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• PhD., Wilfrid Laurier University 

• Canadian
• Settler-Indigenous Relations
• Military
• Race
• New Zealand

Current Research Projects

I have two research projects currently underway. The first is the culmination of almost two decades of research and publication on the subject of Indigenous people and the Second World War. I am currently working on a monograph in collaboration with Dr. Noah Riseman (Australian Catholic University, Melbourne): a major transnational / comparative study of Indigenous peoples’ participation in, and experience of, the Second World War in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States. This monograph is nearing completion as of 2016.

My second research project has just begun to gain momentum over the last three years, and is focussed on the experience of the Second World War in British Columbia. I have hired a number of student research assistants over the last few years to help digitise and produce a subject index for a number of community newspapers from around the province. My long term plan is to cast a wide research net. Though the proposed outcomes are still in flux, at this point I intend two monographs: one a narrative study of the war’s impact on BC for a popular audience, and the second, an academic exploration of British Columbians’ experiences of the conflict and the roles of different types of communities in mediating those experiences. The first output from this work will be an article prepared for publication with a former student, Kelsey Schmidt, in 2016.  She worked as a research assistant and produced a directed studies paper based on her work in the digitised newspapers of Chilliwack, Mission and Abbottsford. I also anticipate additional possibilities for journal articles on certain case studies. There will also be ample room for student involvement: either working in the materials I collect on their own research projects, or working as research assistants with me in the years to come.

In Progress:

• Indigenous Peoples and the Second World War in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States. With Noah Risemane. 

Monographs:

• “The Red Man’s On the Warpath”: The Image of the ‘Indian’ and the Second World War. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2004.
• Aboriginal Peoples in the Canadian Military. Ottawa: Department of National Defence, 2010. (P. Whitney Lackenbauer and R. Scott Sheffield, with John Moses and Maxime Gohier) 176 pp.

Edited Books:

• Aboriginal Peoples and the Military: Canadian and International Perspectives, eds., P. Whitney Lackenbauer, R. Scott Sheffield and Craig Mantle, Kingston: CDI Press, 2007.

Publications / Reports for Government or other Agencies:

• A Search for Equity: A Study of the Treatment Accorded to First Nations Veterans and Dependents of the Second World War and the Korean Conflict. The Final Report of the National Round Table on First Nations Veterans' Issues. Ottawa: Assembly of First Nations, May 2001. xv, 64 pages. (Released in French as, En quête d'équité : étude sur le traitement réservé aux anciens combattants des Premières Nations ayant combattu pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale et la guerre de Corée, ainsi qu'aux personnes à leur charge. Par R. Scott Sheffield. Ottawa: Assemblée des Premières Nations, 2001. xv, 64 pages.)
• Canada’s Veterans’ Charter and Métis Veterans of the Second World War and Korea. Winnipeg: Métis National Council, 2012, 61 pages.

Articles in Refereed Journals and Peer-Reviewed Collections:

• "Canadian First Nations and the British Connection during the Second World War," invited chapter submission of Fighting with the Empire: Canada, Britain and Gloabl Conflict, 1867-1947, Steven Marti and Tyler Turek, eds. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, anticipated release in 2016.
• "Veterens' Benefits and indigenous Veterens of the Second World War in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States," invited contribution to special edition of Wicaso Sa Review, publication pending. 
• "Indigenous Exceptionalism Under Fire: Assessing Indigenous Soldiers and Combat during the Second World War." Invited submission to be translated into French for a special issue Recherches amérindiennes au Québec, publication pending in 2014.
• "Fighting a White Man’s War? First Nations Participation in the Canadian War Effort, 1939-1945," invited chapter in Canada and the Second World War, Geoffrey Hays, Michael Bechthold and Matt Symes, eds. Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2012.
• "Rehabilitating the Indigene: Post-war Reconstruction and the Image of the Indigenous Other in Anglo-Canada and New Zealand, 1943-48," in, Rediscovering the British World. Phillip Buckner and R. Douglas Francis, eds.  University of Calgary Press, 2005.
• "Aboriginal Contributions to Canadian Culture and Identity in Wartime: English-Canada’s Image of the ‘Indian’ and the Fall of France," invited submission to, Hidden in Plain Sight: Contributions of Aboriginal Peoples to Canadian Identity and Culture, Vol. 1. David Newhouse, Cora Voyageur and Daniel Beavon, eds. Toronto:  University of Toronto Press, 2005.
• "Fighting the King’s War: Harris Smallfence, Verbal Treaty Promises and the Conscription of Indian Men, 1944," University of British Columbia Law Review. Vol. 33, no. 1 (August 1999): 53-74. Co-authored with Hamar Foster. 

Articles in Other Publications:

• “Enemy Aliens” and “Conchies”: Perceptions of the “Un-British” in the Fraser Valley, 1939-1945,” accepted pending revisions, BC Studies, R Scott Sheffield and Kelsey Siemens.

• "Aboriginal Peoples and the World Wars," The Canadian Encyclopedia, March 2016.
• "Indifference, Difference and Assimilation: Aboriginal People in Canadian Military Practice, 1900-45," in Aboriginal People and the Canadian Military: Historical Perspectives, eds. Craig Mantle and Whitney Lackenbauer. Kingston: CDI Press 2007.
• "Moving Beyond Forgotten: The Historiography of Native Peoples in the World Wars," Co-authored with Whitney Lackenbauer, in Aboriginal People and the Canadian Military: Historical Perspectives, eds. Craig Mantle and Whitney Lackenbauer. Kingston: CDI Press, 2007.
• "Canadian Aboriginal Veterans and the Veterans’ Charter After the Second World War," in Aboriginal Peoples and Military Service: Canadian and International Perspectives, eds. Whitney Lackenbauer, R. Scott Sheffield and Craig Mantle. Kingston: CDI Press 2007.
• "Reconstructing the ‘Indian’: The Second World War, Reconstruction and the Image of the ‘Indian’ in English-Canada, 1943-45," Canadian Military History Since the 17^th Century: Proceedings of the Canadian Military History Conference.  Ottawa: National Defence, 2001: 523-532.
• "Of Pure European Descent and of the White Race”: Recruitment Policy and Aboriginal Canadians, 1939-1945," Canadian Military History.  Vol 5, no. 1 (Spring 1996): 8-15.

Reviews:

• Beyond the Imperial Frontier: The Contest for Colonial New Zealand. Vincent O'LMalley. Wellington: Bridget Williams Books, 2014. For the Journal of Pacific History. Publication pending in 2016. 
• Quebec Hydropolitics: The Peribonka Concessions of the Second World War. David Massell. Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2011. For the Native Studies Review. Publication pending. 
• French and Indians int he Heart of North America, 1630-1815. Eds. Robert Englebert and Guillaume Teasdale. East Lansing & Winnipeg: Michigan State and University of Manitoba Press, 2013. For the University of Toronto Quarterly, Vol. 84, no 3 (Summer 2015).
• For King and Kanata: Canadian Indians and the First World War, Timothy Winegard, Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 2012 for Canadian Historical Review, publication pending.
• Landscapes and Social Transformations on the Northwest Coast: Colonial Encounters in the Fraser Valley.  Jeff Oliver. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2010. For BC Studies, publication pending.
• Fort Chipewyan and the Shaping of Canadian History, 1788-1920s: "We Like to be free in this country," Patricia A. McCormack, Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2010.  For University of Toronto Quarterly, publication pending.
• Seeing Red: A History of Natives in Canadian Newspapers.  Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 2011. For Pacific Historical Review. Vol. 82, No. 1 (2013): 141-142
• "Great War, Great Warriors? A Review of For King and Kanata: Canadian Indians and the First World War," Literary Review of Canada.  Vol. 20, No. 4 (May 2012): 26-27. 
• Blood Brothers: The ANZAC. Jeff Hopkins-Weise. Auckland, Penguin Books (NZ), and co-published Adelaide, Wakefield Press, 2009. Journal of Pacific History, 45, 1 (June 2010).
• Walking a Tight Rope: Aboriginal People and their Representations. Waterloo, Ont.: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2005, H-Net Review, Spring 2007.  R. Scott Sheffield. "Review of Ute Lischke and David T. McNab, eds, Walking a Tightrope: Aboriginal Peoples and Their Representations," H-Canada, H-Net Reviews, July, 2007. For full details click here. 
• Tecumseh’s Bones, Guy St-Denis.  Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2005. Journal of Historical Biography, 2006
• Canada and the First World War: Essays in Honour of Robert Craig Brown, Ed. David  Mackenzie.  International Journal.  LXII, 1 (Winter 2006-2007): 200-02.
• Battle Lines: Eyewitness Accounts from Canada’s Military History.  Eds. J.L. Granatstein and Norman Hillmer.  International Journal. LXI:1 (Winter 2005-2006): 260-61.
• James Dempsey, Warriors of the King: Prairie Indians in World War I,  University of Toronto Quarterly. 71:1 (Winter 2001/2002), “Letters in Canada 2000."
• Contributing Reviewer, Canadian Military History, 1995-1998.

Interviews:

• Interview on the Second World War in BC for a Knowledge Network documentary entitled, British Columbia – A History, (Vancouver: 1871 Productions). (2020)
• Interview on Indigenous military service for documentary series, ’39-‘45: on Canadian soil, (Montreal: Notre compagnie de production). (2020)