The series consist of photographs of the Canadian Unity Council, documenting its activities, programs, and events. The series includes photographic records of the Council's annual general meetings held between 1972 and 1988 in various Canadian cities. It includes 14 matted black and white portraits of the Chairmen of the Board, 1969-1990, and some photographs of board meetings. For the first Quebec referendum in October, 1980, there are photographs taken at the 1977 Quebec symposium resulting in the formation of the Canada-Quebec Pre-Referendum Committee. There are also images of student audiences, panel members and speaker Claude Ryan at McGill University during Semaine du Non. There are also images related to The Power and the People, a series of one-hour television specials on the Constitution aired across Canada in 1981 and images from Educated Guess, a Canadian television quiz show developed and created by CFTO-TV in Toronto. The series also includes photographs from a variety of individual events including a ceremony for Hartland MacDougall at the Beaver Club in the Queen Elizabeth Hotel, Montreal; a roast for Alan Eagleson; a cocktail fund-raising benefit at La Citadelle in Quebec; and members of a Grey Cup Committee with musicians and "Klondikettes" in costume.
The series includes photographs of Canada Week and Canada Day activities across the country. These includes images of Canadiana products such as Canadian flags and pins, stickers, items of clothing, bags and jewelry incorporating images of the maple leaf, the Canadian flag and the Council's logos. Under the Canadiana program, these items were offered to businesses and other organizations for display as part of Canada Day celebrations. A number of Canada Week photographs are related to two children's drawing contests, Dessin ou raconte-nous ton Canada held in Montreal in 1981 and What Canada Means To Me held at Harbourfront in Toronto in 1982. Other Canada Week activities which were recorded include community gatherings, charity events, sporting events, parades and theatrical, musical and dance company performances. There are also images of Canada Day volunteers and well-known personalities taking part in festivities. The Council selected photographs for inclusion in its annual reports starting in 1975. Subjects include a televised panel discussion, a radio interview, Canada Week activities, Council members and youth program participants at the Terry Fox Canadian Youth Centre, speeches and meetings. Included among these are a collection of images of persons and subjects having Canadian historical significance which were obtained from the Public Archives of Canada and from CP Picture Service in Toronto. Several of these images are identified as having been used by John Fisher (known as "Mr. Canada") as part of a series of vignettes known as Canada Columns, which related facts and incidents in Canadian History and were distributed to all English and French-language daily newspapers across the country and to corporate members of the Council for use in company publications. There are also slides reproducing some of these images that were probably intended for use in presentations by John Fisher.
The series also holds photographs of the Council's youth programs, including an album of photos of Educanada participants (1975) and images of staff, program tours, and other group activities. Photographs related to Encounters with Canada include images of the Terry Fox Canadian Youth Centre showing aspects of the building expansion and colour slides (with a list of image titles) showing activities of the participants at the Centre and other locations. Most of the photographs related to Experience Canada are derived from an album covering the period 1998 to 2000. The images record each class group involved in the training modules held at Experience Canada's Learning Centre in Ottawa. There are two albums containing images of participants at the Crossroads 2000 and Crossroads 2001 conferences. A record of the Crossroads 2000 stakeholders luncheon includes images of participants from the conference and Crossroads founder and Director of the Western Regional Office, Michèle Stanners. The Canadians in Europe program is documented by photographs of events sponsored or co-sponsored by the French Chapter and includes images of speakers, panelists, audience members, and interiors of event sites in Paris such as the Presse Club de France, Hôtel Georges V, and Palais Brongniart. Images of guest speakers include Justice Louise Arbour, Sylvia Ostry of the Munk Centre for International Studies, Assistant Deputy Minister Marc Lortie, Paul Okalik, Premier of Nunavut, and David Dodge, Governor of the Bank of Canada. There are also images of three events held by the U.K. Chapter and four events sponsored by Chapitre Belge. Most of the photographs of the U.K. Chapter are located in event reports found in the Canadians in Europe series.
In addition, the series includes three albums, one for each of the colloquiums held by the CUC-Québec Regional Office in 1997, 1998 and 1999. There are also photographs relating to the Portraits of Canada 2001 press conferences and presentations held in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. The British Columbia-Yukon Regional Office kept two albums, designated 2001-2002 and 2003[-2004], to record events organized by that office and other events attended by the Regional Director. The photographs in these albums represent a variety of events including round tables, a public forum on voter apathy, Banff Forums I and II, a public lecture series on aboriginal issues held at Simon Fraser University, a meeting with the Nisga'a Lisims Government at Terrace, activities celebrating the bi-centennial of Sir James Douglas, a Portraits of Canada 2001 presentation to the Fédération des Francophones de la Colombie-Britannique, Portraits of Canada 2003 presentations in Vancouver and Victoria, a consultation with Francophones in Kitimat and a meeting with secondary school French immersion students. Other subjects include staff members of the regional office including the founding Regional Director, Gisèle Yasmeen, the Council's kiosk at Canada Place in Vancouver, and an Order of Canada luncheon and a luncheon at the Canadian Club, both in Vancouver in 2004. The albums also contain a record of Council meetings including a Governors' meeting in Victoria, the Council's 40th anniversary general meeting in Ottawa and the Annual General Meeting and gala dinner held in Toronto in 2002.