Best Friends, Whether We Like It or Not: US-Canada Relations and Interactions 1760-Present
This Lifelong Learning class will cover the history of the relationship between the US (or its precursor colonies) and Canada (or its colonial precursor) from the fall of Quebec near the end of the French and Indian War to the present. The impact of each on the other, in terms of flow of people, of trade, of conflict or cooperation, and of cultural interaction will be covered. Perspectives on identities in the 40 years following the Declaration of Independence and a somewhat new take on the War of 1812 will be covered. The shift from cautious friendship after 1870 to the closest of allies today will be addressed, and contemporary relationship challenges related to trade and defense will be analyzed.
Tickets are $25 for members and $35 for nonmembers. To purchase tickets, call 843-723-9912 or click here.
Presenter: Dr. John Scott Cowan, PhD, DMilSc
Principal Emeritus, The Royal Military College of Canada
John Scott Cowan studied physics and then physiology at Toronto. A post-doc at Laval University preceded 24 years at the University of Ottawa as professor, chair of the department of physiology, and then VP. Leaving Ottawa in 1995, he became VP at Queen’s University before becoming principal of the Royal Military College of Canada (1999-2008). RMC is the university of the armed forces in Canada.
He has been President of the Canadian Federation of Biological Societies, the Canadian Physiological Society, and the Canadian Association of University Business Officers. He has also worked extensively in labour relations. A pilot, he has flown about 6000 hours in 64 aircraft types. Research in physiology co-existed with defence issues, starting with a 1963 monograph on defence policy. Since 2001 he has focussed on asymmetric threats, piracy, the characteristics of the profession of arms, and defence education. He was president of the CDA Institute 2008-2012, and chair of the Defence Advisory Board of Canada 2010-2013. In 2