African studies in Canada are still relatively in their early stages, but university interest in the African continent is being developed by three types of approach: by the Comnnittee on International Studies of the National Conference of Canadian Universities and Colleges (an organization of university administrations), by the Committee on African Studies in Canada (an association of scholars and students, assisted by the Humanities Research and Social Science Research Councils of Canada), and by the efforts of individual universities across the dominion.

The earliest coordinated effort was that of the Committee on African Studies in Canada, which was formed by some ten scholars from seven universities, meeting informally in Montreal in December 1962. A semiannual Bulletin, appearing simultaneously in French and English, business and academic meetings in June of each year, and affiliation, with assistance, to the research councils, were agreed upon. Dr. Ronald Cohen, then at McGill University, and Dr. Donald C. Savage of Loyola College were elected chairman and secretary-treasurer respectively. In 1963, Dr. Donald L. Wiedner, then of the University of Alberta at Edmonton, succeeded to the chair for two years and, with the help of that university and the councils, edited the Bulletin throughout that time. In 1964, Professeur Bernard Charles (Université de Montréal), M. Louis Bérubé (Collège Sainte-Marie), and Dr. E. Palmer Patterson (University of Waterloo) were added as vice-chairman, secretary, and treasurer respectively.