Founded in 1980 by Fred Wah, David McFadden, and Julian Ross, Writing Magazine was for many years the key publishing organ of the Kootenay School of Writing. It not only survived the school's transplantation from Nelson to Vancouver, but became doubly important as a focus of the KSW's publishing activities, and crucial for KSW's community / network-building outside of BC. Its mandate of publishing established poets alongside younger ones - now typical of Canadian literary magazines - brought strong early work by writers associated with the KSW into print alongside that of well-known writers associated with the L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E group. In this way, Writing helped create an international audience for Vancouver writing, and helped assure Vancouver a reputation as an important centre for innovative poetics in the 80s and 90s.

The editors of Writing were:

David W. McFadden, issues 1 - 5

John Newlove, issue 6

Colin Browne, issues 7 - 22

Jeff Derksen and Nancy Shaw, issues 23/24 - 28

Each brought a distinct approach (and format) to the magazine, but its key phase was from about issue no.9 (May 1984), when the KSW became established in Vancouver, to its final issue, no.28 (October 1992). At this time Derksen left Vancouver for Calgary, and Writing soon folded. The Derksen/Shaw issues, in particular, are still considered among the outstanding critical literary periodicals of the time.

Writing in Our Time was a reading series organized by the Vancouver Poetry Centre in 1979 to benefit West Coast literary presses, especially Blew Ointment Press. Poets who read at the event include George Bowering, Fred Wah, Frank Davey, Daphne Marlatt, Victor Coleman, Gerry Gilbert, bill bissett, Robert Creeley, Ed Dorn, Ann Waldman, and Michael McClure.

Working Women Unite was formed to create links between working women and the women's movement. The group focused on issues of women and work, and sought to create a relationship with trade unions that would further the position of women in the work force. Specifically, Working Women Unite sought to encourage the formation of women's committees within local unions, discuss strategies on how to organize in a non-union job, articulate feminist demands for working women to take to their unions when negotiating new contracts, and to recognize the value of all women's work regardless of whether it was paid or unpaid. The group also held conferences, workshops, and seminars on issues such as unpaid work, immigrant female workers, women in unions, women working in the home, equal pay for equal work, and the effects of video display terminals in the workplace.

Working Women Unite emerged from the British Columbia Federation of Women (BCFW) during its convention in 1977. During this convention the lack of representation for working women within the BCFW was addressed by a group of women, primarily members of the Service, Office, and Retail Workers Union of Canada (SORWUC), who met and formulated resolutions that were passed at the convention. It was not until 1978 that the group gained momentum with a broader base of support. Women from unions such as the British Columbia Government Employees Union (BCGEU), Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU), SORWUC, Letter Carriers Union of Canada (LCUC), and Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), along with non-unionized women, and women in the home, became involved with the group. Structurally, Working Women Unite remained within the BCFW, a federation of women's groups in British Columbia working toward liberation of women through fundamental social change.

The Women's Studies Association of British Columbia was a province-wide organization set up in 1974 to improve women's social status through the promotion, continuation and development of women'studies programmes at the post-secondary level of education and at adult community education centres. Soon afterwards, the association expanded to include high-school women's studies curricula. On December 11, 1978 the association incorporated as a society; it disbanded in 1980 due to declining support and lack of representation by members from colleges and universities.

The objectives of the Women's Studies Association were to promote women's studies in the province; to encourage research into previously unexamined aspects of Canadian women's lives, with particular emphasis on BC; to establish adequate support services for women at all post-secondary institutions throughout the province; and, to ensure that women's studies remained a part of the women's movement and that staff and students involved in women's studies were familiar with the aims and objectives of the women's movement.

A standing committee consisting of a coordinator, a secretary, a treasurer, a communications organizer, and a member-at-large directed the association. Membership included students and faculty from the province's community colleges and universities, persons from community service groups, and people with an individual interest in women's studies.

The information for the administrative history was provided by the Women's Monument Project Committee.

The Women's Monument Project was founded in 1990 by Christine McDowell, a Capilano College student, in response to the massacre of fourteen women at Montreal's l'Ecole Polytechnique on December 6, 1989. Genevieve Bergeron, Nathalie Croteau, Anne-Marie Edward, Barbara Klucznik, Maryse Leclair, Sonia Pelletier, Annie St-Arneault, Helene Colgan, Barbara Daigneault, Maud Haviernick, Maryse Laganiere, Anne-Marie Lemay, Michele Richard and Annie Turcotte all died at the hands of a man who said he killed them because they were women. A few months after the unveiling of the monument, Marker of Change, by artist Beth Alber in Thornton Park in Vancouver on December 6, 1997, the Project became inactive. The Project's objectives were to focus national attention on the widespread problem of male violence against women; to build a permanent public art memorial to the fourteen women and to all women who have been victims of violence; to create a lasting testament to the value of women, the sanctity of human life and the refusal to be defeated by violence; and, to offer employment opportunities to women in all aspects of the Project from fundraising to design to construction. Through its fundraising and consciousness-raising efforts, the Project made contact with thousands of individual donors from across Canada and around the world, with community groups, unions and associations, schools, corporations, government, private foundations and the media.

A Committee coordinated the Project. The floor of the Orientation Stand at the Monument site states, "A feminist project realized by a small group of women in collaboration with Capilano College, with love for all people." During the Project's eight-year duration, from 3 to 10 women actively served on the Committee at any given time. Committee members included Lisa Brisebois, Kim Bruce, Janine Carscadden, Dawn Dalley, Christine McDowell, Vanessa Pasqualetto, Krista Marshall, Lianne Payne, Lindsay Setzer, and Elinor Warkentin. Other members were Susan Anderson, Gail Attara, Rita Beiks, Jennifer Bradley, Lorna Brown, Margot Butler, Karen Egger, Alexandra Ewashen, Maura Gatensby, Cate Jones, Deborah MacFarlane, Kelly Phillips, Wonda Seaboyer, Elena Shragge and Maria Walther. Many volunteers who did not sit on the Committee also participated in the Project. Carol McCandless and Olga Kempo represented Capilano College.

Usually meeting every two weeks, the Committee was a forum for collective decision-making. In 1992 a paid, part-time staff position was created, and in late 1993 a Coordinator for the national design competition was hired for ten months. There was no core funding; these positions were supported through government grants or fundraising.

Capilano College sponsored the Project by providing its endorsement, infrastructure (such as office space and telephones), charitable tax status, and administrative support.