality: The Battle of Stoney Creek, 1813.

From 11 a.m. to 12:45 p.m., James Wood from the University of Victoria will explore the long-standing militia links between Canada and the United States, and Mike Bechthold, communications director for LCSMDS, will focus on an important but lesser known battle of the First World War: the battle of Fresnoy. Elizabeth Vlossak of Brock University will explain why the treaties that ended the First World War haunt us still.

From 1:45 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Geoffrey Hayes from the University of Waterloo will explore the fourth generation of the Lincoln and Welland Regiment, which fought through the Rhineland and into Germany in 1945. Following him, from 2:30 p.m. to 3:15 p.m., Lee Windsor from the University of New Brunswick, and author of Kandahar Tour (2008), will discuss current Canadian deployments in southern Afghanistan.

All events are free and open to the public.