The 2SLGBTQI+ National Monument will be a place to learn about the LGBT Purge, and wider discrimination against 2SLGBTQI+ people in Canada and its rootedness in colonization. We have brought together a group of experts to guide the Fund as we identify the key messages that will be told on site and on the Monument’s future companion website.

The Education and Interpretation Committee (or EIC) is currently composed of nine members from diverse fields of expertise, including: community activism; curation; community history; story-telling; archive management; public education; and more. Members include:

• Alex Wilson is Neyonawak Inniniwak from the Opaskwayak Cree Nation. She is a professor with the Department of Educational Foundations and the Academic Director of the Aboriginal Education Research Centre at the University of Saskatchewan. Dr. Wilson’s scholarship has greatly contributed to building and sharing knowledge about two spirit identity, history and teachings, Indigenous research methodologies, and the prevention of violence in the lives of Indigenous peoples. Learn more at: https://words.usask.ca/alexwilson/
• Armando Perla is a curator, scholar, international museum consultant, and human rights advocate. Initially trained as a human rights lawyer and legal researcher, Armando has worked as a curator at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights and as Project Leader for the Swedish Museum of Movements and the City of Medellin in Colombia, among numerous institutions, and recently became the Chief Curator for the Toronto History Museums at the City of Toronto. He is also Vice-President of the Board of the Canadian Museums Association. Learn more about Armando via: https://orderofm.com/conversation/building-a-human-centered-museum
• Lee Airton is an Assistant Professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies in Education at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. As a researcher, blogger, advocate and speaker, Dr. Airton focuses on enabling individuals and institutions to welcome gender and sexual diversity in everyday life. Learn more at: https://www.leeairton.com/
• Line Chamberland is a professor in the Department of Sexology at UQAM, who has been involved with the community for more than 30 years. An experienced sociologist and researcher, now retired, she pursued multiple activities aimed at developing teaching and research in the field of sexual diversity and the plurality of genders. Learn more at: https://professeurs.uqam.ca/professeur/chamberland.line/
• Raegan Swanson has been the Executive Director of the Arquives since 2016. She has worked as an archivist at Library and Archives Canada, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, Aanischaaukamikw Cree Cultural Institute and as the Archival Advisor for the Council of Archives New Brunswick. Learn more at: https://www.raeganswanson.ca/
• Robin Metcalfe is a writer, curator, and cultural activist living in Nova Scotia. Since 1975, Robin has been active within 2SLGBTQIA+ communities locally, across Canada and internationally, as an organizer, journalist and community archivist and historian. He is currently developing the Passage Memory Project, based on more than four decades of collecting Queer historical documents, books, artworks and ephemera. Learn more at: http://www.robinmetcalfe.ca/
• Scott de Groot is a Curator at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, where he is curating a major exhibition on Canada’s LGBTQ2+ Purge. An award-winning educator, Scott has designed and taught courses in the history of sexuality and historical research methods and led the development of new programming at the University of Manitoba’s Division of Extended Education. He holds a PhD in history from Queen’s University and was the inaugural Riley Postdoctoral Fellow in Canadian History at the University of Winnipeg. Learn more at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottdegroot/
• Tim McCaskell is a long-time writer, activist and educator. He was a collective member of The Body Politic, Canada’s first national magazine for Lesbian and Gay Liberation from 1974 to 1986, chair of the Public Action Committee of the Right to Privacy Committee which fought against police raids on gay baths in Toronto in the early 80s, a founding member of AIDS ACTION NOW! and spokesperson for Queers Against Israeli Apartheid. Learn more about his work and books at: https://btlbooks.com/authors/view/tim-mccaskell
• Wesley Crichlow is an African/Black Canadian Critical Race Theorist Intersectional Decolonial Queer Scholar. Whose work critically connects Theories of Anti-Black Racism, Intersectionality, Decoloniality and Queered Theories as the signature praxis and framing for his research, teaching and service. His work aims to provide measures to alleviate anti-Black racism, cisheteronormativity, transmisogyny, structural, and systemic inequalities. Dr. Crichlow teaches at Ontario Tech University (2003-present) within the youth and criminal justice discipline. Expertise: Human Rights, Gender, Sexuality & Diaspora Caribbean Masculinities | Black Queerness | Critical Equity, Human Rights & Diversity Studies | Critical Race Theory & Intersectionality | Deconstructing Anti-Black Racism & Decolonization | Black Youth Scholarly Mentoring | Race Crime Masculinities & Criminal Injustices. Current Research Project: Social Science and Humanities Research Council: Race, Gender, and Diversity Initiative: Title: Carceral Intersections of Gender Identity, Sexual Orientation and Trans Experience in Confronting Anti-Black Racism and Structural Violence in the Prisoner Re-entry Industrial Complex. 2022-205. $400,075

The Committee met in two separate sessions in June and July of 2022 and joined together for a meeting in September 2022. Their input has been incredibly valuable. We will continue to refine our approach and content, and may bring together these experts and many more as we move forward with the writing, layout, design, research, and story-gathering required for this essential component of the Monument.

The LGBT Purge Fund is thrilled to announce that “Thunderhead” has been selected as the winning proposal for the LGBTQ2+ National Monument. The design was conceived by the Winnipeg-based team led by Liz Wreford, Peter Sampson and Taylor LaRocque of Public City, with artists Shawna Dempsey and Lorri Millan, and Albert McLeod, Indigenous and Two-Spirited People subject-matter expert and advisor.

The design draws on the symbolism of a thunderhead cloud, which embodies the strength, activism and hope of LGBTQ2+ communities. It will be a lasting testimony to the courage and humanity of those who were harmed by the LGBT Purge, homophobic and transphobic laws and norms, and Canada’s colonial history.

Elements of the design include a sculpture that creates the imprint of a thunderhead cloud in mirrored tile, a pathway through a landscaped park that traces the history of LGBTQ2+ people in Canada and a healing circle ringed with stones hand-picked by Two-Spirit Elders.

The LGBT Purge Fund believes in this powerful and creative design and knows this concept will create an extraordinarily special place for the LGBTQ2+ community and all those who visit it. We are honoured and thrilled to work with the team and support their work as they develop this monument.

This feeling is mutual. In the official Canadian Heritage press release, team lead Liz Wreford writes:

“We are both proud and honoured to be chosen to create this monument to the resiliency of the LGBTQ2+ community. We look forward to continuing to work with our amazing team and community stakeholders in the design of the disco-ball thunderhead. This monument will be a symbol of celebration and a space for reflection, healing, activism and performance for generations to come.”

—Liz Wreford, Principal Landscape Architect at Public City

You can read the press release in its entirety here.

The winning design was selected by a jury that evaluated five striking finalist designs — each which responded to the Monument’s Vision in their own unique way. As part of their deliberations, the jury considered the results of an online survey open to the LGBTQ2+ community and the public, as well as feedback received from the Monument’s Indigenous Circle participants and the Monument Advisory Committee, which includes LGBT Purge survivors and other LGBTQ2+ community members.

We would like to thank all of the finalist teams for their thoughtful proposals, passion, and creativity.

And to the jury members, rightsholders, Monument Advisory Committee members, Indigenous Circle, visioning process participants, survey respondents, friends of the LGBT Purge Fund and others, sincere thanks to you all for your vital contributions to this historic process.