Series 5 - Professional associations and conferences

This series consists of files on organizations, conferences, symposia and workshops, arranged alphabetically. The most thoroughly documented ones are those in which Professor McLeod was involved in an organizational or executive capacity. The earliest files document his involvement in multicultural issues in Saskatchewan, specifically problems associated with language instruction in French. They contain correspondence, notes, briefs submitted to the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism and to the Saskatchewan Committee on Instruction in Languages other than English, associated
reports, and a seminar on bilingual education (1964-1966). Later, in Ontario, his overlapping duties as chair of the Ontario Multicultural Education Conference Committee (1980-1983) and president of the Canadian Council for Multicultural and Intercultural Education (1981-1985), for example, enabled him to play a central role in organizing the early national conferences on multicultural education. He organized and chaired two colloquiums on “Multiculturalism – Teaching and Learning”, sponsored by FEUT (1990, 1991), and was a co-organizer of the International Colloquium on Ethnicity, Conflict and Cooperation held in Moscow in 1992. McLeod also attended a number of international conferences as a Canadian representative. These include four (1977-1987) world congresses of the Comparative and International Education Association, and the Circumpolar Conference of Indigenous People in Iceland (1993).

McLeod was involved in an executive capacity in many organizations, the files for which contain the correspondence, notes and memoranda, minutes and reports that reveal the extent of his involvement. The principal bodies, for which there is extensive documentation, are the Canadian Association for Second Language Teachers (CASALT), Canadian Ethnic Studies Association (CESA), Canadian Council for Multicultural and Intercultural Education (CCMIE), Canadian History of Education Association (CHEA), Multicultural Health Coalition (MHC), the Multiculturalism and Aging Seniors Coordinating Committee (MASCC), and the Ontario Multicultural Association (OMAMO). He was also frequently asked to advise governments on policy. He gave, for example, evidence to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Multiculturalism and served on the Ontario Advisory Committee on Multiculturalism.