Tom Flanagan

Abstract is: Thomas Eugene Flanagan CM FRSC (born 5 March 1944) is an American-born Canadian author, conservative political activist, and former political science professor at the University of Calgary. He also served as an advisor to Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper until 2004. Flanagan has focused on challenging certain historical interpretations of Native and Métis history. In connection with his multi-year research and publications on Louis Riel, Flanagan published a reinterpretation of the North-West Rebellion, defending the federal government's response to Métis land claims. He began publishing works on Riel—leader of the 1885 North-West Resistance—in the 1970s, which evolved into a multi-year 'Louis Riel Project' that he coordinated. During the 2012 provincial elections he served as the campaign manager of the Wildrose Party, an Alberta libertarian/conservative provincial party. As part of his political activism, Flanagan began to write as a columnist in 1997 in The Globe and Mail, National Post, Calgary Herald, Ottawa Citizen, Maclean's, and Time. He regularly made appearances on Canadian television and radio as a commentator until January 2013, when he began a "research and scholarship leave" from the University of Calgary prior to his retirement.