Thunderhead, Canada’s 2SLGBTQI+ National Monument
Thunderhead, Canada’s 2SLGBTQI+ National Monument, recognizes the historic discrimination faced by 2SLGBTQI+ people in Canada, including during the LGBT Purge. It celebrates the resilience and achievements of those who fought for equality, educates visitors and inspires the change still needed so that everyone can openly love who they love and express and identify themselves as they choose.
Thunderhead was designed by an all-Canadian team based in Winnipeg, led by Public City Architecture, with Elder Albert McLeod and artists Shawna Dempsey and Lorri Millan. Their concept was selected through an international design competition.
The design takes its inspiration from a thunderhead, a dynamic cloud associated with energy and renewal. In Anishinabe teachings, thunderclouds are home to the Thunderers, whose storms renew the land and make things right. At the centre of the site, a massive column is broken apart from within by a thunderhead cloud, representing the strength and determination of 2SLGBTQI+ communities to break through barriers and seek justice and equality. Thousands of mirrored tiles inside the sculpture reflect the diversity of these communities and hold the memory of lives lost too soon.
The surrounding landscape adds further meaning. A sugar maple honours those who served Canada, while a healing circle and medicinal garden recognize Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer experiences. A fruit orchard reclaims language once used to oppress 2SLGBTQI+ people and instead celebrates community, beauty and joy.
The funds for this monument came from a class action lawsuit launched by survivors of the LGBT Purge against the Government of Canada. The Purge was a government campaign that systematically hunted, harassed and fired 2SLGBTQI+ members of the Canadian Armed Forces, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the federal public service between the 1950s and mid-1990s. These funds would have gone to LGBT Purge victims had they lived long enough to make a claim in the class action.
This project is a collaboration between the LGBT Purge Fund, Canadian Heritage, the National Capital Commission and diverse 2SLGBTQI+ communities and their allies. Participation of 2SLGBTQI+ people in Canada has been instrumental to the development of the Monument since the beginning.
Thunderhead is located at 201 Wellington Street in Ottawa, along the Kichi Sibi, or Ottawa River, near the Portage Bridge, on the unceded and traditional territory of the Anishinabe Algonquin Nation.
For more information on this monument, please visit the official website.