In spite of his busy academic and administrative schedules, Professor Morton has made time for what he termed ‘community service’ activities, usually in the form of committee work. His interests are focussed on educational, historical, military and community matters. Those documented as discrete entities in their own files are described forthwith.
Military interests include membership in the regimental senate of the Fort Garry Horse, the tank regiment that his father had commanded during World War II. In 1992 Dr. Morton became a founding member of the Canadian Battle of Normandy Foundation, established to help commemorate the 50th anniversary of ‘D’ Day. He is also a member of the Canadian Committee for the History of the Second World War,
and has been a member of the Canadian War Museum Advisory Committee of the Canadian Museum of Civilization since 1992.
In 1979 Dr. Morton began delivering a series of lectures at the Canadian Forces (later the Canadian Forces Command and) Staff College in Toronto. One series (given in conjunction chiefly with Jack Granatstein) was on ‘Canada as an Ally’; another, principally with the demographer, David Foot, was on Canada’s labour market. These continued until shortly after Dr. Morton moved to Montreal. In 1982 he started a
lecture series on Quebec-Canada relations and regionalism for the Canadian Forces
Staff School, also in Toronto, which he continued until the Staff College was closed in 1994. Only the correspondence relating to these lectures survives in this series.
Dr. Morton has also been a frequent consultant to the Department of National Defence. He chaired the Department of National Defence’s Advisory Group on Political Activity in Defence Establishments, which produced a report in 1987. From 1991 to 1994 he sat on its Advisory Committee on Social Change in the Canadian Forces. In January of 1997, Douglas Young, the Minister of National Defence, established a committee, the Special Advisory Group of Military Justice and Military Police Investigation Services, to advise the Ministry on the restructuring of the military. This was done in the wake of and a week after he had pulled the plug on the Somalia inquiry. Members of this committee included Dr. Morton, historians Jack Granatstein and David Bercuson, and retired army Lieutenant-Colonel General Charles Belzile. Brian Dickson, former chief justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, headed a separate inquiry into the military justice system. Both groups were to submit their reports by the end of February.
This series contains general correspondence relating to Dr. Morton’s relationship with the Department of National Defence, and correspondence, reports and other material relating to the specific military activities mentioned above. These records are located in B1999-0023, except for the following: DND affairs generally from 1994 on and specifically to the 1997 Special Advisory Group, and the Canadian Committee for the History of the Second World War, which are located in B2000-0010.
The federal government also benefitted from Dr. Morton’s interest and experience in political matters. From 1991 to 1994 he was a member of the management committee of the Cooperative Security Competition Program in the Department of External Affairs and International Trade. In 1992 his vigorous support of the ‘Yes Canada Campaign’ resulted in an extensive file in his papers.
Dr. Morton also maintained an active interest in labour issues. He periodically served as an expert witness in court cases, the affidavits from two of which (from the mid-1980s) are represented in this series. He sat on the board of directors of the Canadian Labour Hall of Fame from 1990 to 1994.
Dr. Morton’s interest in a variety of educational issues is reflected in the number of such organizations that he joined and in his work as a consultant. From 1981 to 1983, he was a member of the History Subject Advisory Group of the Ontario Assessment Instrument Pool. In 1984-1985 he served on the advisory committee to Ontario Commission on Private Schools (the Shapiro Commission). His commitment to public education led, at the end of the 1980s, to his opposition to the Coalition of Free-Standing University-Level Institutions which advocated the establishment of private universities in Ontario (the Ontario Council on University Affairs had released a discussion paper on the issue), in particular the proposed Wolfe University. In 1993 he conducted an appraisal of the Department of History at the University of Western Ontario for the Ontario Council of Graduate Studies. Beginning in 1981, Dr. Morton acted as a consultant to Grolier Ltd., first in relation to their ‘Century of Canada Series’ and then their ‘Focus Series’. In the mid-1980s, he acted as a consultant to Cross Canada Books as it tried to attract American customers. All of these activities are described in this series.
Dr. Morton’s concern for and involvement in community matters is reflected in a wide variety of activities concentrated in the Region of Peel where he lived and worked. He sat on the Peel Cheshire Home, on the Peel Police Community Race Relations Committee (for which he produced a report), was a member of the Peel Literary Guild, and acted as an advisor to Distress Line Peel Inc. He wrote a column in the Mississauga News for several years, and also wrote about local history, as did his wife, Janet. Some of his writings can be found in series 8 and 10; hers are located in series 1