Dr. Tyler Wentzell
Department of Defence Studies
Contact
Email
Fax: 416-482-6802
Address: Canadian Forces College
215 Yonge Blvd
Toronto ON M5M 3H9
Areas of Interest
- Land Power Theory and Practice;
- Transnational extremism and foreign fighters;
- Law of Armed Conflict;
- Intelligence and national security;
- International Criminal Law;
- Domestic use of armed forces;
- Indigenous–state relations;
- Military history in general, with a particular emphasis on Canada’s armed forces in the Mediterranean and Pacific Theatres during the Second World War, and the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War.
Educational and Professional Background
Dr. Tyler Wentzell holds a bachelor’s degree in history and a master’s degree in war studies from the Royal Military College of Canada. He completed his JD (law degree) and SJD (doctoral degree in law) at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. He is a licensed barrister and solicitor in the province of Ontario and a fellow of the Royal Historical Society. He was awarded the George P. Vanier Doctoral Fellowship, the R. Roy McMurtry Fellowship in Canadian Legal History, and the Nathan Strauss Q.C. Graduate Fellowship in Canadian Constitutional Law. Dr. Wentzell came to the Canadian Forces College in 2018 as a military member and received an appointment as an assistant professor in 2026.
Dr. Wentzell is the author of two books on the international communist movement and Soviet influence operations during the Great Depression: Not for King or Country: Edward Cecil-Smith, the Communist Party of Canada and the Spanish Civil War (University of Toronto Press, 2020) and the forthcoming Comrades and Scoundrels: William Krehm and the League for a Revolutionary Workers’ Party (University of Toronto Press, 2027). His work has been published in The Globe and Mail, The Walrus, and The Literary Review of Canada, and peer-reviewed journals such as Labour/Le Travail, Criminal Law Quarterly, Canadian Military History and Canadian Jewish Studies. For lists of publications, view his profile at ResearchGate or Google Scholar.
Dr. Wentzell has been an infantry officer in the Canadian Armed Forces since 2002. He commissioned into the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry in 2006 and deployed to Afghanistan as an Operational Mentoring and Liaison Team leader with the Afghan National Army in 2008. In 2011, he transferred to the Army Reserve. He is currently the commanding officer of the 48th Highlanders of Canada in Toronto. He has completed the Joint Command and Staff Programme (Distance Learning); Information Operations, Chemical Biological Radiological and Nuclear Defence Officer, and Basic Parachutist courses.
Current Research and Projects
Dr. Wentzell’s research examines the relationship between military institutions, state formation, law, and political violence in Canadian and transnational contexts. He is currently transforming his doctoral dissertation regarding the military’s role in Canadian state formation into a monograph. Other book projects include research into Canadian military personnel’s involvement in prosecuting war crimes, and a biography of Ian Johnston, a Canadian battalion and brigade commander in the Italian Campaign and the Liberation of the Netherlands.
Dr. Wentzell is also working on several projects regarding the history of Indigenous–state relations in his capacity as an expert witness for ongoing litigation in Alberta, Ontario, and the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.
Dr. Wentzell has a strong interest in case studies as a teaching tool and is in the process of developing several Ivey School of Business-style case studies for instruction at the Canadian Forces College.
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