{"id":177539,"date":"2026-08-21T20:56:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T20:56:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/177539\/"},"modified":"2026-08-21T20:56:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T20:56:14","slug":"national-lgbtq-monument-unveiled-in-ottawa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/177539\/","title":{"rendered":"National LGBTQ+ monument unveiled in Ottawa"},"content":{"rendered":"

Canada’s new national monument recognizing historic discrimination against the LGBTQ+<\/a> community officially opened on Friday.<\/p>\n

Thunderhead, located near the Portage Bridge and Wellington Street, commemorates victims of the LGBT Purge, a decades-long practice in which thousands of members of the federal public service<\/a>, Canadian Armed Forces<\/a> and RCMP<\/a> were investigated, harassed or pushed from their jobs because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.<\/p>\n

The monument was paid for by the LGBT Purge Fund following a $145-million class-action settlement involving 719 people who had been targeted by the federal government because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. The settlement set aside $15 million for the monument and other memorialization projects.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The national 2SLBGTQI+ monument is known as Thunderhead.<\/p>\n

Gov.-Gen. Louise Arbour was on hand for the opening ceremony and said the monument paid tribute to survivors who helped end discriminatory government policies.<\/p>\n

“The image of the thundercloud is particularly evocative in capturing the harm caused by the LGBT Purge,” she said. “A storm cloud, dark like the suffering endured.”<\/p>\n

Thunderhead is a large white structure shaped around the image of a storm cloud, with cloud-like openings cut into its walls. Inside, small mirrored tiles catch the sunlight and create shifting reflections, while flickering lights are meant to resemble lightning.<\/p>\n

The monument is surrounded by a park designed as a place for both reflection and gathering. A winding path leads to a wall telling the history of discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community in Canada, while a nearby healing circle features 13 stones selected by two-spirit Indigenous elders from each province and territory.<\/p>\n

\"Musician<\/p>\n

Musician Calamine performs during the opening ceremony of the national 2SLBGTQI+ monument known as Thunderhead.<\/p>\n

\"Former<\/p>\n

Former prime minister Justin Trudeau poses for a selfie with Jezebel, drag queen, at the end of the opening ceremony of the national 2SLBGTQI+ monument known as Thunderhead.<\/p>\n

\"Former<\/p>\n

Former MP Svend Robinson and Senator Ren\u00e9 Cormier dance together at the end of the opening ceremony of the national 2SLBGTQI+ monument known as Thunderhead on Friday.<\/p>\n

\"Gov.-Gen.<\/p>\n

Gov.-Gen. Louise Arbour, left, and Senator Kim Pate dance at the end of the opening ceremony of the national 2SLBGTQI+ monument known as Thunderhead.<\/p>\n

\"Jennie<\/p>\n

Jennie Carignan, Chief of the Defence Staff for the Canadian Armed Forces, middle, attends the opening ceremony of the national 2SLBGTQI+ monument known as Thunderhead in Ottawa on Friday, Aug. 21.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The national 2SLBGTQI+ monument is known as Thunderhead.<\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Canada’s new national monument recognizing historic discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community officially opened on Friday. Thunderhead, located near…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":177540,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[1278,38068,14811,56155,61,47448],"class_list":["post-177539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ottawa","tag-canadian-armed-forces","tag-human-rights-activist","tag-louise-arbour","tag-michelle-douglas","tag-ottawa","tag-thunderhead"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177539"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177539\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/177540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}