Survey opens to select design of proposed LGBTQ2+ National Monument in Ottawa
A new online survey has opened allowing Canadians to select their preferred design for a future national monument to honour Canada's LBGTQ2+ communities.
Five designs have been shortlisted for the monument, which will be built on land between Wellington Street and the Ottawa River, near the Portage Bridge. The monument is scheduled to be completed in 2025.
According to a press release from the Ministry of Canadian Heritage, The LGBTQ2+ National Monument will "tell the story of generations of LGBTQ2+ people in Canada who have been persecuted, abused, dismissed and marginalized because of who they love and how they identify."
The monument will honour Canadians affected by the "LGBT Purge," a time when lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Canadians were actively discriminated against and systematically forced out of jobs in the Canadian Armed Forces, the RCMP, and the federal public service. The site would also serve to "educate, memorialize, celebrate and inspire diversity and inclusion in Canadian society."
The estimated $8 million cost of the project will be covered by the LGBT Purge Fund, a non-profit corporation established in 2018 to manage funds provided for the settlement of a class action lawsuit between the federal government and members of the LGBT community who were employed by the Canadian Armed Forces, the RCMP, and the Canadian federal public service.
“I hope LGBTQ2+ communities will feel that some or all of these designs express the pain the community has experienced while instilling pride and hope for the future. I would like to thank all the design teams that applied to this competition and wish them the best,” said heritage minister Pablo Rodriguez in a press release.
Michelle Douglas, executive director of the LGBT Purge Fund said, "The five proposed designs for the LGBTQ2+ National Monument are inspiring, creative and powerful. The LGBT Purge Fund is grateful to the design teams for answering the challenge of realizing the vision for this monument and for creating such evocative designs that tell the story of discrimination against LGBTQ2+ communities in Canada. We are now at an exciting stage in the process where we need to hear from people across this country. We want as many people as possible to have their say on these designs and be part of the next chapter of this story.
The survey will be open until Nov. 28, with a jury of experts in the fields of visual arts, landscape architecture, architecture and urban design, as well as LGBT Purge survivors and other stakeholders considering the survey responses as part of selection process.
Nov. 28, 2021 also marks four years since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delivered his historic apology in the House of Commons to the victims and survivors of the LGBT Purge.
The winning design will be announced in 2022.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
DEVELOPING 120 active fires burning across Canada, 30 are 'out of control'
The 2024 wildfire season has begun, and it's shaping up to follow last year's unprecedented destruction in kind, with thousands of square kilometres already consumed.
Veteran TSN sportscaster Darren Dutchyshen has died
Veteran TSN broadcaster Darren 'Dutch' Dutchyshen, one of Canada’s best-known sports journalists, has died. He was 57. His family says 'he passed as he was surrounded by his closest loved ones.'
BREAKING B.C. parents sentenced to 15 years for death of 6-year-old boy
A British Columbia Supreme Court judge has sentenced the mother and stepfather of a six-year-old boy who died from blunt-force trauma in 2018 to 15 years in prison.
'Worried he might be carrying a handgun': Legislative Speaker cuts ties with Sask. Party, claims he was harassed and intimidated
The Speaker of the Saskatchewan Legislature Randy Weekes has severed ties with the Sask. Party after accusing some members of harassment and intimidation tactics, including a situation he claimed saw the Government House Leader bring a hunting rifle to the legislative building.
Kevin Spacey receives star support as he fights to get his career back
Kevin Spacey is pushing back on the 'rush to judgment' against him and is being backed by some big names as he seeks to reclaim his acting career.
A Toronto man killed his mother and decapitated her. His lawyers argue it wasn't murder
A ‘lifetime of abuse’ led Dallas Ly to snap and repeatedly stab his mother inside their Leslieville apartment in 2022 but he never intended to kill her, his defence lawyers argued during his murder trial in Toronto on Thursday.
Father charged with second-degree murder in daughter's stabbing death southwest of Montreal
A father has been charged with second-degree murder in the stabbing death of his 34-year-old daughter in southern Quebec.
Trudeau calls New Brunswick's Conservative government a 'disgrace' on women's rights
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau assailed New Brunswick's premier and other conservative leaders on Thursday, calling out the provincial government's position on abortion, LGBTQ youth and climate change.
The latest advice for expecting parents? Sign up for childcare as soon as you're pregnant
Canada's new $10-a-day child care program is expanding, but there's growing evidence that demand for the program is rising even faster, leaving many parents on the outside looking in.