We can hardly believe it! In less than a year, Rise Up will be ten years old. 

As Canada’s only community-based archive providing open online access to archival materials about feminist activism from the 1970s to 1990s, Rise Up has come a long way since a small band of intrepid 1970s feminist activists launched our website in October 2016.

Our vision then, as now, was to digitally preserve as many original items from that intense period of organizing as we could–especially those created by marginalized and often-erased voices. We aimed to make these materials openly accessible online to help inform current debates and understandings, and inspire critical reflection and future activism. 

So, we are thrilled that this resource is now being used so widely and that awareness of it is growing. With equality rights under siege in so many places around the globe, it is more important than ever for younger generations of existing and soon-to-be activists to learn about – and from – our collective and diverse histories of struggle, our mistakes and losses as well as our victories, and to take heart.

Then and Now 

Today the Rise Up site hosts over 4,300 digitized archival items – more than four times the number when we launched. Our collection of documents, periodicals, posters, photos, and other materials is now more inclusive of those whose historic contributions to feminist activism in Canada are often unheard through the mainstream narrative. It is also more representative of regions across Canada as well as a wider range of organizations, events, and issues. We know there is so much more to be done, but it is a good start. 

Rise Up has grown in other ways, too. Last spring, we launched a fully redeveloped website making the site more accessible and materials easier to find. This major project involved creating an entirely new website, migrating all archival content, and updating metadata, tags, and descriptions. Thanks go to Tara Cleveland for this redesign and her continued oversight, and to the volunteers and summer staff who logged hours and hours of work to make it happen!  

There’s More to Rise Up than Its Archive

You can expect to see even more changes in the coming months as we overhaul the homepage as well as the Exhibits, Teaching, and Contemporary Films sections to streamline access to the full range of resources on our website. Meanwhile, we continue to update current archival and other materials and add new ones. In the new year, two new exhibits developed by summer staff will be unveiled: Immigrant Women and Women of Colour Fighting for Health Justice and Feminist Presses. We will also be launching a teaching resource on activism by South Asian women in Canada. 

Our newsletter has also evolved into a space to highlight different aspects of feminist activist history and to link past and present. We look forward to welcoming more outside contributors and writers. All previous articles can now be accessed through our website at Rise Up News. If you are not yet a subscriber, we hope you will sign up soon!

Building a consistent presence on Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, and LinkedIn in recent years has also helped Rise Up reach new audiences and highlight the diversity of feminist organizing. Follow us on any of these platforms to get weekly glimpses of our collection!

Fostering Dialogue Across Generations

Rise Up has been built on the efforts of volunteers who guide our direction and priorities — and who carry out much of the hands-on work that keeps us grounded. Over our almost ten years, Rise Up has welcomed the involvement of 100-plus, mostly younger, volunteers. Over 30 are currently active, including four of the “originals”.  

So, from a handful of aging activists, Rise Up is now emerging as a truly intergenerational project. It’s very exciting. The engagement by younger feminists as volunteers and also as staff supported by Young Canada Works in Heritage and Canada Summer Jobs has brought greater diversity of representation to our organization. It has also fostered a spirited and healthy – sometimes quite challenging! – intergenerational dialogue with learning on all sides. Shades of yesteryear’s debates and just what we wanted! 

What Comes Next? 

All in all, not bad for the little engine that could. But now, as we approach our tenth anniversary, we need to turn our attention to future sustainability and the development of Rise Up as a more fully inclusive and representative archive and organization. To that end, Rise Up initiated a strategic planning process last year. We are now finalizing a statement of the overarching strategic goals that will frame our planning for the next few years. We look forward to sharing it with you soon!

As we move towards our 10th anniversary celebration and embark on the next stage of our journey, we want to thank all the supporters who have already brought us so far – those who have contributed materials, money, time, and expertise as well as those who use Rise Up for their research, teaching, activism, and personal learning. Every bit of it matters, and you have helped to sustain our spirits and, quite literally, kept us going.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!