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Ontario Tech acknowledges the lands and people of the Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation.

We are thankful to be welcome on these lands in friendship. The lands we are situated on are covered by the Williams Treaties and are the traditional territory of the Mississaugas, a branch of the greater Anishinaabeg Nation, including Algonquin, Ojibway, Odawa and Pottawatomi. These lands remain home to many Indigenous nations and peoples.

We acknowledge this land out of respect for the Indigenous nations who have cared for Turtle Island, also called North America, from before the arrival of settler peoples until this day. Most importantly, we acknowledge that the history of these lands has been tainted by poor treatment and a lack of friendship with the First Nations who call them home.

This history is something we are all affected by because we are all treaty people in Canada. We all have a shared history to reflect on, and each of us is affected by this history in different ways. Our past defines our present, but if we move forward as friends and allies, then it does not have to define our future.

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Dennis Molinaro

Dennis Molinaro
PhD

Academic Associate

Legal Studies
Faculty of Social Science and Humanities

Dr. Molinaro's research is focused on counter-intelligence, foreign interference, the history of intelligence and the use of emergency powers in peacetime.

Languages
English

Contact expert

Dennis is available for:
  • Media inquiries
  • Partnerships

dennis.molinaro@ontariotechu.ca

dennismolinaro.ca/

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Areas of expertise


  • BA - History Trent Univeristy 2003-2007
  • MA - History Queen's University 2007-2008
  • PhD - Canadian History, Intelligence and International Relations, North American Migration University of Toronto 2008-2015
  • The Bridge in Parks: The Five Eyes and Cold War Counter-Intelligence. University of Toronto Press, 2021 (ASPP funded).

  • An Exceptional Law: Section 98 and the Rise of the Emergency State, 1919-1936. Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History and the University of Toronto Press, 2017 (SSHRC and ASPP Funded). Ranked number 3 on The Hill Times 100 Best Books of 2017

  • Deportation of Immigrants and Ethnics in Canadian History Booklet. Commissioned by the Canadian Historical Association as part of the “Immigration and Ethnicity in Canada/l’immigration et l’ethnicité au Canada” booklet series. Fall/Winter 2018.
  • “In the Field of Espionage There’s No Such Thing As Peacetime, The Official Secrets Act and the PICNIC Wiretapping Program.” Canadian Historical Review 98 3 (September 2017).

  • “How the Cold War Began…With British Help: The Gouzenko Affair Revisited.” Labour/Le Travail. Volume 79 (Spring 2017).

  • “Citizens of the World: Law, Deportation and the Homo Sacer,1932-1934,” Canadian Ethnic Studies 47 3 (2015)143- 62.

  • “Annihilation Without Representation: Canada, Cuba and the use of Intelligence in the Cuban Missile Crisis.” Polymath: An International Arts and Sciences Journal 4 4 (Fall 2014).

  • “‘A Species of Treason?’ Deportation and Nation-Building: The Case of Tomo Čačić 1929-1934.” Canadian Historical Review 91 1 (March 2010): 61-85.
  • “Section 98: The Trial of Rex v. Buck et al and the ‘State of Exception’ in Canada, 1919-1936.” In Wright, Barry, Susan Binnie, Eric Tucker eds. Canadian State Trials Volume 4. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2015.

  • “Calculated Diplomacy: John Diefenbaker and the Origins of Canada’s Cuba Policy.” In Wright, Robert and Lana Wylie eds. Our Place in the Sun: Canada and Cuba in the Castro Era. eds. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2009.
  • “My Life as a Spy: Investigations in a Secret Police File (review),” Surveillance & Society, (Fall 2018).

  • “A Place in the Sun: Haiti, Haitians and the Remaking of Quebec (review),” Labour/Le Travail 80 (Fall 2017).

  • “Jobs and Justice: Fighting Discrimination in Wartime Canada (review),” Canadian Ethnic Studies, Volume 48 1 (2016).

  • “The Italians Who Built Toronto: Italian Workers and Contractors in the City’s Housebuilding Industry, 1950-1980 (review).” Labour/Le Travail (Spring 2016).

  • “Secret Service: Political Policing in Canada from the Fenians to Fortress America(review).” Canadian Historical Review. Volume 94 1 (March 2013): 161-163.

  • “Re-imagining Ukrainian Canadians: History, Politics and Identity (review).” Canadian Historical Review 93 2 (2012): 332-334.
  • LR Wilson Institute for Canadian History Post-Doctoral Fellowship. McMaster University, 2018.

  • Roy McMurtry Fellowship. Awarded by the Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History 2017-1018.

  • Symons Award for Canadian Studies (2017)

  • Award to Scholarly Publications Program (ASPP) for An Exceptional Law: Section 98 and the Emergency State, 1919-1936.

  • Peter Oliver Award for “Section 98: The Trial of Rex v. Buck et al and the ‘State of Exception’ in Canada, 1919-1936. Awarded by the Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History. 2016.

  • Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS) 2013-2014

  • Margaret S. McCullough Scholarship in Canadian Historical Research, 2013

  • Jeanne Armour Scholarship 2011-2013

  • University of Toronto Fellowship 2010-2012

  • Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS Doctoral Scholarship 2008-2011

  • University of Toronto Coburn Graduate Student Admissions Award 2008

  • Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS) 2007-2008

  • Queen’s Graduate Scholarship 2007

  • Quaker Scholarship, Trent University 2007
  • Modern espionage

  • Human rights law

  • Foundations of legal studies

  • Sociology of law

  • Legal research methods

  • Integrating project