Desmond Morton

Who is Desmond Morton?

Desmond Dillon Paul Morton, OC, FRSC, CD is a Canadian historian who specializes in the history of the Canadian military, as well as the history of Canadian political and industrial relations.

Born in Calgary, Alberta, Morton is the son of a Brigadier General, and the grandson of General Sir William Dillon Otter. He is a graduate of the Collège militaire royal de St-Jean, the Royal Military College of Canada, a Rhodes Scholar, the University of Oxford, and the London School of Economics. He spent ten years in the Canadian Army prior to beginning his teaching career. He was named Honorary Colonel of 8 Wing of the Canadian Air Force at CFB Trenton in 2002. He received the Canadian Forces Decoration in 2004 for 12 years total military service.

Morton is the Hiram Mills professor of History at McGill University, as well as the past director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada, in Montreal, Quebec. As of fall 2011, he continues to serve at McGill as a professor emeritus. Prior to that, he was Principal of Erindale College, University of Toronto, from 1986 to 1994.

Before beginning his teaching career, Morton served as an advisor to Tommy Douglas of the New Democratic Party.