Rise Up mourns Amy Gottlieb, our dear sister, friend, and co-conspirator, who passed away on July 27, 2023. Amy was a founding member of Rise Up and continued as a member of our Collective, then as a volunteer, and supporter over the past nine years.

But Amy was much, much more. She didn’t just aim to preserve the history of radical and diverse feminist activism in Canada — for the past fifty years, she has been very much a part of creating that history. In the Rise Up Women Unite interview, Becoming Feminists, Amy describes her evolution from child of Communist parents and young anti-racist and anti-war activist in the United States to “becoming a Trotskyist and coming out as a lesbian” after arriving in Canada to attend university. This was also when her “official” involvement with the women’s movement began.

Feminist, socialist, lesbian, anti-racist, and social justice activist, Amy’s footprints can be found all over the Rise Up archives. She organized with groups such as the International Women’s Day Committee, Lesbian Organization of Toronto, Lesbians Against the Right, Lesbians Making History, and the Jewish Women’s Committee to End the Occupation of the West Bank and Gaza among others.

Bi-national Lesbian Conference (1979)
Amy is located second from the left in the back row.

You can read her words in magazines like HealthSharing, Lesbian Perspective, and Broadside: A Feminist Review and in publications such as Women on the Global Assembly Line and Dykes on the Street. The events she was part of are too numerous to count!

Women on the Global Assembly Line (1985)
This booklet was authored by numerous feminist activists including Amy. It focuses on the role that women from underdeveloped countries play in the microtechnology revolution. Amy is credited for the layout.

Lesbians are Everywhere Fighting the Right – Dykes on the Street Booklet (1981)
The booklet is a collection of the speeches given at the May 9th, 1981 Lesbians Against the Right Conference in Toronto. It contains a speech by Amy titled “The Gay Movement.”

Then there are the photos! Whether behind the camera herself or captured by others, Amy’s engagement with our collective past is palpable through these images. There are dozens of photos taken by Amy on the Rise Up website in various contexts — Oka, The Banner Project, IWD, Strike Solidarity and more – but here are a few that show Amy herself.

As a political activist and as an educator, Amy touched – and was touched by – the lives of many. Intergenerational dialogue and learning were important to her. The archival legacy she leaves will continue to serve as a meeting ground between activist foremothers and younger generations as they step up and move forward the struggle for equality and justice. As one of Rise Up’s young supporters put it, “I feel like I’ve ‘met’ Amy through the archives, and getting to witness and learn from her commitment to justice and solidarity and community has been a real privilege and honour.”

Amy’s profound sense of justice and commitment, her compassion and comradeship – and, of course, that wonderful smile that could light up a room – will not be forgotten.