The Non-Resident Indians for Secularism and Democracy (NRISAD) was formed by Hari Sharma following the attack on Bari Masjid in December 1992. The organization united people of Indian origin collectively through educational and cultural activities. One of its significant events in Vancouver included the celebration of the 50th anniversary of India's independence from colonial rule. Over time, NRISAD recognized a need to widen the focus of the organization to include the whole of South Asia because its membership in Vancouver comprised people from the entire subcontinent of India and the diaspora in East Africa and other countries. Under Sharma's leadership, NRISAD evolved into the South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy based secularism, human rights, and social justice.

Rainbow Publishers Limited is a publishing house in India founded by a group of intellectuals, activists, and public figures that included Hari Sharma. The venture originated at the Convention Against Communalism and the Threat to Diversity held in Calcutta in 1986. The convention brought together like-minded individuals who were united in their thinking around social, cultural, and ecological justice in India. Their collaboration led to the founding of Rainbow Publishers. A main objective of Rainbow Publishers was to inexpensively make more available works on Marxism and socialism in South Asia. Today, Rainbow Publishers continues to publish and translate works of established and new writers in various languages.

On February 26, 1979, after a series of casual meetings, Raj Chouhan, Harinder Mahil, and Charan Gill formed the Farm Workers’ Organizing Committee (FWOC) in the Fraser Valley of British Columbia. They were joined at this first official meeting by Sarwan Sidhu, Pritam Singh, Amarit Pal Mann, and Gurnam Sahota. Sarwan Boal and Judy Cavanagh soon joined the FWOC as organizers. A series of public meetings followed to spread awareness of the new group, address farmworkers’ concerns, and advocate for their rights. In the spring of 1980, at a founding convention, members of the FWOC formally established the Canadian Farmworkers Union (CFU). Chouhan was president, Jawala Singh Grewal was vice-president, Gill was secretary, and Boal was treasurer. Cavanagh was a chief organizer. The motto of the CFU was “Zindabad!” (“Long live!” in Urdu). Areas of concern and action for this new union included farmworkers’ pay, housing, working conditions, and work-related legislation. The CFU advocated for childcare for farmworkers and raised awareness of the racism the predominantly Indo-Canadian workers often faced, and also participated in numerous rights-related events and causes in solidarity with other organizations. The CFU was assisted financially by the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) from founding until 1991.

In 1979 the FWOC began publishing The Farmworker, a Punjabi/English newspaper with the purpose of educating workers about their rights on the job and their right to organize. The CFU continued publishing this paper through the mid-1990s.

In the early 1980s the CFU focused on recruiting members and gaining certification at some farms, and also picketed and fought in court to defend farmworkers’ right to unionize and to protect workers from mistreatment by farm owners. In November of 1980, the collective agreement signed by the CFU and Bell Farms was the first ever signed by a union representing farmworkers in Canada. The union was also particularly vocal about the exclusion of farmworkers from various legislation protecting other workers’ rights and safety. In 1983, farmworkers became eligible for Workers’ Compensation Board benefits, but were still mainly exempt from health and safety regulations.

In its early years, the CFU tried to organize farmworkers outside the Fraser Valley and Lower Mainland, reaching out to workers in the BC Okanagan and Ontario. It did not succeed in the Okanagan, due to conflict between CFU executives and local organizers, and in Ontario its success lasted only a few years.

In addition to its unionization and advocacy work, the CFU responded to its membership’s needs with relevant educational programming. In 1982 the union began running “ESL Crusade” classes, developed specifically for Punjabi-speaking farmworkers and including both everyday and farmwork-specific English lessons. The “preventable homicide” of worker Jarnail Singh Deol by pesticide exposure led to the establishment of the Deol Agricultural Education and Research Society (the Deol Society) in 1983, as an internal branch of CFU created for the purpose of applying separately from the union for funding grants. The Deol Society’s main concern was education of farmworkers on the health risks and safe handling of pesticides, and it also ran ESL programs. In many projects, jurisdiction was shared by the Deol Society and the CFU.

The CFU researched a wide variety of subjects related to farmworkers and workers in general, in order to educate its members and spread awareness of many issues, from global struggles for workers’ and women’s rights to immigration and multiculturalism in Canada. CFU executives and members participated in union, labour, and activist groups and committees, and were vocal in numerous letter-writing, fundraising, and awareness campaigns. The union also participated in rallies and protests on many subjects.

By the mid-1980s the CFU was nearly bankrupt due to the ongoing difficulty of collecting dues from underpaid seasonal workers. The union briefly considered merging with other similar unions but, convinced of the unique needs of its membership, it was determined to retain its own name.

In 1986, Chouhan stepped down, principal organizer Judy Cavanagh and founding member Charan Gill left, and Sarwan Boal became president. Boal was replaced in 1991 by Jawala Singh Grewal.

In the 1990s, the provincial New Democratic Party government extended health and safety legislation to farmworkers, solving one of the CFU’s main areas of concern. The Progressive Intercultural Community Services Society (PICS, formerly Progressive Indo-Canadian Community Services Society) and its founder, Charan Gill, took over management of the union and its work. The CFU still exists in name, but is essentially inactive.

The filling Station Publications Society formed in 1993 in Calgary, Alberta, for the purpose of publishing a literary arts magazine for the city of Calgary. Founding members include Tom Muir, Rob Brander, Brad Harris, Russ Ricky, Nicole Ethier, Theresa Smalec, Doug Steedman, Stephanie Rogers, Annette Perry and Laura Authier. The filling Station Publications Society is a registered non-profit society whose volunteer members publish "filling Station" magazine approximately three times a year. The first issue of "filling Station" appeared in 1994 under a mandate to promote innovative and original Canadian poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. "filling Station" magazine circulated 500 copies per issue circa 1995 under Managing Editor Blaine Kyllo. Derek Beaulieu was Co-Managing Editor from 1998–2001, Managing Editor and Poetry Editor from 2004–2008, and served on the board of directors of the filling Station Publications Society from 2003–2008.

The filling Station Publications Society also hosts events and fundraisers, and publishes stand-alone literary chapbooks. It is funded by granting organizations such as the Canada Council for the Arts, the Alberta Ministry of Culture and Community Spirit (formerly Alberta Foundation for the Arts), and the Calgary Arts Development Authority. Their website, fillingstation.com, was launched in 2001. In 2003, members of the society established a monthly reading series, flywheel, held at Pages Books on Kensington in Calgary. "filling Station" magazine is available by subscription and distributed to bookstores and libraries by Magazines Canada. As of 2017, the Managing Editor is Nikki Sheppy and Marc Lynch is President of the Board of Directors.

The Kootenay School of Writing (KSW) grew out of the creative writing program at David Thompson University Centre (DTUC), Nelson, British Columbia. Established in 1979, the program ended when DTUC closed in 1984 following budget cuts by the provincial government. A collective of former DTUC instructors and students organized under the name the Kootenay School of Writing, and began to offer writing courses in Vancouver in the fall of 1984 and Nelson in the fall of 1985. Colin Browne and Fred Wah, both former DTUC writing program coordinators, were chosen to head the Vancouver and Nelson programs respectively, and the Kootenay School of Writing was incorporated as a non-profit society in September 1984.

Following the collaborative and non-hierarchical ethos of the DTUC program, the Kootenay School of Writing operated using a volunteer-based collective structure, with the role of the Board of Directors being largely symbolic; administrative decision-making was shared among collective members. Initially, the primary activities of KSW were focused around education, but readings also constituted a significant part of programming. Two colloquia organized by KSW – New Poetics (1985) and Split/Shift (1986) – brought writers from across Canada and the United States to Vancouver, and emphasized KSW’s interest in the intersections of language, politics, and class. Over time, the focus of KSW’s activities shifted from courses to events.

Through the 1990s, KSW experienced difficulty maintaining financial stability. Conflict arose amongst members as to whether the School should undertake administrative re-structuring, transitioning to a more formal organizational structure with designated roles and responsibilities. Comprehensive re-structuring was ultimately abandoned in favour of creating a part-time administrative position, which was filled by collective members on a rotating basis. The City of Vancouver withdrew its operating grant for KSW for the 1998 fiscal year, giving rise to various fundraising activities, including a benefit reading by Michael Ondaatje.

The Kootenay School of Writing continues to function as a hub for avant-garde poetry in Vancouver. In 2008 a third major conference, the Positions Colloquium, brought numerous poets from across North America to Vancouver for five days of readings, discussions, performances, etc. At the time of writing (Summer 2013), however, the future of the organization is uncertain.

The Press of the Black Flag Raised was operated by Robert Rose in Cambridge, Massachusetts between 1969 and 1970. The publications of the press were given away, posted on walls, and mailed to approximately fifty individuals and three bookstores. The Press was supported by donations from Denise Levertov, Robert Duncan, Harvey Brown of Frontier Press and others.

The Tamahnous Theatre Workshop Society (later Tamahnous Theatre) was incorporated in Vancouver, BC in 1971. Original members included John Gray, Larry Lillo, Steven E. Miller, Sue Astley, Suzie Payne, Ed Astley, and Jeremy Long. Between 1971 and 1994 the company mounted over 100 productions including many original plays. The company became known in Vancouver in the 1970s for its emphasis on experimental theatre and collective creation and would go on to win numerous Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards in the 1980s. Tamahnous Theatre was the resident company of the Vancouver East Cultural Centre until ca. 1988, and the company toured BC and Canada with its productions and also performed in England and Russia. Tamahnous Theatre officially disbanded in 1995.

The Coast is only a line was a writers' conference held at Simon Fraser University in 1981, which involved, among other activities, poetry readings by noted Canadian West Coast poets.

The Academic Relations Office is the planning, policy advising and administration office for faculty, professional librarians and archivists, and academic administrators at SFU. The Office was established in 1988 with the appointment of Sharon Cochran as Director. Its main functions are to coordinate human-resources services for faculty personnel; advise faculty and provide administrative support to the appointment, renewal, tenure, promotion, and salary review processes; and liaise with the SFU Faculty Association. Prior to 1988, a number of these responsibilities had been carried out within the Office of the Vice-President, Academic (VPA) by Alison Watt in her position as the Assistant to the Vice-President (1978-1990).

Throughout its history, Academic Relations has always belonged the VPA's reporting portfolio. From its establishment in 1988 until the departure of its first Director in 1996, Academic Relations reported directly to the VPA. Subsequently, the Associate VPA, Judith Osborne, assumed direct responsibility for the unit from 1996 to 2001. A new Director, Sue Roppel, was appointed in 2001 following a reorganization of senior administrative portfolios at the university. This saw the incumbent Associate VPA (Osborne) move to the new post of Associate Vice-President, Policy, Equity and Legal, and the mandate of the Associate VPA redefined, shifting from academic employment relations to academic planning and budgeting.

The Senate Committee on University Priorities (SCUP) was originally instituted in 1971 as the Senate Committee on Academic Planning (SCAP). It replaced the Academic Planning Committee (ACP) previously established under the President's Office and was responsible for coordinating and implementing a system of academic planning at the university. Its functions included identifying priorities in the development of new and emerging programs; coordinating academic planning with allocation of resources; operating the system of external reviews; and reviewing and making recommendations for the establishment and disestablishment of academic departments and research units, centres and institutes. In 2001 Senate restructured its committee organization, and SCAP was renamed the Senate Committee on University Priorities (SCUP). It retained its academic planning functions, but took on additional responsibilities for advising the President on university budget matters.

The British Columbia Federation of Women (BCFW) was founded in 1974 as an umbrella group of women's organizations. Its objective was to bring about women's liberation through fundamental social change, providing a provincial network of support, information- and resource-sharing, and coordinated action. Groups joined as affiliate members and were organized into regional units; federation-wide matters were overseen by the Coordinating Collective, several standing committees (Finance, Communications and Convention), and various ad hoc committees established to address specific issues and projects. At the Annual General Convention delegates from each of the regions elected committee members and voted on policy resolutions. The BCFW disbanded in 1989.