October 2022 marked the 30th anniversary of the lawsuit brought by Michelle Douglas that ended the ban on LGBT people serving in the military. The month was an important time to celebrate, reflect and fight for what still needs to be done for full inclusion of 2SLGBTQI+ folks in the federal workplace. Our work over the past month had the twin objectives of raising awareness about the LGBT Purge and bringing attention to a report we published last May called “Emerging from the Purge.”

Michelle began the month travelling to five cities in Canada to meet survivors and share stories about the LGBT Purge with the public. In Edmonton, Vancouver, Victoria, Fredericton, and Montreal, events included panel discussions and screenings of the award-winning documentary, “The Fruit Machine.” The tour reinforced the need to raise awareness about this shameful chapter of Canadian history, as we continue to be surprised by how few know about the Purge. You can view the documentary online here.

 

The busy month culminated with a press conference and a week of meetings with politicians on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. With colleagues from Egale Canada and Fondation Émergence, we stressed the need for systemic change in the federal workplace and full implementation of the 23 recommendations in the “Emerging from the Purge” report. The report followed an in-depth research program on the current state of inclusion in the public service, the RCMP and the Military. You can read the report here.  Spoiler alert: there is still much work to be done!

Like so much human rights work, the report was initiated and accomplished by those who faced the discrimination they seek to remedy. Though the report was mentioned in the government’s 2SLGBTQI+ Action Plan in August 2022, we continue to push for concrete commitment for how and when its recommendations will be implemented. We plan to continue our efforts to ensure that the government allocates necessary resources, provides better training and remains accountable for exclusion in both the past and the present.

 

On October 29th, more than 20 Purge survivors gathered together in Toronto to attend a gala hosted by the Toronto Police LGBTQ Internal Support Network. Over 200 people attended this gala which honoured Purge survivors and acknowledged the work of Michelle Douglas on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of her landmark legal challenge against the Canadian Armed Forces. Guest speaker Svend Robinson recounted the history of the LGBT Purge. A tribute video also featured Michaëlle Jean, Brian Mulroney and Jody Wilson-Raybould, among others.

 

As always, our work last month was driven by a desire to make the federal workplan fairer, so that people can fulfill their aspirations to serve – something that was taken away from LGBT Purge survivors. We still need to ensure that our rights are protected and that future generations of 2SLGBTQI+ Canadians can serve this country with dignity, equality and full inclusion.

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.