Gone with the Wiz

Saturday, September 9, 1989
The Concert Hall

The ArQuives: Canada’s LGBTQ2+ Archives was formed in 1973, beginning as an initiative of the gay liberation newspaper The Body Politic. Originally called the Canadian Gay Liberation Movement Archives, the collection has had multiple names through the late 20th and early 21st century, indicative of shifting terminology for the communities it supports. Decades of dedicated volunteer labour has made The ArQuives the largest independent LGBTQ2+ archive in the world. Similarly, their labour has made our work on the GCDC possible. 

Alan Miller, a longtime volunteer at The ArQuives as well as a volunteer at GCDC dances, recalls that funds from GCDC dances were “absolutely vital” to the development of the archival project during the 1980s. So much of the history now accessible through The ArQuives was made possible, in part, by collective dances organised by the GCDC. 

"When you got your ticket to go to the dance, all the groups that were going to benefit from had their names on the back and you would just check off whichever group you wanted to receive your ticket proceeds. In the first few years, the Canadian Gay Archives was always the first one listed. I thought a lot of people were in a hurry and would just check off any box and because the Archives was near the top, this was really good for us. In the ‘80s, GCDC was sort of a financial crutch for us."

- Alan Miller, GCDC Volunteer