Norman Hillmer
Distinguished Research Professor (History) -international history; Canadian foreign and defence policy; Canada and the United States; British-Canadian relations and the Commonwealth; peace operations and conflict resolution; Canadian politics; political leadership and political culture.
- B.A. (Toronto), M.A. (Toronto), Ph.D. (Cambridge)
- Email Norman Hillmer
Recent Honours and Awards
Slater Family Scholar, Max Bell School of Public Policy, McGill University, January 2025-June 2026
Chancellor’s Professor of History and International Affairs Emeritus, 杏吧原创 University, 2025-
Elected, Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, 2019
Senior Fellow, Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History, University of Toronto, 2019-
Research Achievement Award, 杏吧原创 University, 2017 (for 2018-2019)
Order of Canada, 2016
Charles P. Stacey Prize, 2015-2016
Finalist (for O. D. Skelton: A Portrait of Canadian Ambition): Canada Prize in the Humanities, 2015; Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing, 2016; John W. Dafoe Book Prize, 2016; and Ottawa Book Award, 2016.
William Goodenough Association of Canada (Goodenough College), Benefactors鈥� Award, 2014
Visitor, School of Social Science, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey, 2013
Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, 2012
Select Publications, 2008-2026
鈥淜ing鈥檚 Cautious Transformation,鈥� in Patrice Dutil, ed., The Enduring Riddle of Mackenzie King (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2025), 275-290 [with Stephen Azzi].
鈥淛ohn Skirving Ewart,鈥� in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, 2025, .
鈥淣orman McLeod Rogers,鈥� in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, 2025, [with Stephen Azzi].
鈥淪eeing Stars: Expansionist Jabs Over the Years,鈥� Literary Review of Canada, 33, 5 (June 2025): 17-19.
Editor, Canada Among Nations 2023: Twenty-First Century National Security (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2024) [with Philippe Lagass茅 and Vincent Rigby], xviii, 361.
鈥淐anadian National Security in a Dark Time,鈥� in Twenty-First Century National Security: Canada Among Nations 2023, 1-22 [with Philippe Lagass茅 and Vincent Rigby].
鈥淎lignment Without Illusions: Canada鈥檚 World, 1945-1950,鈥� in Andrew Burtch and Tim Cook, ed., Canada and the Korean War: Histories and Legacies of a Cold War Conflict (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2024), 17-30 [with Hector Mackenzie].
鈥淎fterword,鈥� in Asa McKercher and Michael D. Stevenson, ed., North of America: Canadians and the American Century, 1945-60 (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2023), 341-343.
鈥淐anada鈥檚 Diplomatic Autobiographers and the Burden of History, 1928-1984,鈥� in Greg Donaghy and P. Whitney Lackenbauer, eds., People, Politics, and Purpose: Biography and Canadian Political History (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2023), 26-47 [with Robert Bothwell].
鈥淭he Presidents and the Polls: An Inquiry into Canadian Anti-Americanism, 1963-2021,鈥� American Review of Canadian Studies, 52, 4 (2022), 381-401 [with Stephen Azzi].
鈥淩anking Prime Ministers: Canada in a Commonwealth Context,鈥� Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 49, 1 (2021), 22鈥�43 [with Stephen Azzi].
“Growing Up Autonomous: Canada and Britain through the First World War and into the Peace,鈥� in Tim Cook and J. L. Granatstein, eds., Canada 1919: A Country Shaped By War (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2020), 234-47.
鈥淐elebrating Greg Donaghy,鈥� International Journal, 75, 4 (2020), 464-470 [with Robert Bothwell and John English].
Editor, Justin Trudeau and Canadian Foreign Policy: Canada Among Nations 2017 (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018), xv, 310 [with Philippe Lagass茅].
鈥淭he Age of Trudeau and Trump,鈥� in Justin Trudeau and Canadian Foreign Policy, 1-16 [with Philippe Lagass茅].
鈥淒ifferent Leader, Different Paths: Diefenbaker and the British, 1957-1963,鈥� in Janice Cavell and Ryan M. Touhey, eds., Reassessing the Rogue Tory: Canadian Foreign Relations in the Diefenbaker Era (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2018), 45-64.
鈥淧earson and Environmental Diplomacy,鈥� in Asa McKercher and Galen Roger Perras, eds., Mike鈥檚 World: Lester B. Pearson and Canadian External Affairs (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2017), 320-41 [with Daniel Macfarlane and Michael W. Manulak].
鈥淚ntolerant Allies: Canada and the George W. Bush Administration, 2001-2005,鈥� Diplomacy & Statecraft, 27, 4 (2016), 726-45 [with Stephen Azzi].
鈥淭he Prime Minister of the Few,鈥� in Adam Chapnick and Christopher Kukucha, eds., The Harper Era in Canadian Foreign Policy: Parliament, Politics, and Canada鈥檚 Global Posture (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2016), 258-68.
鈥淧arliament Will Decide: An Interplay of Politics and Principle,鈥� International Journal, 71, 2 (2016), 328鈥�37 [with Philippe Lagass茅].
O. D. Skelton: A Portrait of Canadian Ambition (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2015), xii, 424.
Editor, O. D. Skelton: The Work of the World, 1923-1941 (Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen鈥檚 University Press and The Champlain Society; both editions, 2013), xx, 55 page introduction, 517 pp.
鈥淓valuating Prime Ministerial Leadership in Canada: The Results of an Expert Survey,鈥� Canadian Political Science Review, 7, 1 (2013), 13-23 [with Stephen Azzi].
鈥淓valuating Prime-Ministerial Performance: The Canadian Experience鈥�, in Paul Strangio, Paul 鈥榯 Hart, and James Walter, eds., Understanding Prime-Ministerial Performance: Comparative Perspectives (London: Oxford University Press, 2012), 242-63 [with Stephen Azzi].
鈥淣ational Independence and the National Interest: O. D. Skelton鈥檚 Department of External Affairs in the 1920s,鈥� in Greg Donaghy and Michael K. Carroll, eds., In the National Interest: Canadian Foreign Policy and the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, 1909-2009 (Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 2011), 11-26.
鈥淭he Canadian War Museum and the Military Identity of an Unmilitary People,鈥� Canadian Military History, XIX, 3 (Summer 2010), 19-26.
鈥淥. D. Skelton: Innovating for Independence,鈥� in Greg Donaghy and Kim Richard Nossal, eds., Architects and Innovators: Building the Department of External Affairs and International Trade, 1909-2009/ Le d茅veloppement du minist猫re des Affaires 茅trang猫res et du Commerce international, de 1909 脿 2009 (Montreal and Kingston: School of Policy Studies, Queen鈥檚 University/ McGill-Queen鈥檚 University Press, 2009), 59-73.
Canada鈥檚 International Policies: Agendas, Alternatives, and Politics (Don Mills, Ontario: Oxford University Press, 2008) [with Brian W. Tomlin and Fen Osler Hampson], vi, 432.
Completed Graduate Supervisions, 2012-2026
Giordano Ravalico, 鈥淭he Rise and Fall of the Mish-Kids: Pacific War, Cold War, and the Making of Canada鈥檚 Far Eastern Diplomats, 1940-1956,鈥� M. A. Thesis, History, 2026.
Nicholas Benjamin Langer, 鈥淨ueen of Canada: The Emergence of a Post-Imperial Monarchy, 1951-1953,鈥� M. A. Thesis, History, 2026.
Bryanna Busby, 鈥溾�楩rom Royal Roots鈥� to 鈥楾his Great Canada of Ours鈥�: The Advertisements of Henry Birks and Sons, 1920-1967,鈥� M. A. Thesis, History, 2026.
Kieran Alen Yazar McClelland, 鈥淭hird Place in the Space Race: Securitizing Rhetoric, the Logic of Threat, and the Securitization of the Canadian Civil Space Program,鈥� Ph.D., Political Science, 2024 (Dissertation Committee).
Glenn Philip, 鈥淎toms for Peace: Canada, India, and the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy, 1953-1956,鈥� M. A. Research Essay, History 2024.
Ren茅e Lauzon-Cherniak, 鈥溾�業f I Had Thousands of Victoria Crosses鈥�: Stretcher Bearer Training in the Canadian Army Medical Corps in the First World War,鈥� M. A. Thesis, History, 2024.
Sarah Catherine Catterall, 鈥淭he Kandahar Cenotaph, Commemoration, and the Politics of Place,鈥� M. A. Research Essay, History, 2022.
Ann Walton, 鈥淎 Family Home for Toronto鈥檚 Aged Poor: The Social Service Mission of Strachan House, 1925-1958,鈥� Ph.D., History, 2022.
Christian McGregor, 鈥溾�楩or Good or for Evil鈥�: The Early Atomic Age in 惭补肠濒别补苍鈥檚, Saturday Night, Life, and The Saturday Evening Post, 1945-1950,鈥� M. A. Thesis, History, 2022.
Susan R. Hagborg Wildey, 鈥淭he South African Information Service and English-Canadian Journalism, 1949-1960,” M. A. Thesis, History, 2021.
Michael Cesare Chiarello, 鈥淭he Course and Canon of Left Nationalism in English Canada, 1968-1979,鈥� Ph.D., History, 2020.
Camus Clowater-Eriksson, 鈥淚ntegration: Women in the Canadian Air Force, An Audio Documentary,鈥� M. A. Research Essay, History, 2020.
Nancy Carvell, 鈥淎 People Apart: New Brunswick Acadians, Conscription, and the Second World War,鈥� M. A. Thesis, History, 2019.
Angus McCabe, 鈥淐anada鈥檚 Response to the 1968 Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia: An Assessment of the Trudeau Government鈥檚 First International Crisis,鈥� M. A. Thesis, History, 2019.
Philip Michael Lamancusa, 鈥淭he Canadian War Museum鈥檚 1812: A Question of Perspective,鈥� M. A. Thesis, History, 2019.
Ian Wereley, 鈥淚magining the Age of Oil: Case Studies in British Petrocultures, 1865-1935,鈥� Ph.D., History, 2018 (Dissertation Committee).
Claude LeBlanc, 鈥淢aurice A. Pope: A Study in Military Leadership,鈥� Ph.D., War Studies, The Royal Military College of Canada, 2018.
Mallory Pierce, 鈥淲hat a Country!鈥�: English-Canadian Newspapers, Humanitarian Exceptionalism, and the Hungarian Revolution of 1956,鈥� M. A. Research Essay, History, 2018.
Karly Deanna Hurlock, 鈥淔or Peaceful Purposes: Indo-Canadian Relations, Development Assistance, and the Bomb in the 1970s,鈥� M. A. Research Essay, History, 2018.
Larysa Lubka-Lewyckyj, 鈥淎 Delicate Balance (Although Not Always): 惭补肠濒别补苍鈥檚 Views the United States, 1958-1963,鈥� M. A. Research Essay, History, 2018.
Sarah Hogenbirk, 鈥淲omen Inside the Canadian Military, 1938-1966,鈥� Ph.D., History, 2017
Nicole Marion, 鈥淐anada鈥檚 Disarmers: The Complicated Struggle Against Nuclear Weapons, 1959-1963,鈥� Ph.D., History, 2017.
Kurtis W. Montgomery, 鈥�Saturday Night and the New Yorking of Toronto in 1897,鈥� M. A. Research Essay, History, 2017.
Ian Leonard Weatherall, 鈥淐anada鈥檚 Defence Policies, 1987-1993: NATO, Operational Viability, and the Good Ally,鈥� M. A. Thesis, History, 2017.
Alan J. Stephenson, 鈥淐anadian National Security Culture: Explaining Post 9/11 Canadian National Security Policy Outcomes,鈥� Ph.D., Political Science, 2016 (Dissertation Committee).
John Valentine, 鈥淔ootball, Nationalism, and Protectionism: The Federal Defence of the Canadian Football League,鈥� Ph.D., Canadian Studies, 2016 (Dissertation Committee).
Paige Mcdonald, 鈥淚f Japan Should Attack: Perceptions of Fear and Threat in British Columbia鈥檚 Newspapers, 1941-1943,鈥� M. A. Thesis, History, 2016.
Andrew Sopko, 鈥淎n (Im)Balance of Expectations: Civil Defence in Ottawa, 1951-1962.鈥� M. A. Thesis, History, 2015.
Richard Newport, 鈥淭he Outsider: Elizabeth P. MacCallum, the Canadian Department of External Affairs, and the Palestine Mandate to 1947,鈥� Ph.D., History, 2014.
Meghan Stewart, 鈥淧eacekeeping and the Canadian War Museum: Complexity, Controversy, and Challenging Mythology,鈥� M. A. Research Essay, History, 2014.
Sarah Dougherty, 鈥淓stablishing Meaning: The Founding Stories of the Stratford Shakespearean Festival,鈥� M. A. Research Essay, History, 2014.
David Tough, 鈥淭he Rhetoric of Dominion Income Taxation and the Modern Political Imaginary in Canada, 1910-1945,鈥� Ph.D., History, 2013 (Dissertation Committee).
Anthony P. Michel, 鈥淭he Nile Voyageurs: Recognizing Canada鈥檚 Role in the Empire, 1884-1885,鈥� Ph.D., History, 2012.
Michel Legault, 鈥淟owered, Shipped, and Fastened: Private Grief and the Public Sphere in Canada鈥檚 Afghanistan War,鈥� M. A. Thesis, History, 2012.
Malcolm E. O. Ferguson, 鈥淐anada鈥檚 Response: The Making and Remaking of the Canadian War Memorial,鈥� M. A. Thesis, History, 2012.