On November 23, 2021, lawyers representing the LGBT Purge class members appeared in the Federal Court of Canada to obtain an order to wind up the class action. That order was granted on January 7, 2021 by Justice St-Louis.

Justice St. Louis ordered that the administration of the individual compensation claims process was terminated and that the Claims Administrator, Deloitte LLP, and the Claims Assessors, the Honourable Justice Marie Deschamps and Dr. Brunet, were discharged from their duties. In addition, the duties of Cambridge LLP, Koskie Minsky, McKiggan Hebert and IMK Advocates and the Representative Plaintiffs, Martine Roy, Todd Ross and Alida Satalic, were suspended in respect to the class action and its settlement and administration. Their job is done.

Now that the class action proceeding has concluded, class action members may still want to receive updates about LGBT Purge Fund projects. Periodic updates will be posted online and members are invited to sign up for the newsletter via the LGBT Purge Fund’s website homepage.

The work of the LGBT Purge Fund is ongoing. On January 7, 2022, Justice St-Louis also made an order approving the Third Supplementary Agreement, which extends the lifespan of the LGBT Purge Fund to June 30, 2027.

The LGBT Purge Fund is a not-for-profit corporation that was set up to manage a portion of the funds that emerged from the class action settlement. We have a legal mandate to implement four main projects that focus on reconciliation and memorialization:

• Create a national monument to discrimination against LGBTQ2+ people in Canada including the LGBT Purge;
• Support the development of a museum exhibition by the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, based in Winnipeg;
• Address the collection, preservation and accessibility of historical records related to the LGBT Purge; and
• Work with the Canadian government to enhance inclusion in the federal public service and to improve existing training on LGBTQ2+ inclusion.

You can learn more about these projects here.

We would like to recognize the leadership shown by the Representative Plaintiffs, Todd, Martine and Alida. Without their courage this settlement would not have been possible. We also hope that all class members will continue to connect with other survivors and raise the awareness about the LGBT Purge. Our work continues.

The LGBT Purge Fund continues to seek access to the full historical record of the LGBT Purge. We need these documents to tell the history of the LGBT Purge.

Many of the documents received so far have been eye-opening and startling. Here is one excerpt of a letter from the Minister of National Defence, Marcel Masse, to Prime Minister, Brian Mulroney, outlining the government’s calculated approach to Michelle Douglas’ historic lawsuit against the Canadian military, which challenged discriminatory policies against LGBT service members. In summer 1992, Masse wrote:

If we proceed to try the Douglas case, there will be three unavoidable consequences:

(a) we will be perceived as refusing to acknowledge the existing law of Canada (This may well result in the award of punitive and exemplary damages);
(b) the Canadian Forces’ reputation will be brought into disrepute; and
(c) the evidence generated at trial will seriously embarrass the Government.

I urge that you give your immediate approval to settle the Douglas case and the other pending sexual orientation cases and to abandon the current Canadian Forces policy with respect to sexual orientation in accordance with the advice and recommendations previously provided by the Attorney General of Canada.

Yours sincerely,
Marcel Masse

Thus far, we have over 9,000 pages of material. However, we know there are many more relevant documents and we are pressing the federal government to provide them. They have not been as helpful or forthcoming as we believe they should be. We have had to hire lawyers to help us in recovering as many records as possible, and we are seeking the assistance of the Federal Court in resolving our concerns with the scope of documents that have been produced. We are continuing to seek a negotiated resolution. If this situation cannot be reasonably resolved, it is possible that the LGBT Purge Fund would need to continue with legal action to obtain the additional records.

In the first half of 2022, we expect to post the documents currently in our possession and make them available to the public. Additional details regarding the release of the historical documents will be made available in due course.

Stay tuned for updates.