The following is an oral history conducted by Mary Tremblay with Joanne McLeod on October 13, 1995.
Joanne McLeod turned a life-changing 1954 car accident in rural New Brunswick into a career of firsts and a province-wide disability rights movement. After eighteen months in hospital with almost no formal rehabilitation, McLeod finished high school, entered the University of New Brunswick, and in 1961 became its first graduate who used a wheelchair. She later earned a law degree, articled with the province, and served as deputy registrar of the New Brunswick Supreme Court before becoming legal counsel to the New Brunswick Human Rights Commission. As the inaugural executive director of the Canadian Paraplegic Association’s New Brunswick division, McLeod led curb-cut and accessible-transit campaigns, secured jobs for injured workers, and helped secure disability protection in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. A member of Canada’s 1981 International Year of Disabled Persons committee, McLeod was honoured with a doctorate, Queen’s Counsel, and the Order of Canada. McLeod’s narrative reveals how persistence, family support, and strategic advocacy replaced isolation with integration.
Read a transcript created by Mary Tremblay using this link.
Generated image (DALL-E) of Joanne McLeod, 1961
The University of New Brunswick’s first wheelchair-using graduate receives her
BA diploma.