Womonspace (1981-2018) was Edmonton's longest-running lesbian social, recreational, and educational group.

Today, we're spotlighting Dr. Jennifer Brant's article, "Indigenous Feminisms and Calls for Reproductive Justice,” one of the feature articles on our website.

Bad Boss Stories: Workers Whose Bosses Break the Law was a project published in 1996 by the Employment Standards Work Group (ESWG). The project collected over 100 personal stories from workers in the Greater Toronto Area experiencing illegal exploitation at the hands of their bosses.

Mama Quilla II was a Toronto-based feminist rock band from 1977 to 1982 that aimed to "combine non-sexist lyrics with extremely danceable music—a feat the band definitely accomplished," according to a 1983 review in Herizons.💥

In the face of continued imperial, colonial, and Western aggression and violence towards Indigenous peoples and sovereign nations across the world, there have always been — and continue to be — acts of coordinated resistance and solidarity from communities here at home.

In the fall of 1974, Isis Women & Film, a women's media production and distribution centre in British Columbia, organized a province-wide women’s film and art festival.

On behalf of Rise Up's staff and volunteers, we would like to extend a huge thank you to our generous donors for their year-end contributions to the organization!❤️

Have you read our article "Apropos of Press Gang"?📑 In this piece, Nancy Pollak brings to life the history and legacy of Press Gang—Vancouver’s pioneering feminist printer and publisher.

🎁 Tomorrow is the last day to donate to Rise Up Feminist Digital Archive and receive a tax receipt for 2025 - visit bit.ly/RiseUp-Contribute 🎊 We are grateful for your support and wish you all the best for the coming year!

Rise Up would like to wish you a safe and happy holiday season! Please note that we will be pausing operations from now until January 5, 2026. See you in the New Year!✨

Rise Up is pleased to share another testimonial from one of our volunteers and founding members, Alana Cattapan. Alana reflects on the early days of Rise Up and her time working in the collective.🗃

In 1979, the volunteer advocacy group INTERCEDE was organized by foreign domestic workers and their feminist supporters. The group called for change in government policies and working conditions that mistreated and discriminated against them.

Rise Up has been lucky to work with countless dedicated and passionate volunteers since the archive came to life almost 10 years ago.🌟 Today, we're sharing a testimonial from Akosua Adasi about her time volunteering with us.

"A Feminist Approach to Pap Tests" was an informational document produced by the Vancouver Women's Health Collective (VWHC) in 1986.

Rise Up is more than just an archive - we provide educational resources, including a variety of lesson plans and school assignments!📚 We're happy to offer eight engaging assignments centred on feminist activism and theory, collective action, digital storytelling, and more.

Sharing a few testimonials from users of the Rise Up archive! As Canada's only community-based, open-access archive preserving and presenting feminist histories from the 1970s to the 1990s, Rise Up serves as an essential resource for educators, students, researchers, and the public alike.

The December 6 Coalition was established in Toronto in 1990 in honour of the fourteen women murdered on December 6, 1989, at L’École Polytechnique in Montreal.

Interested in learning about feminist histories but don't know where to start?🤔 Check out our digital exhibits - a curated selection of archival materials that illustrate the diverse range of feminist activism captured in Rise Up's collection.

Rise Up has come a long way since its launch in October 2016. We have quadrupled our material holdings, with 4,352 items currently in the archive!🗃

We're gearing up to celebrate Rise Up's 10th Anniversary!🎈

Looking for a film to watch this weekend? 📽 Check out the documentary "Long Time Comin'" (1993), directed by poet and novelist Dionne Brand with Studio D/National Film Board of Canada.

In her essay "Running for Gold," Abby Hoffman testifies to the conditions faced by women athletes and confronts damaging myths that continue to keep women out of sports. This essay was published in the September 1976 issue of the Winnipeg Women's Liberation Newsletter.🥇

Today marks the 58th anniversary of the UN Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.

We recently uploaded another issue of the Calgary Women's Newspaper!🗞

This program was created for the Congress of Black Women of Canada’s (CBWC) First Annual Celebration for Black Women Who Have Made a Difference—Past and Present, held in 1992. The event celebrated the social, political, and cultural contributions of Black women across Nova Scotia.

Happy Halloween from Rise Up!🎃 This spooky image appeared on the cover of the St. John's Status of Women Council (SJWC) Newsletter in November 1984.🧙‍♀️

This article and button appear in the Wages for Housework Campaign Bulletin (Vol. 1, No. 3, Spring 1977), which chronicled a national campaign centred around the principle that women should be paid for performing the socially necessary labour of housework and childcare.

To celebrate Women’s History Month in Canada, we are highlighting the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW)/le Syndicat des travailleurs et travailleuses des postes (STTP) and its role in bargaining for women’s equality.

This past Saturday, October 18, was National Persons Day in Canada. This day marked the 96th anniversary of the 1929 legal amendment that included select groups of women in the legislative definition of "persons".

Jump into the "rebellious feminist and socialist writing" of Marie-Géographie, a feminist publication based in Québec City that ran from 1984-87.📘

Did you know that the Rise Up archive contains over 440 photographs?📸 Our extensive selection of images portrays significant moments in Canadian feminist activism, such as the Abortion Rights Rally outside the Morgentaler Clinic in Toronto in 1983 or the Rally Against Free Trade in Ottawa in 1993.

Congratulations to Judy Darcy, a former National President of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), who recently published her memoir, Leading from the Heart: The Battles of a Feminist, Union Leader and Politician.📚

New additions to the archive!🗃✨ We recently uploaded issues of the Action Day Care Newsletter, a publication produced by the Ontario-based organization, Action Day Care.

To celebrate the start of 2SLGBTQIA+ History Month, we are spotlighting this poster advertising a lesbian dance at Hazeldean Hall, featured in the February 1984 issue of Womonspace News.✨

This past Friday, September 26th, marked the final day of the Kanehsatà:ke Resistance in 1990. This button was created for the 1991 International Women’s Day March in reference to the 1990-91 Gulf War and the Kanehsatà:ke Resistance in Oka—connecting international issues with local struggles.

For World Contraception Day, we are highlighting The Birth Control Handbook, first published in 1968 by the McGill Students’ Society. Created during a time of limited sexual education, this handbook provided detailed illustrations and explanations that were not readily available at the time.

We have a new feature article on the website! 📣 In "Feminist Art and the Spaces That House It," Rhianna Grove discusses the role of feminist art spaces and artist collectives in promoting, generating, and presenting women artists whose work was often marginalized.

🎥 Studio D, the women’s unit of the National Film Board of Canada, was the world’s first publicly funded feminist filmmaking studio. From 1974 to 1996, it released more than 140 groundbreaking films, including three Academy Award winners.

Today is the annual Take Back the Night march! This 1993 poster, printed by Press Gang Printers, promoted Vancouver’s rally organized by Vancouver Rape Relief and Women’s Shelter with the Canadian Association of Sexual Assault Centres.

In 1975, members of the Líl'wat First Nation erected a blockade at Mount Currie to defend their hereditary fishing and hunting grounds against incursions from Federal Fisheries Officers and local settlers.

Directed by Sylvia Hamilton and Claire Prieto and produced by the National Film Board of Canada, Black Mother, Black Daughter (1989) traces the experiences of enslaved women and Black Loyalist settlers in Nova Scotia, highlighting the roots and resilience of Black communities in the province.

Pictured here is the poster for the First Latin American Women’s Encounter held in Toronto in 1995. The event was part of a series of Latin American “Encounters” that strengthened transnational feminist networks throughout Latin America, the Caribbean, and their diasporas.

By promoting infant formula as a symbol of modernity, Nestlé persuaded mothers in Africa to abandon breastfeeding, resulting in the deaths of newborns. This article from Vol. 4, No. 5 of The Other Woman (1976) highlights how colonialism and racism shaped these predatory marketing campaigns.

In April 1985, 3,000 members of the Canadian Air Line Employees’ Association (CALEA)—two-thirds of them women—walked out on strike against Air Canada, protesting management’s plan to cut full-time jobs by expanding part-time positions, slash starting wages, and block transfers between departments.

Buy Canadian! Buy Union! This undated button was produced by the International Ladies' Garment Workers Union (ILGWU) as part of their campaign to eliminate sweatshops in Canada and the United States. bit.ly/madeincanada-button

In "Apropos of Press Gang," Nancy Pollak brings to life the vibrant history and legacy of the Vancouver-based Press Gang—the only feminist printing and publishing collective, owned and operated by women, in English-speaking Canada. Subscribe to our newsletter at bit.ly/RiseUp.

Our next featured HIST 512 Internship Opportunity for 2025-2026 is an opportunity to work with @riseupfeminist.bsky.social ! You can find more details about this position and how to apply on our website: www.queensu.ca/history/unde...

Since 1988, Women in Black groups around the world have been organizing protests and vigils in opposition to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories, Gaza and the West Bank.

This undated button #FromTheArchives with the phrase, “Keep Your ADS Off My Body,” opposes the advertising industry’s portrayal of women and the commercialization of women’s bodies. View the button at bit.ly/Ads-Off-Body-Button

This Emancipation Day, we’re spotlighting “Caribbean Carnival: The Art of Transformation” by Leah Creque-Harris, featured in Tiger Lily: A Journal by Women of Colour, Issue 9/10 (1990). Read the full article here: bit.ly/Emancipationday