Forty years later: who murdered Spike Dubs?

 For most of us, it is a day of love and togetherness. But Valentine’s Day this year also marks a bleak anniversary in global diplomacy:  a homicide that remains one of the most haunting cold cases of the Cold War. Forty years ago, on February 14, 1979, a seasoned, 58-year-old

History of Medicine and Science

 Wounded British soldiers, 10 April 1918. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.  Felix d’Herelle and the Discovery of Therapeutic Viruses Felix d’Herelle was a Canadian scientist who co-discovered bacteriophages. Bacteriophages are viruses that thrive on and kill disease and infection causing bacteria. Why was phage therapy’s promise never realized in the

Airborne: Vintage Wings of Canada

 Images courtesy of: Peter Handley, Vintage Wings of Canada At Vintage Wings you will find the Michael Potter Collection—the world’s finest and most significant aircraft of the Second World War. The collection is comprised of 16 aircraft, each telling a unique part of our rich aviation heritage. All of the aircraft

World War I Could Easily Have Been Avoided but for Human Folly

 Margaret MacMillan's The War That Ended Peace: The Road to 1914 is  a compelling narrative of the political, cultural and personal forces that shaped Europe’s path to the First World War (1914-1918). Countless volumes have chronicled the political struggles, the diplomatic efforts, the battles and the strategies behind them, the

An Interview with Gen Ray Henault: There’s No Life Like It

 In this three-part series on the state of Canada's military preparedness, Ottawa Life's top writers examine Canada's peacekeeping deployments around the world, capacity and equipment challenges, and pressing infrastructure replacement needs. We begin our series on national defense with the first of three interviews with Gen. Ray Henault, Chief of

Awakening the giant: The return of Poland

 In this issue of Ottawa Life, we begin the first of a two-part series on Poland. That is to say the new Poland – a country with a most intricate history of war and ideological conflict, but also one of sophisticated art and culture. Polish influence extends to Canada and

A vision for Canada’s foreign policy in the next millennium

 By: Lloyd Axworthy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs  Around the turn of the last century, Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier made the bold statement that the 20th Century would belong to Canada. While there are others with greater economic or military assets, in many ways we have achieved Laurier's vision, and become