Guy Stecklov
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My newest research is funded by a five-year SSHRC grant and explores the role of World War 1 in Canada's demographic development in the first half of the 20th Century. It aims to return war and military service to the forefront of research after decades of neglect. This particular research focuses on understanding how war and serving in the military impacted population processes in Canada in the early 20th Century. We build on newly available full-count census data which is to be linked to military records for over 600,000 Canadian soldiers that served during WW1. The data allow us to follow individuals over time to explore how the war changed demographic patterns in this era both for soldiers that participated and for the rest of the population. Several key questions will be explored including,
1. What role did the war and military service play on Canada's fertility transition?
2. The WW1 play a key role in the transformation of Canada to an urban society?
3. Was the war - and military service more specifically - integral in helping to build a Canadian identity?
4. Did war and military service facilitate immigrant assimilation within Canada in a period of unprecedented migration levels?
I am a quantitative demographer and my research builds on statistical and demographic methods. The ideal applicant will have some training in quantitative methods, but more importantly be keen on learning new methods and approaches for studying social processes.
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