The formalisation of African Studies in Canada began in December 1962 when a Committee on African Studies in Canada was formed. The Committee was established with the encouragement of the Social Science Research Council and the Overseas Institute of Canada. At the initial meeting the Committee stated its purposes to be: the promotion of African studies in Canada, the creation of a national organisation for scholars interested in Africa in Canadian universities, the representation of Canada at the International Congress of Africanists and the publication of a newsletter. The first president was Professor Ronald Cohen of McGill University.
The first newsletter was published in November 1963 as The Bulletin of African Studies in Canada. Three volumes, each of two issues, were published, the last in May of 1966.