Thunderclouds are gathering in the shadow of the Library and Archives Canada building in downtown Ottawa, but instead of rain and lightning, these clouds are meant to bring celebration and reflection as part of a new national 2SLGBTQ+ monument.
Thunderhead, as the monument is known, is a roughly nine-metre white column with rounded cloud-shaped openings.
“It’s inverted clouds that are inside of this pillar,” said Todd Ross, co-chair of the LGBT Purge Fund. “And then really to gay it up, we lined it with mirrored tiles so it feels like you’re inside of a giant disco ball.”
The monument and its surrounding park are located near the intersection of Wellington Street and the Portage Bridge.
Todd Ross was honourably discharged from the Canadian navy in 1990 after being investigated for his sexuality. Years later, he joined a class-action lawsuit whose proceeds funded the monument. (Francis Ferland/CBC)
Thunderhead recognizes the discrimination experienced by 2SLGBTQ+ people across the country, particularly during a decades-long campaign by the Canadian government known as the LGBT purge.
From the 1950s to the mid-1990s, the federal government investigated and expelled thousands of employees from the RCMP, Canadian Armed Forces and the federal public service due to their sexuality.
Ross was himself honourably discharged from the Canadian navy in 1990. The official reason given was that he was “not advantageously employable due to homosexuality.”
Later, Ross joined a multimillion-dollar class-action lawsuit against the federal government. Proceeds from the suit funded the monument’s design and construction.
A metaphor for destruction and renewal
The monument was designed by a Winnipeg-based team led by Liz Wreford of Architects Public City. She says the concept of thunderclouds was presented as a metaphor for destruction and renewal.
“It’s the perfect element that can hold two things at once,” Wreford said. “So in the end it wasn’t a cloud — it was the absence of a cloud that is part of the monument.”
The column’s openings and skylight allow sunlight to hit the mirrored interior, which Ross says creates a kaleidoscope of colour. Flickering lights inside the column mimic the flash of lightning during a thunderstorm.
Liz Wreford led the design team behind the Thunderhead monument and its surrounding park. (Francis Ferland/CBC)
The surrounding park was designed to shed light on the history of anti-2SLGBTQ+ discrimination in Canada.
A winding path leads to an interpretive wall detailing that history, including the persecution of two-spirit people at the hands of the government.
Thirteen stones hand-picked by two-spirit elders from each province and territory form a healing circle nearby.
A space for reflection and celebration
“It’s a place where I think people will have a range of experiences and emotions from really reflecting maybe on their own experience,” said Michelle Douglas, executive director of the LGBT Purge Fund, who called the park “a real beacon of hope.”
Like Ross, Douglas was discharged from the Armed Forces in 1989. She later sued the government, resulting in an out-of-court settlement in 1992 and effectively ending the military’s purge.
Wreford says it was important that the site acted as a living monument, as a way of both recognizing that history of discrimination and looking forward to the future.
The park surrounding the Thunderhead monument includes an interpretive wall illustrating the story of 2SLGBTQ+ people in Canada. (Francis Ferland/CBC)
The site also includes a stage and other spaces for performances and gatherings.
Ross hopes the monument and park can be used as a space both for celebration and protest.
“When things aren’t going well, we want this to be a place where people can come and gather,” he said. “So there’s a few different purposes that this has been designed for, and we’re really proud of that.”
Gov.-Gen. Louise Arbour will attend Thunderhead’s official opening ceremony on Friday. Capital Pride 2026 kicks off the next day and runs until Aug. 30.