Shovels have hit the ground for the construction of Canada’s LGBTQ2S+ national monument in Ottawa.
The historic milestone was commemorated at an event Wednesday afternoon hosted by the LGBT Purge Fund with the monument’s design team and attended by representatives from the Anishinabe Algonquin Nation and the federal government.
The memorial, called Thunderhead, is being built to commemorate and honor victims of Canada’s LGBTQ2S+ purge and others in the community who have been marginalized for being who they are.
The monument will be built in Ottawa, on a piece of land hidden behind the Supreme Court of Canada at the intersection of Wellington Street and the Portage Bridge to Quebec, near the Ottawa River.
The design was conceived by a team based in Winnipeg and includes Liz Wreford, Peter Sampson and Taylor LaRocque of architecture firm Public City Inc.; visual artists Dempsey and Lorri Millan; and Indigenous and two-spirit advisor Albert McLeod.
A rendering of the winning design proposal for the LGBTQ2S+ National Monument to be built in Ottawa. (Canadian heritage)
Under current design plans, the memorial will have a curved wall at the opening of the site that includes information about the purge. The structure features two levels that allow visitors to view it from the ground and above, as well as a fire pit intended for small gatherings or vigils, and a larger stage that can be used for larger events or performances.
The memorial is estimated to cost at least $8 million, with funding coming from the LGBT Purge Fund. The fund is a nonprofit corporation established in 2018 to manage the millions of dollars provided as part of a class-action settlement between the federal government and members of the LGBTQ2S+ community whose careers were sidelined by what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did. . he called it “a campaign of oppression.”
During the purge, thousands of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Canadians were actively discriminated against, interrogated and fired or demoted from their jobs in the Canadian Armed Forces, the RCMP and the federal public service between the 1950s and 1990s.
“It is not just a memorial for survivors of the LGBT Purge, but for every 2SLGBTQI+ person in Canada who has experienced discrimination and exclusion because of who they are, who they love and how they express themselves,” said LGBT Purge Fund Executive Director, Michelle Douglas. “The Thunderhead monument is the product of countless hearts, minds and journeys. We must thank thousands of community members who helped make it what it is. Tall, proud and unabashedly queer, it is a monument for all and a place to write .the stories that are to come.”
The creation of the monument was ordered by the Federal Court as part of the settlement, and the agreement earmarked $15 million for commemorative activities, including museum exhibits, potential archives projects and the construction of a national monument.
Artist Dominic Laporte touches up his chalk mural of pastel clouds before a ceremony marking the construction of Thunderhead: Canada’s 2SLGBTQI+ National Monument, in Ottawa, Wednesday, May 1, 2024. (Justin Tang/THE CANADIAN PRESS )
“I am one of many queer women who were unfairly arrested, questioned and dishonorably discharged from the Canadian Armed Forces. This trauma drove me to fight hard to be myself in the workplace and create space for others to do the same. ” said LGBT Purge Fund president Martine Roy. “Thunderhead is a symbol of how far we have come in a time when discrimination and hate against 2SLGBTQI+ people are increasingly visible. This monument will serve to honor our history for generations to come. It will be a light to those who still face exclusion. and for the change that we will continue working for.
The National Capital Commission (NAC) will oversee the development and construction of the monument. It is planned to be completed in 2025.
With files from CTV News’ Rachel Aiello