After conducting extensive consultations and planning, the LGBT Purge Fund unveiled plans to build a LGBTQ2+ National Monument in Ottawa, that will memorialize discrimination against LGBTQ2+ people, including the period known as the LGBT Purge.

The monument site will be located at the northeast side of Wellington Street near the Portage Bridge, next to the Ottawa River, close to the Judicial Precinct. The Monument will memorialize the profound impact of the discrimination experienced by Canada’s LGBTQ2+ communities and will celebrate the achievements of those who fought for equality.

Teams of professional artists, landscape architects, architects and other urban design professionals are invited to submit their credentials and examples of work for consideration as part of the Request for Qualifications for the LGBTQ2+ National Monument. The deadline is January 5, 2021.

Costs for the Monument project are estimated at $8,000,000, and will be entirely paid for by the LGBT Purge Fund. The funds for the monument came from a class action ground-breaking settlement, and are intended to honour victims of the LGBT Purge who died prior to the settlement of the lawsuit. Canada was the first country in the world to provide substantial compensation for the harm inflicted on its own people through decades of state-sponsored discrimination.

The monument is scheduled to be completed by 2025. In addition to the construction of the Monument, the LGBT Purge Fund is also supporting the development of an exhibit on the LGBT Purge at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg, which is scheduled to be launched in 2023.

The LGBT Purge Fund is a not-for-profit corporation established in 2018 to manage funds provided from the settlement of a class action lawsuit between the Government of Canada and members of the LGBT community who were employed by the Canadian Armed Forces, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), and the Canadian federal public service. For more details, visit the LGBT Purge Fund website.

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Bryen Dunn is a freelance journalist with a focus on travel, lifestyle, entertainment and hospitality. He has an extensive portfolio of celebrity interviews with musicians, actors and other public personalities. He enjoys discovering delicious eats, tasting spirited treats, and being mesmerized by musical beats.