Steven Dieter

• BA Honours (Wilfrid Laurier University)
• BEd (University of Western Ontario) MA (Norwich University)

Steven has been dedicated to serving his community and country by telling the stories of Canadians, especially those who have served, throughout his life as a Public Affairs Officer (PAO) in the Canadian Armed Forces.

In 2002 he was recognized as an Associate Historian by the Canadian Air Force Office of Air Force Heritage and History for his contributions to Canadian military aviation history. In 2008 he was a member of the Royal Canadian Air Force team tasked to work on the Canadian Centennial of Flight project; his work included an article in the Royal Canadian Air Force Journal. He has been published in The Waterloo Record and The Globe and Mail, and Front Line and Air Force magazines, and has been featured in interviews on CTV and CBC National News. He served as a consultant on the 2006 CBC series “The Great War” / “La Grande Guerre.”

It was during this period that he began serving his country as a member of the Canadian Armed Forces, first in the Cadet Instructor Cadre as an Air Force Officer, then as an Infantry Officer serving as Adjutant of the Princess of Wales’ Own Regiment. A transfer to the Public Affairs Branch in 2007 allowed for postings with the Assistant Deputy Minister (Public Affairs), Canadian Forces Health Services Group, Canadian Joint Operations Command, and the Royal Canadian Air Force in Ottawa, as well as the Senior PAO at 8 Wing Canadian Forces Base Trenton, Ontario. He retired in January 2021.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how the relationship between the Canadian and British governments led to a request from the British government to the Canadian government in May 1940 to assume wartime military duties in the Caribbean. While discussions were strictly between Britain and its Dominion, they also directly impacted a third entity: the Caribbean region itself, specifically Bermuda, the Bahamas, and Jamaica, an effect which needs to be examined in context to the British request and the Canadian action in the region. To date, little has been written on Canada’s involvement in the Caribbean during the Second World War, and what has been written has tended to take an anecdotal approach. Using material drawn from military and civilian archives, this work will examine the topic from Canadian, British, and Caribbean perspectives.