This PRIDE season: Celebrate 50 Years of Keeping Our Stories Alive! 

​​Fifty years ago, the founders of the collective for The Body Politic had the foresight to save their lived experiences and stories, knowing that this would be vital for future generations of LGBTQ2+ people. Thanks to those who took part in this important work, LGBTQ2+ people have secured more rights in Canada than ever before.

Even so, our rights and our freedoms can be precarious, and there is much more work to do:

Statistics Canada reports that homophobic and transphobic hate crime has risen in recent years. This reality makes collecting and sharing LGBTQ2+ stories even more critical.

How does your support of The ArQuives play a role in securing our rights? 

One prime example is The ArQuives' support of research that is used to launch and sustain legal challenges for LGBTQ2+ rights. Another is our work to help produce vital cultural works documenting LGBTQ2+ experiences, such as the film Fruit Machine (2018) about the lives impacted by the historic purge of LGBTQ2+ federal employees, the book Out North: A History of Queer Kinship and Activism (2020), Canada's Trans Collections Guide (2021), and our LGBTQ2+ Inclusive Education resources for high schools (2022).

The ArQuives has become Canada’s LGBTQ2+ archives and one of the largest archives of its kind in the world. We serve over 38,000 visitors, including researchers, educators, cultural producers, and members of the public each year.

You're invited to help celebrate this momentous year because so many LGBTQ2+ stories that would have been lost are alive today - thanks to you.

The ArQuives is now well-positioned to continue to build our capacity, engage more community partners, expand the collection, and raise our profile nationally. We’ll continue to count on you to help us keep our stories alive.

For every dollar you donate to our 50th Anniversary Campaign in the month of June, you will give The ArQuives a chance to WIN $20K through Canada Helps' Great Canadian Giving Challenge. 

Thanks again for all you do to support LGBTQ2+ communities!

– The Team at The ArQuives