Thomas Eugene Flanagan (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 Rielleader of the 1885 North-West Resistancein 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. Education and teaching Flanagan was born on 5 March 1944 in Ottawa, Illinois, US. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. Studying political science under John Hallowell, Flanagan earned a Master of Arts degree in 1967 and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1970, both at Duke University in North Carolina. He also studied at the Free University of Berlin. Flanagan began teaching at the University of Calgary in 1968 and co-authored an introductory Canadian politics textbook. He served as Head of the Political Science Department and Assistant to the President of the University. Since January 2013 Flanagan was on "research and scholarship leave" and officially retired 30 June 2013. Since the 1970s Tom Flanagan published numerous scholarly studies "debunking the heroism of Métis icon Louis Riel, arguing against native land claims, and calling for an end to aboriginal rights." Flanagan developed his concept of aboriginal orthodoxy in which he argued against aboriginal collective rights. He claimed that section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982, which stated that "The existing aboriginal and treaty rights of the aboriginal peoples of Canada are hereby recognized and affirmed" resulted in thousands of cases involving aboriginal and treaty rights – indeed thousands of cases including residential school claims. Flanagan decried the