Interviews

Between 2014-2018 we interviewed 70 AIDS activists who were organizing in the 1980s and 1990s across what is now called Canada. They told us diverse stories of resistance, loss, and resilience. You can discover more about the history of AIDS activism through these interview transcripts and short video clips. To get started, visit the drop down menu above or one of the links below to view this material organized regionally. You can also see a complete list of transcripts below organized in alphabetical order by last name or by transcript number.  

When you click on these links, you’ll see a list of the interviews connected to each place. For more on the method we used to conduct these interviews and how we approached finding people to talk with, click here. The interviews have a roughly similar form. Each person was asked a series of common questions including:

• When did you first hear about AIDS and what did you hear?
• When did you first hear about AIDS as an activist or political question?
• What political or activist experiences did you bring with you into AIDS organizing?
• Can you tell us about AIDS activists who have died?
• Are there other people you think we should talk to about AIDS activism?

We combined this with questions for the particular individual based on what we already knew about the organizations they were involved in and their participation in them that we learned from other interviews and research we did to prepare for interviews. For instance, if people were involved in particular groups we would ask how they were organized and the kinds of activities they organized.