Systemic Activism: Uneasy Coalitions During the Canadian AIDS Pandemic of the 1980s and 1990s

The AIDS pandemic disproportionately affects Canadian gay men, women, racialized communities, people who inject drugs, and people who have been or are incarcerated, leading these groups to engage in coalitional activism to advance HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment. This paper examines how the effects of AIDS necessitated a response across these marginalized groups. Oral history interviews conducted in Toronto by the Canadian AIDS Activist History Project were examined to discuss the coalitions that were formed amongst marginalized groups in Toronto during the height of the Canadian AIDS crisis of the 1980s and 1990s. Oral history interviews are incredibly valuable to marginalized communities; yet, once they are collected, they are often left unanalyzed. This paper analyzes existing oral history interviews to provide an overview of some of the tensions and successes between activists who belonged to different social groups. The paper ends with a discussion of intersectionality and the role of systemic activism in Canadian AIDS activist history.