department members awarded sshrc grant to explore historic espionage case

a new project being undertaken by dr. michel s. beaulieu (professor of history), dr. david ratz (adjunct professor of history), and dr. kari alenius (professor and head of the history, culture and communications research unit at the university of oulu) have been awarded a sshrc insight development grant.

"the martin incident: espionage, the image of canada, and forgotten lessons" explores an international case of russian espionage in the 1930s. a person using the alias mary martin, holding a fraudulently obtained canadian passport, was arrested along with many of her associates in helsinki, finland on 27 october 1933. it was a case which involved most of the major state security services in north america and europe and uncovered one of the most extensive international spy rings at that time. the project will explore this largely forgotten incident and understand the repercussions it had internationally on not only canada’s role within international security and intelligence but also canada’s role in global affairs.