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2SLGBTQIA+ related resources: Research guide

Use this guide to get an in-depth look at how to find information in Library and Archives Canada’s (LAC’s) collections about 2SLGBTQIA+ communities and history. The documents discussed in this guide are about wide-ranging aspects of 2SLGBTQIA+ life from both government and community perspectives.

Content and historical language advisory

During your search, you may come across information, images or terms that may be considered offensive or that could be upsetting. The documents and publications in Library and Archives Canada’s (LAC’s) collections, their content and their descriptions reflect both the period in which they were created and the opinions of their creators.

Please access the general mental health support resources available if you need them. It Gets Better Canada also maintains a list of national and provincial help specifically for 2SLGBTQIA+ community members.

On this page

Before you start

Scope of the guide

Prior to the late 1960s, there were not as many publications or archival records by or for the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, largely due to heavy criminal and social punishments. Thus, discovering information about this history prior to the mid-20th century often means searching for hints in historical documents and publications like newspapers and court records.

This guide is extensive but does have some limitations.

Due to the way that homophobia and other systemic oppressions played out across North American cultures and government institutions, record keeping tended to be local, rather than national. It was generally left to community members to create their own memory institutions, such as the ArQuives in Toronto or the Archives gaies du Québec in Montréal.

As well, archival and bibliographic descriptions do not always make clear that materials are by or for 2SLGBTQIA+ community members. Sometimes, with personal archives, this can be at the request of the donor; other times, it can be because of bias (unconscious or not). For library materials, subject headings have been lacking at best.

Finally, given the breadth of our collections, this guide does not capture everything in our collections related to the lives of 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals and communities but instead provides search strategies for various types of materials and subjects.

Each section below provides search strategies for various types of materials and subjects, with a few examples of what you might expect to find. You can then use these strategies and examples to search further. Note that we have chosen different examples of published material for our English and French guides.

If you are not sure where to start, our Starting your research pages offers general information as well as tips on archival and library resources specifically.

Keyword bank

One of the major obstacles to doing historical research into 2SLGBTQIA+ lives is not only the number of terms that have been used over the years but also the fact that, for decades, “proper” Canadian society would only use the vaguest euphemisms to describe gender-nonconforming behaviours and people who engaged in same-sex intercourse and relationships.

We compiled the following list of words during our own research or in speaking to researchers in the field. The older terms are less likely to return results in Collection search (archival database) or Aurora (library catalogue), but they may be good starting points as you consult primary sources such as newspapers, court records or Hudson’s Bay Company journals.

Many of the terms below, such as queer, fag or dyke, started out as slurs but have been reclaimed by community members. The language we use is constantly evolving, so you will see the same word used with different connotations over the decades.

Keywords specific to a topic or a particular group of archival records are noted below in those sections rather than included here.

Terminology
Word Time period Useful information
2SLGBTQIA+, GLB, LGB, LGBT, LGBTQ, LGBTQ2S, etc. 1970s–

The acronym used to describe queer communities has been evolving since the 1970s. In the federal government, the acronym LGBTQ2 was used from 2016 to 2022, when it was replaced by 2SLGBTQI+.Footnote 1

2S = Two-Spirit
L = Lesbian
G = Gay
B = Bisexual
T = Trans*
Q = Queer and Questioning
I = Intersex
A = Asexual, aromantic
+ = part of sexual or gender diverse communities but using other terms
Androgyne 16th c.– Emerges first as a synonym for sodomite.Footnote 2
Asexual 1896–Footnote 3 No information
Berdache, berdash Early 1800s– From the 1550s to the early 1700s, the word in Early Modern English is “bardash” from Arabic; it is then borrowed by way of French in the 1800s as “berdache.” Footnote 4 It was used in anthropological writings to describe third-gender social roles and positions in Indigenous societies, which have more recently reclaimed these roles in their own Indigenous languages and worldviews or under the umbrella term Two-Spirit.
Bisexual 1824– From 1824 to the late 1800s, a synonym for hermaphrodite; gained its current sense in the late 1800s.Footnote 5
Buggery 1850s– Legal term in Canada from the 1850s to 1988. Added to the Criminal Code in 1892, then changed to “anal intercourse” in 1988.Footnote 6 Prior to 1988, could include a range of behaviours.
Character defect, character weakness 1948–1990s Term used by the RCMP. Included behaviours they felt could lead to blackmail, including gambling, heavy drinking and homosexuality.Footnote 7 Also known as "human frailties."
Crime of the worst kind 1648–? Used as a euphemism by Jesuits and the courts in New France. Could be in Latin (convictus crimine pessimo) or in translation.Footnote 8
Crime against nature 1772–? From William Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England, often used in documentation of court cases. Includes homosexuality but also bestiality.Footnote 9
Cross-dresser, cross-dressing 1911– See also “disorderly conduct.” See also “transvestite.” Introduced by Edward Carpenter in 1911.Footnote 10
Deviant, deviate (nouns) 1945– Used in medical texts and social sciences from the late 19th century, it doesn’t gain popularity until after the Second World War.Footnote 11
Disorderly conduct 1800s– Added to the Criminal Code in 1955. Cross-dressing was often reported under this term.
Dyke 1920s–; reclaimed and popularized within community, 1970s– Originating in Black American slang as “bull-diker.”Footnote 12
Effeminate men 15th c.–Footnote 13 Up to the late 1960s, this term was often used to mean “homosexual men.”
Eonism, eonists 1920s From Havelock Ellis. Taken over by “transvestism.”Footnote 14
Eunuch 15th to 20th c.Footnote 15 A castrated man. Associated with passive effeminacy in relationships with men.Footnote 16
Fairy Late 19th c.–  Applied to effeminate men assumed to be gay. Also spelled “faery,” “fary.”Footnote 17
Female impersonator To late 20th c. An individual who is assigned male at birth and who adopts female dress and mannerisms, often but not exclusively for performance or entertainment.
Fag, faggot 1920s–Footnote 18 No information
Gay As adj. 1920s–
As noun 1950s–Footnote 19		 No information
Gender nonconforming, gender nonconformity 1981–Footnote 20 No information
Gross indecency 1890s–1988 Legal term consolidated into the Criminal Code in 1892. Initially applied only to men; women were included in a 1954 amendment. It was removed from the Criminal Code only in 1988. Left purposefully vague to cover a variety of same-sex sexual activity in men that wasn’t “buggery.”Footnote 21
Hermaphrodite Late 1500s–late 1900s/early 2000s See also “intersex.”
Homophile 1945–1970s Post-Stonewall, often seen as a euphemism; fell out of favour to “gay.”Footnote 22
Homosexual, homosexuality 1900s– Extends back in various fields to the 1860s; popularized by Magnus Hirschfeld in the early 20th century.Footnote 23
Human frailties Late 1950s–late 1960s See "Character defect."
Invert, inversion 1870s–1920sFootnote 24 No information
Intersex 1910–Footnote 25 Since the 1990s, preferred term over “hermaphrodite.”
Lesbian, lesbianism 1925–Footnote 26 No information
Male impersonator To late 20th c. An individual who is assigned female at birth and who adopts male dress and mannerisms, often but not exclusively for performance or entertainment.
Mannish woman, mannish lesbian Late 19th c.–mid-20th c.Footnote 27 Often used as a euphemism for “lesbian.”
Men dressed as women Early 20th c. Mainly in newspaper reports.
Non-binary, nonbinary 1990s– No information
Pansy 1930s–Footnote 28 No information
Paraphilia 1925–Footnote 29 No information
Pederast, pederasty 1613–1970sFootnote 30 Often conflated with “sodomite.”
Psychopathic personality—homosexual 1940s–1960s Based on psychiatric concepts, a category used by the Canadian military to evaluate soldiers and recruits and by the Immigration department to deny people entry into Canada. Overlaps with concepts of "sexual psychopath" and "psychopathic personality—abnormal sexuality."Footnote 31
Queer 1950s–Footnote 32 No information
Same sex 1949–Footnote 33 As in same-sex relationship, same-sex love.
Sapphic, sapphist, sapphism Late 19th c. –mid-20th c.Footnote 34 No information
Sissy 1887–late 1970sFootnote 35 No information
Sexual deviance, sexual deviation Mid-18th c.–1980 As a term in psychology including homosexuality. Replaced in the DSM-III in 1980 by “paraphilia.”Footnote 36
Sexual minority 1960s– Said to have been coined by Lars Ullerstam in the late 1960s.
Sexual orientation 1946–Footnote 37 No information
Spinster To late 20th c. Code word for lesbian.Footnote 38
Sodomy, sodomites 1860s– Originates as sodomia in Medieval Latin for various “crimes against nature,” including sexual acts with members of the opposite sex, same sex or animals. In Western Europe, starting in the 1860s, becomes more and more conflated with homosexuality.Footnote 39
Third sex, third gender 1847– First used in 1847 to refer to homosexuals by Balzac, then popularized by Ulrichs and Hirschfeld, the term was popular in Germany at the turn of the 20th century and was used in translation up to the late 1950s.Footnote 40 Footnote 41
Transgender Came into common use in the 1960s.Footnote 42 No information
Transvestite 1910– Coined by Magnus Hirschfeld.Footnote 43
Transsexual 1923– Magnus Hirschfeld first used this term in a lecture in 1923. Later attribution generally goes to Harry Benjamin or a 1949 article by David Oliver Cauldwell.Footnote 44 Gains popularity in the post-Second World War period.
Trans woman, transwoman 1996–Footnote 45 While both have been used over the years, “trans woman” is the preferred term.
Trans man, transman 1996–Footnote 46 While both have been used over the years, “trans man” is the preferred term
Tribade 16th c.–mid-1800s. Generally supplanted by “lesbian” and “sapphist” starting in the mid-1800s.Footnote 47
Two-Spirit 1990– Coined in Winnipeg at the third intertribal Native American/First Nations Gay and Lesbian Conference.Footnote 48
Unnatural crimes, unnatural offences ?–mid-1900s Same-sex sexual acts were often described as such, though the category also included acts such as bestiality and birth control.

Published collections

The published collections include many publications by and about 2SLGBTQIA+ communities and individuals. The earliest documents we have are generally newspaper accounts of scandals or court cases; publications by 2SLGBTQIA+ people for their own communities started exploding in the 1970s.

Highlights of the collections include:

Searching the published collections using Aurora

Search our library catalogue, Aurora, for published material like print books, e-books, music, videos, magazines, maps and digital documents. You can do a basic search by entering keywords into the blank field that appears on every page.

Target your search further with the advanced search. There are three particularly good options for this.

Subject search

Search by subject to see publications whose contents are at least 30% about your topic. This is decided by a cataloguing librarian who analyzes the work and then applies headings from a controlled vocabulary. On the advanced search page,

Author search

Search by author to see if a creator such as a person or advocacy group published anything. On the advanced search page,

Publisher search

Search by publisher to see everything we have in our catalogue they have produced. On the advanced search page,

Once you have a list of results, you can refine it by using the options on the left-hand side, for example, by format or date.

If you click on an item in the results list, you’ll see its complete description. Some of this information, such as the full list of subjects, can be helpful in expanding your search.

Learn more about using Aurora.

Subject headings table

The following table, while not an exhaustive list of the subject headings used in our catalogue, should help you start your subject searching.

It is based mostly on the Library of Congress subject headings, which aim to cover all human experience. They often include a main topic heading as well as topical subdivisions and geographical or format subdivisions.

The table also includes subject headings from the Homosaurus, a controlled vocabulary maintained by the Digital Transgender Archive. It aims to improve discoverability of published collections by complementing more general vocabularies such as the Library of Congress subject headings.

To use the table,

  1. Pick a heading (or headings) from Column A.
  2. To refine your search or get more info on a particular aspect of the subject, add a heading from Column B.
    • This will be helpful if your main subject heading returns a lot of results.
  3. To search for a particular type of format (e.g., periodical) or kind of writing (e.g., congresses/conference proceedings), add a term from Column C.
    • Use this with just column A or both columns. You can also add geographic areas, such as countries, provinces or cities to better refine your results.

Note that, generally, the more terms you use, the fewer results you will receive.

These subject headings are used internationally, so you can use them in other library catalogues.

Subject headings table
Column A
Subject headings (main topics on sexuality, gender identity, etc.) 		Column B
Subject heading subdivisions 		Column C
Formats
Asexuality (sexual orientation) Abuse of Bibliography
African American gay men Attitudes Biography
African American lesbians Cases Comic books, strips, etc.
Androgyny (psychology) Civil rights Congresses
Asian American gay people Counselling Exhibitions
Biphobia Education Fiction
Bisexual people Employment Periodicals
Bisexual women Family relationships Pictorial works
Bisexual youth Government policy Poetry
Bisexuality Health and hygiene Portraits
Bisexuals History no information
Children of gay parents History and criticism no information
Closeted gay people Institutional care no information
Coming out (sexual orientation) Intellectual life no information
Female impersonators Interviews no information
Female masculinity Law and legislation no information
Gay activists Legal status, laws, etc. no information
Gay adoption Political activity no information
Gay and lesbian parents Political aspects no information
Gay athletes Psychological aspects no information
Gay liberation Public opinion no information
Gay liberation movement Research no information
Gay men Religious aspects no information
Gay men, Black Services for no information
Gay parents Social aspects no information
Gay people Social conditions no information
Gay people’s writings Statistics no information
Gay pride celebrations Study and teaching no information
Gay teenagers no information no information
Gay youth no information no information
Gays no information no information
Gays’ writings no information no information
Gender identity no information no information
Gender nonconformity no information no information
Heterosexism no information no information
Homophobia no information no information
Homosexuals no information no information
Intersex people no information no information
Intersexuality no information no information
Lesbian athletes no information no information
Lesbians no information no information
Lesbian activists no information no information
Lesbian youth no information no information
Lesbianism in literature no information no information
Outing (sexual orientation) no information no information
Queer people no information no information
Queer rights no information no information
Queer theory no information no information
Queer youth no information no information
Sexology no information no information
Sexual minorities no information no information
Sexual minority community no information no information
Sexual minority women no information no information
Sexual orientation no information no information
Transgender athletes no information no information
Transgender people no information no information
Transgender people’s writings no information no information
Transgender youth no information no information
Transphobia no information no information
Transsexualism no information no information
Transsexuals no information no information
Two-Spirit people no information no information

Search different types of publications

Audiovisual

We hold many published films, television shows, records and CDs that are by or about members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community.

Because subject headings aren’t always applied to this format of material and the title doesn’t always use an obvious keyword, like “lesbian” or “gay,” we recommend doing other types of research to create a list of artists from 2SLGBTQIA+ communities and then doing an author search as described above.

Find online sources to help you build this list by doing an internet search for “2SLGBTQIA+ Canadian writers” (or “filmmakers” or “directors”).

We have developed lists to give you an idea of some creators:

Bibliographies

Bibliographies are a great way to find older materials that aren’t easily discoverable online; we hold many in our collections.

Use the advanced search to combine subject headings and “bibliography” from the table above, for example, “homosexuality bibliography” or “lesbians bibliography.”

You could also use the keyword index to search names or specific types of sexuality or gender identities, and, on the next line, use the subject index to add “bibliography.” For example, this search combines different types of sexual and gender identities and brings up over 50 results, such as:

Biographies, memoirs and autobiographies

These works describe first-hand experiences of 2SLGBTQIA+ people and range from poetry to graphic novels to academic essays.

Use the advanced search to combine subject headings and “biography” from the table above, for example, “transgender athletes biography” or “gay authors biography.”

You could also use the keyword index to search names or specific types of sexuality or gender identities, and, on the next line, use the subject index to add “biography.” For example, this search for various orientations and identities will bring up over 500 publications, such as:

Conference proceedings

Since the late 1970s, there have been many conferences of interest to 2SLGBTQIA+ communities, whether held by community organizations or on topics important to members of the community.

While we do have some holdings for community-based conferences, our holdings are much stronger for conferences put on by the federal or provincial governments.

Use the advanced search to combine subject headings and “congresses” (the term used for conference proceedings) from the table above, for example, “homosexuality congresses.”

You could also use the keyword index to search names or specific types of sexuality or gender identities, and, on the next line, use the subject index to include “congresses.” For example, this search for various orientations and identities will bring up over 20 publications, such as:

Government documents

Government documents include publications such as annual reports of programs, health promotion campaigns and research reports. They can tell you what various parts of the government were thinking and doing during a particular period.

On the advanced search page, use the keyword or subject index to describe your topic. On the next line, keep the index as “keyword” and enter mt:ngp. This will tell the catalogue to search only for the material type of government publications.

This search for various orientations and identities will bring up over 300 publications, such as:

Prior to 2011, LAC automatically collected provincial and territorial government publications. If you are looking for publications from 2012 and after, try searching the GALLOP Portal, which gathers online publications from many provincial and territorial governments. If you would like to search Aurora for publications by this level of government, you can do an “author search" as described above, entering the name of the province or territory.

There are two other sources that you might want to search:

House of Commons debates and committees

Much of the government’s opinions about and decisions on matters important to the 2SLGBTQIA+ community can be traced through discussions in the House of Commons. You can read these in the debates (also called the Hansard), as well as committee transcripts and briefs.

While LAC does have print copies of most of the debates and committee publications in our collections, you can also browse and search them online:

You can open individual volumes and search by keyword, or you can use the indexes that are available for most years.

Some of the important events that can be traced in debates and committees are the following:

Briefs submitted to committees are sometimes included in the Minutes of Proceedings and Evidence (later published separately as Proceedings and Evidence) for each committee, available on the websites above. If you can’t find a brief online, we may have it in the Committees and Legislative Services Directorate series (RG14-D-4) of the House of Commons fonds in our archival collections. Please contact us if you need help.

Recordings of the House of Commons proceedings and public committees are available via ParlVU from 2006 onwards. If you are looking for audiovisual recordings prior to 2006, please see our section on archival audiovisual holdings.

Newspapers

Our collections include many Canadian newspapers produced by various 2SLGBTQIA+ communities across the country. If you are looking for publications like newsletters or quarterly journals, please see our Serials section below.

One of the first newspapers to cover issues from a gay and lesbian perspective was The Body Politic (1971–1987).

It folded in 1987, three years after Xtra! began publishing in 1984. Xtra! then expanded to Ottawa (Capital Xtra!) and Vancouver (Xtra West!) in 1993. All three papers published their last print issues in 2015, when Xtra Magazine became an online publication.

To see what is available in our collections, please consult our 2SLGBTQIA+ newspapers list in Aurora. If you would like to explore our newspaper collection more fully, please see our Newspapers help pages.

Serials

Serials are publications that come out at regular intervals, like journals, magazines, quarterly newsletters or annual reports.

Use either the basic or advanced search to search for keywords or subject headings. Once you have your results list, you can use the “Format” limit on the left-hand side of the results list to narrow your results to “Journal/Magazine.”

This search for various identities and sexualities that are then limited to “Journal/Magazine” returns over 170 results, such as:

If you would like to search exhaustively for Canadian or international publications, the following two books available in our self-service reference collection in Ottawa will be very helpful:

Literature

2SLGBTQIA+ literature, such as fiction, poetry, comics and graphic novels, exploded in the 1970s. It is an important source for understanding how various communities thought of themselves over the years.

Use the advanced search to combine subject headings and formats like “fiction,” “poetry” or “comic books, strips, etc.,” for example “transgender people poetry” or “lesbians fiction.”

This search for various identities and sexualities and various types of literature returns over 1500 results, such as:

Pulp fiction

Pulp fiction was a medium to explore more shocking and taboo subjects and so often included representations of “transgressive” sexual activity that mainstream literature wouldn’t touch.

Use the instructions for advanced searching above to search by book title or publisher.

You may find reference works such as the following to be helpful:

We consulted 64 publications from our Al Valentine pulp collection (English only) and found only a few overt mentions of 2SLGBTQIA+ people.

In terms of gender-nonconforming people, we found that authors used the word “eunuch,” mostly in stories taking place in fictionalized Middle Eastern locales, such as in “A Story in Love Tactics” by Gustave Le Roube, published in the October 1946 edition of Breezy Stories.

We also found the following four titles:

Theses

Theses can be useful to show trends in research over the years. Their bibliographies can also be an excellent source for finding primary materials.

LAC started the Theses Canada program in 1965, and, though it is not exhaustive, it is the biggest collection of theses in Canada. For information on accessing these records, see Order copies of theses and search other collections.

To search Aurora for theses, you need to search a little differently than for many other types of publications. This is because theses generally aren’t given subject headings, but they are given an internal collection code that you can use to narrow your search.

To find them, you will need to do an advanced search using the “Notes” (nt:) index and the “Other class number” (ot=) index:

This search retrieves about 2000 results, such as:

Pre-Confederation

While 2SLGBTQIA+ people have always existed, their presence is not always easy to trace in written records. Most records about gender-nonconforming and same-sex activities that made it into writing were either criminal or medical and were often still written in euphemisms. Up until the late 19th century, the focus was on activities rather than identities, so you won’t see words like “homosexual” or “sodomite” nearly as much. For other possible search terms, see the Keyword bank above.

The sources below are where you may find indirect mentions of the lives and loves of queer people by reading between the lines or looking at coded language.

This section relies heavily on sources mentioned in the historical blog The Drummer’s Revenge.

For archival sources, please see the New France and British North America section below.

Nouvelle-France (1534 to 1763)

Most of the useful records from this period, such as newspapers and private journals, were published outside of Canada. They can be found at other institutions, such as university libraries or the Bibliothèque nationale de France. There were no newspapers published in Nouvelle-France, and the general population was not highly literate.

Books about the period that might be of interest include the following:

The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents include some reports of the Jesuits’ impressions of First Nations communities, including people they met who would now be known as Two-Spirit. These publications are available online via Canadiana or you can request them via Aurora to consult on site in Ottawa.

For outside observations of the lives of Two-Spirit people, you may also want to consult published works by early explorers, such as the following:

For information about the legal system and the courts in this period, the following works will be useful for context:

If you are interested in looking at laws or parliamentary publications like debates, most of these are available online via subscription services or through Canadiana. Please see our section on House of Commons debates and committees above. If you are having trouble finding a particular publication, please contact Reference.

The published court records for this time period are called the Jugements et délibérations du Conseil Souverain de la Nouvelle-France, which are available in two ways:

British North America (1763 to 1867)

Newspapers started being published in what is now Canada in about the 1750s. Please see our Newspapers help guides for more information on where to find digitized copies of newspapers. You can then use words and phrases from the keyword bank to search them.

For outside observations of the lives of Two-Spirit people, you may also want to consult published works by early explorers, such as the following:

For information about the legal system and the courts in this period, the following works will be useful for context:

If you are interested in looking at laws or parliamentary publications like debates or the Journals of the Assembly of Upper Canada, most are available online via subscription services or through Canadiana. If you are having trouble finding a particular publication, please contact Reference.

For court records of this period, you will need to contact the appropriate provincial or territorial archives to ask about their holdings.

Post-Confederation

HIV/AIDS pandemic and organizations

The first case of AIDS was reported in Canada in March 1982. Community groups and government departments have been active since then.

To search Aurora, you can use these subject headings as a starting point:

Here are a few examples:

Government publications will also be very useful for tracing policies and positions as they changed over the years. See the Government documents section above.

Community or advocacy group publications such as newsletters will be helpful as primary sources. See the Community associations and non-profits section below.

Newspapers may be among the best sources for early reports of HIV/AIDS in Canada. They were publishing stories before other sources such as advocacy groups. Check your local library for access to subscription databases such as The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star or Newspaper Archive. Try keywords such as:

LGBT Purge

The LGBT Purge was the systematic employment discrimination against self-identified or suspected 2SLGBTQIA+ employees of the Government of Canada, RCMP and Canadian Armed Forces between 1955 and 1996.

You can find a general description of the LGBT Purge and information about the class-action lawsuit against the federal government, including copies of the Final Settlement Agreements, on the LGBT Purge Fund website. For details about our archival holdings on this topic, see the LGBT Purge Class Action Lawsuit and settlement section below.

The Apology to LGBTQ2 communities was read in the House of Commons on November 28, 2017.

To search Aurora, we suggest variations on the following keywords, which use special characters and Boolean operators (AND, OR) that narrow or broaden the search as needed:

There isn’t yet an official subject heading for the Purge. You can use these subject headings as starting points:

Here are a few examples found using both keyword and subject heading searches:

You might find the following publications outside our library catalogue useful:

Military

Members of 2SLGBTQIA+ communities have always served in Canada’s military. Until the mid-1990s, they had to live in secrecy or face official judgment.

For a good overview of the attitude towards and treatment of 2SLGBTQIA+ members by the military, from early Canada to the present, please see Pride in service from Veterans Affairs Canada.

As mentioned on that page, courts martial were one of the tools used to punish people suspected of same-sex activity.

For a list of the people courts martialled during the First World War, please see Sarah Worthman’s report for the LGBT Purge fund: 2SLGBTQIA+ Persecution in the First World War (PDF document).

For information about how to search for archival records on this topic, please see Courts Martial below.

To learn more about the court martial process, the following works may be helpful:

Newspapers and periodicals may also be helpful sources to trace the evolution of attitudes within the military, as well as find details about specific incidents or people. While national or local papers may have carried stories about 2SLGBTQIA+ members of the military or high-profile court cases, you may also want to consider looking at military newspapers and magazines like the titles below:

Search for secondary sources in Aurora by keyword, like in the following example, which uses special characters and Boolean operators (AND, OR) that narrow or broaden the search as needed:

To do targeted subject heading searching, you can follow the advanced search instructions above, using these subject headings as starting points:

Here are a few examples found using both keywords and subject headings:

Community associations and non-profits

Publications from activist groups trying to advance the rights of 2SLGBTQIA+ people are good primary sources.

You can find newsletters, annual reports, bylaws and other publications by doing an author search in Aurora by the name of the organization.

Try searching with variations of a group’s name. Organization names weren’t standardized or well known to the librarians entering records, so there may be different versions of a group’s name in our catalogue. For example, we don’t have any records for the “Centre humanitaire d’aide et de libération,” but we do for “CHAL Inc.”

If you are not sure what organizations were active where, the following two items available in our self-service reference collection in Ottawa will be very helpful:

Using the appendix on organizations from each of these works, here are some examples of what is available in our collections:

The earliest community newsletter we have in our collections is from Vancouver in the mid-1960s:

From the mid-1800s to the mid-1980s, the legal system and court cases were tools used against 2SLGBTQIA+ community members. In fact, one of the few ways to find evidence of same-sex behaviour between men in the 19th and early 20th centuries is to look at legal cases. Though other sources become more prevalent starting around the 1920s, you can trace the persecution of same-sex sexual behaviour, particularly between men, until at least the mid-2010s.

If you are new to this type of research, the following online guides are excellent starting places:

For historical information on courts and the legal system, you may want to consult the following general resources:

Many courts publish their decisions online. For provincial or territorial courts, you can search online with the name of the province or territory plus “court decisions.” At the federal level, you would need to look at either the Supreme Court of Canada or the Federal Court. These institutions update their databases on a regular basis, and you can use the following information to search them:

Newspaper reports may include other information on the proceedings, such as the case of Kelly and Moore in Sandwich, Ontario, in 1842, as reported in the Western Herald. Please see our Newspapers help guides for more information on sources.

For archival materials for specific cases heard at the federal level, please see our Timeline of major events section below. For cases heard at the provincial or territorial level, please contact the appropriate provincial or territorial archives.

To search Aurora, use the advanced search to combine subject headings from the table above, for example “bisexuals legal status, laws, etc. Canada” or “same-sex marriage laws and legislation Canada.”

Here are a few examples:

Royal commissions and commissions of inquiry

There have been four royal commissions or commissions of inquiry of particular interest to the 2SLGBTQIA+ community.

Royal Commission on the Criminal Law Relating to Criminal Sexual Psychopaths

This commission, chaired by James Chalmers McRuer, was mandated to inquire into and report upon whether the criminal law of Canada relating to criminal sexual psychopaths should be amended and, if so, in what manner and to what extent. The commission considered “homosexuals” to be part of this group.

For information on our archival holdings for the Royal Commission on the Criminal Law Relating to Criminal Sexual Psychopaths, please see its section in our timeline below.

We hold a digitized copy of the final report:

Royal Commission on Security

This commission, chaired by Maxwell Weir Mackenzie, was mandated to make a full and confidential inquiry into the operation of Canadian security methods and procedures, taking into consideration the necessity of maintaining (A) the security of Canada as a nation and (B) the rights and responsibilities of individual persons. The commission had to advise what security methods and procedures were most effective and how they could best be implemented.

The commission recognized that sexual orientation was considered a matter of national security. It stated that “homosexuality should not always be a bar to employment in the public service, but should normally preclude clearance to the higher levels of classification and certainly preclude posting to sensitive positions overseas.”Footnote 49

For information on our archival holdings for the Royal Commission on Security, please see its section in our timeline below.

The abridged version of the commission’s report was published in June of 1969, the same month and year that Bill C-150, the bill that decriminalized homosexuality, received royal assent.

We hold a digitized copy of the final report:

Commission of Inquiry Concerning Certain Activities of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police

This commission, chaired by David C. McDonald, was prompted by allegations of crimes committed by the RCMP Security Service. Part 6 of the report details how the RCMP had been surveying suspected homosexuals in “sensitive government positions” since the mid 1950s and that larger surveillance campaigns of homosexual communities across Canada were in place by the 1960s.

For information on our archival holdings for the Commission of Inquiry Concerning Certain Activities of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, please see its section in our timeline below.

We have many documents related to this commission in our published collections, such as briefs, transcripts of proceedings and the final report.

We hold digitized copies of the final reports:

Commission of Inquiry on the Blood System in Canada

This commission, chaired by Horace Krever, examined how the Canadian blood supply came to be contaminated with HIV and the hepatitis C virus from the late 1970s to the mid-1980s.

For information on our archival holdings for this commission, please see the National Advisory Committee on AIDS section in our timeline below.

We hold copies of the reports:

We also hold the following two related documents:

Access and use the publications

Titles in LAC’s collections must be consulted on site at our service point in Ottawa unless electronic copies are available through Aurora. Learn more about how to order published material.

If you see a title in our catalogue that looks interesting, you can contact your local library to see if they have a copy or request it through their Interlibrary Loans service.

A LAC reference librarian can help you identify and locate titles relevant to your research. Please ask us a question online or by phone.

Ordering copies

You can order copies of publications in our collections by filling out our order form. You will need to provide the complete reference number of the material you want to order. Copyright restrictions may apply. Please note that there are fees associated with these orders. For more details on costs and service standards, visit our ordering copies page.

Archival collections

Records related to 2SLGBTQIA+ history come from both government and private sources. Government records come directly from federal government departments, whereas private records come from people or businesses (for example, artists, politicians or companies).

As the records get closer to today, there is a higher likelihood that they may be subject to access restrictions imposed by the federal government or by the records’ donors. For more information on access codes, see Archival document restrictions and access codes. For more information on consulting restricted records, see Archival document restrictions and access codes. For more information on consulting restricted records, see Accessing records: where to start: Government of Canada records.

Searching the archival collections using Collection search

Collection search is the main database at LAC. It searches the archival descriptions of each record from the item level up to the fonds level (if there are descriptions available).

The first step to using Collection search is to develop a list of possible search terms that are likely to return desired results. For suggestions of keywords to use in this database, see the keyword bank. After the decriminalization of homosexuality in 1969, there is a shift to a medicalized view of homosexuality, so the keywords you will need to use may shift as well.

Find more tips on using Collection search and how archives are organized.

Timeline

The following list does not include every major event in Canadian 2SLGBTQIA+ history. For an entry to be included on the list, LAC needs to hold relevant archival records related to the event. As a result, the list is focused on events that reached the attention of the federal government.

1534–1867 – New France and British North America

Prior to the second half of the 20th century, most sources regarding 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals were criminal and justice records, as gender and sexual nonconformity were illegal offences under the era’s criminal codes and perceived as immoral.

LAC holds a significant number of these records, but most have not yet been evaluated to see if they contain anything relevant. Researchers will need to comb through the records and read between the lines to find instances of gender and sexual nonconformity.

Please note that modern terms for homosexuality and gender nonconformity will not be used in these records. The terms used will most likely be legal terms such as “sodomy,” “buggery” or “gross indecency,” slurs or euphemisms. See the Keyword bank for more info on these terms.

Nouvelle-France

LAC holds copies of original records held in different archives in France as well as records held at the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ).

Judicial archives

While most sources related to justice in Nouvelle-France can be found at BAnQ, LAC does hold some records.

Military and naval records
British North America

A large portion of LAC’s records for the British colonial period are copies of original records held at the National Archives of the United Kingdom. LAC’s holdings are often incomplete because we only acquired a selection of records relating to British North America.

Please note that most records created before Confederation relate to what are now Ontario and Quebec. LAC does hold some records pertaining to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, British Columbia and Newfoundland and Labrador, but they are nowhere near as numerous or detailed. Depending on the research topic, it may be advised to use the corresponding provincial archive’s holdings instead of LAC’s collections. Colonial records pertaining to Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and the territories can be found in the Hudson’s Bay Company Archives.

Judicial archives

Most archival records on policing, crime, prosecution and punishment for this period are held at the provincial level. There may, however, be mentions of criminal justice in the records of the colonial administration in the correspondence of colonial administrators.

Military and naval records

As in broader society, same-sex sexual activity was a crime in the military and navy. These cases were dealt with internally, often resulting in disciplinary measures. The consequences for homosexuality varied broadly: some convictions were swept under the rug while others were met with the death penalty. Instances of discipline for same-sex sexual activity may be found in official correspondence, courts martial and logbooks.

Hudson's Bay Company

Until the transfer of Rupert’s Land and the North-Western Territory to Canada in 1870, the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) monopolized trade with the First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples in what are now the prairie provinces and the northern territories. The company’s records are extremely detailed.

There was no colonial oversight for justice and policing HBC employees in such remote locations, so the company developed its own private legal system. First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples had their own laws and norms that did not necessarily apply to HBC employees.

The Hudson’s Bay Company Archives are held at the Provincial Archives of Manitoba, but LAC holds microfilm copies of a significant portion.

Records pertaining to 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals would most likely be found in Section B—Post records and Section C—Ship’s logs. Keyword searching won’t identify these individuals and their stories. To locate them, you can start by looking for disciplinary records about employees being accused or convicted of same-sex acts. For useful search terms, see our keyword bank above.

Post records may also contain mentions of Indigenous relationships to gender and sexuality, as seen through a colonial perspective. The terms “berdache” or “berdash” (and other variants) may be used to refer to someone who is Two-Spirit. See the keyword bank for more information on these terms.

1867–1950s – Post-Confederation

Similar to the colonial period, instances of gender and sexual nonconformity can be found in crime, policing and prosecution records. Since homosexual activity was illegal and taboo, 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals were usually only recorded when they were caught breaking the law. “Sodomy,” “buggery” and “gross indecency” are generally the terms applied to crimes related to homosexuality. These recorded criminal cases overlapped with criminal cases of prostitution, no matter the gender of the sex worker. Note that most records found with these terms will be about men and will include cases outside consensual sex between men, such as bestiality.

Navigating through these types of records can be tricky because the federal and provincial governments share responsibility for the justice and policing systems. For example, if you are looking for records related to an individual who was convicted for sodomy in Alberta in the 1940s, here are some places to look:

  • Records relating to the police investigation would be held by LAC since Alberta is policed by the RCMP.
  • Transcripts of the trial would be held at the county or provincial level since most of these cases did not make it to the Supreme Court of Canada.
  • Records of the incarceration would be held either by the provincial archives or LAC depending on the length of the sentence (federal penitentiaries incarcerate convicted criminals who have received a sentence longer than two years).
Policing records

LAC holds the records of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Dominion Police. Most of these records are restricted by law since they contain personal information on individuals who may still be living.

Records of provincial police forces, such as the Ontario Provincial Police and the Sûreté du Québec, are held at the provincial level.

Judicial records

Most records pertaining to court cases are held at the county or provincial level. LAC would only hold records of court cases that made it to the Supreme Court.

The fonds for the Department of Justice might, however, hold mentions of prosecution against 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals as well as laws criminalizing them.

Penitentiary records

LAC holds records of individuals who were incarcerated in federal penitentiaries for the crimes of sodomy, gross indecency and buggery. Same-sex sexual activity was decriminalized on June 27, 1969 (Bill C-150).

Kingston Penitentiary is the oldest penitentiary in Canada (est. 1835). Its records are the most complete penitentiary records held by LAC.

Information on inmates and their convictions can be found in “Inmate history description ledgers.” Unfortunately, not all these ledgers have survived.

“Punishment record books” may also contain mentions of punishments for same-sex sexual activity within penitentiary walls. Many of these records are restricted as they contain private information on individuals who may still be living.

Military

Many 2SLBGTQIA+ individuals served in the Canadian Armed Forces throughout its history. Records of the Department of National Defence are held in:

Courts martial during the First and Second World Wars

Courts martial are legal bodies convened to determine the guilt or innocence of accused military men and women. They document the trials and the charges under the Army Act. These trials included soldiers who were prosecuted for their sexuality or same-sex sexual activities; the charge was usually labelled “gross indecency.”

Courts martial during the First World War

Courts martial for the First World War are searchable in Collection search in Courts martial of First World War. You can search for the name of an individual or by selecting specific search criteria to filter for names, offence numbers, regimental numbers or units.

See the Courts martial of the First World War help page for a list of offences in the Army Act. In total, there were 174 punishable offences in the Army Act for which soldiers were liable to be court-martialled. While there is no specific charge for homosexual acts, the most commonly used sections to try a person accused of homosexual activities are 16, 18 and 41.

For a list of people courts martialled during the First World War, please see Sarah Worthman’s report for the LGBT Purge fund: 2SLGBTQIA+ Persecution in the First World War (PDF document).

Please note that these records were filmed by the National Defence Microfilm Unit between December 1, 1950, and September 2, 1954. The originals were then destroyed. The quality of these microfilm reels will vary. You can see the digitized reels on Héritage Canadiana.

Courts martial during the Second World War

There is no database compiling all courts martial during the Second World War. Similarly, there is no way to search the courts martial by which charges were laid against an individual.

As with courts martial records from the First World War, the original records for the courts martial of the Second World War were mostly destroyed by the Department of National Defence after the filming was completed. The quality of the microfilm reels varies.

The way courts martial are organized in the three branches of the military is different and impacts how to search for records of soldiers accused of same-sex sexual activities. All three branches continued to use the Army Act within the scope of courts martial. As for the First World War, there is no specific charge for homosexual acts and the most commonly used sections to try a person accused of homosexual activities are 16, 18 and 41.

For a more in-depth explanation on how to search these courts martial, please see the Courts martial of the Second World War research page.

1952 – Canada prohibits the immigration of homosexuals

In 1952, the Canadian government adopted the Act respecting Immigration that, for the first time, explicitly prohibited homosexuals from immigrating to the country. This policy slowly started shifting by 1966 with the publication of the White Paper on Immigration a parliamentary report which, among other things, advocated that homosexuals were not a significant danger to society. The ban on the immigration of homosexual individuals was eventually lifted in 1978 with the adoption of the 1976 Immigration Act.

Government records
Private records
  • Francis Andrew Brewin fonds
    Reference: R6738-0-7-E, MG32-C26
  • Lester B. Pearson fonds
    Reference: R7581-0-9-E, MG26-N
    • Prime Minister’s Office correspondence, 1965–1968 (N4)
      Reference: R7581-18-6-E, MG26-N4
      • Provincial Government – Territories – White Papers – Personal and Confidential
        Reference: R7581-18-6-E, MG26-N4, Volume number: 154, File number: 369
      • Transportation and Communication – Wire and Wireless Communication – Radio and Television – Broadcasting – White Paper
        Reference: R7581-18-6-E, MG26-N4, Volume number: 230, File number: 736.62, Parts: 1 and 2
      • Transportation and Communication – Wire and Wireless Communication – Radio and Television – Broadcasting – White Papers – Secret
        Reference: R7581-18-6-E, MG26-N4, Volume number: 278, File number: 736.62
  • Jack Pickersgill fonds
    Reference: R3783-0-1-E, MG32-B34
    • Government Legislation. Immigration Act
      Reference: R3783-0-1-E, MG32-B34, Volume number: 18, File number: G-4-1
    • Comments on Immigration Policy
      Reference: R3783-0-1-E, MG32-B34, Volume number: 44, File number: I-2-428 E, Parts: 1-3

1958 – The Royal Commission on the Criminal Law Relating to Criminal Sexual Psychopaths (McRuer Commission) releases its report.

This commission, chaired by James Chalmers McRuer, was mandated to inquire into and report upon whether the criminal law of Canada relating to “criminal sexual psychopaths” should be amended and, if so, in what manner and to what extent. The commission considered “homosexuals” to be part of this group. The list of charges that could trigger the criminal sexual psychopath designation included “buggery” and “gross indecency,” thereby including same-sex-related activity under this designation.

The commission’s report can be accessed here. For more information on royal commissions, please see our Royal commissions and commissions of inquiry section section for the published collections.

Government records

1960 – The Fruit Machine

Following Igor Gouzenko’s defection from the Soviet Union to Canada in 1945, the extent of the USSR’s spy network in Canada was revealed. Part of the Canadian government’s response was to evaluate its national security measures; in doing so, they focused on identifying homosexuals employed by the public service and the military. Any sexual orientation or gender identity that was not heteronormative was deemed to be a “character weakness” that could be exploited by hostile foreign agents (despite no evidence that this ever happened). See the LGBT Purge and LGBT Purge Class Action lawsuit and settlement for more information on this period.

Part of these efforts led to the “Fruit Machine”: a test developed by psychologist Dr. Frank Wake that tried to measure whether its subject was homosexual. The research was funded by the Canadian government, and the people subjected to the test, all of whom participated under duress, were employed in the public service or military. The test prompted its subjects with materials that would, according to Dr. Wake’s hypothesis, stimulate physical responses that would only be emitted by a homosexual. Of course, this test bears no scientific merit.

Key records about the Fruit Machine, such as Dr. Wake’s research notes, are notably missing. Records that were found and released to the LGBT Purge fund are identified on their website in the first and second batches of released records.

The Fruit Machine, a documentary featuring the voices of survivors from the LGBT Purge, is available online.

Government

1966 – The Royal Commission on Security

This commission, chaired by Maxwell Weir Mackenzie, was mandated to make a full and confidential inquiry into the operation of Canadian security methods and procedures, taking into consideration the necessity of maintaining (A) the security of Canada as a nation and (B) the rights and responsibilities of individual persons. The commission had to advise what security methods and procedures were most effective and how they could best be implemented.

The commission recognized that sexual orientation was considered a matter of national security. It stated that “homosexuality should not always be a bar to employment in the public service, but should normally preclude clearance to the higher levels of classification and certainly preclude posting to sensitive positions overseas.”Footnote 50

The abridged version of the commission’s report was published in June of 1969. Please see Royal Commission on Security in our published collections section for more information.

Government records
Private records

1967 – Klippert v. The Queen

The recommendation from the McRuer Commission was put into law in 1961, thereby changing the language from “dangerous sexual psychopath” to “dangerous sexual offender.” This designation was applied against Everett George Klippert, who in 1960 was convicted and served a jail sentence for eighteen charges of “gross indecency.” Upon being interviewed by the police for a crime unrelated to him in 1965, he mentioned that he had, on new occasions, engaged in consensual sex with four men. As a repeat offender of gross indecency, Klippert was charged as a dangerous sexual offender in 1965 and was liable to serve an indefinite prison sentence for the crime of being a gay man. Klippert brought his case to the Supreme Court of Canada, which upheld the ruling in 1967.

While this verdict directly led to the decriminalization of homosexuality in 1969, Klippert was not released from prison until 1971.

Government records
Private records
Audiovisual records
  • ISN 146570, W5,
    Includes a segment about the Klippert case, an interview with his lawyer and discussions with legal experts.

1969 – Decriminalization of same-sex sexual activities by the Canadian government

Almost immediately after the Klippert v. The Queen decision, MP Tommy Douglas addressed Klippert’s sentencing in the House of Commons and requested that the Minister of Justice, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, investigate the laws that upheld the Klippert decision. Six weeks later, the now-Trudeau-led Liberal government introduced the omnibus Bill C-150, which sought to decriminalize “buggery” and “gross indecency.” This, by extension, decriminalized homosexuality. The bill received royal assent in June of 1969.

This list covers sources relating to the decriminalization of same-sex sexual activities by the government. A particular emphasis is on documents surrounding the legislation introduced in 1967 (which first put into motion decriminalization) and the actual decriminalization of same-sex sexual activities in 1969.

To trace this bill through the debates and committees, see the House of Commons debates and committees section above.

Government records
Private records

1981 – Bathhouse raids

Given the social stigma of same-sex relationships, 2SLGBTQIA+ identifying people couldn’t necessarily engage with each other openly. Alongside bars and parks, a popular alternative, especially for men, was to visit bathhouses or steam houses. These institutions often became the targets of police raids with the goal of identifying and apprehending 2SLGBTQIA+ identifying people. The following archival sources document various instances of bathhouse raids.

Policy on discrimination
December 11, 1978 – The Barracks raid
February 5, 1981 – Operation Soap

Bathhouses in Toronto were targeted as part of a major raiding operation titled Operation Soap.

September 1983 – Orillia Opera House raid

1981 – Commission of Inquiry Concerning Certain Activities of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police

This commission, chaired by David C. McDonald, was prompted by allegations of crimes committed by the RCMP Security Service. Part 6 of the report details how the RCMP had been surveying suspected homosexuals in “sensitive government positions” since the mid 1950s and that larger surveillance campaigns of homosexual communities across Canada were in place by the 1960s.

For more publications related to this commission, including the final report, please see the Royal commissions and commissions of inquiry section for the published collections.

Government records
RCMP security records (RG146)

Following the recommendation of the commission, responsibility for national security was removed from the RCMP and transferred to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), which was founded in 1984 for this exact purpose.

For this reason, the security files created by the RCMP are not in the RCMP’s archival fonds (RG18) but are instead found in the CSIS fonds (RG146).

  • Canadian Security Intelligence Service fonds
    Reference: R929-0-4-E, RG146

    • Registry records of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service
      Reference: R929-2-8-E, RG146-A

      These records do not have item-level descriptions in the catalogue, so researchers will need to use linked finding aids for further research. While the records are restricted, many of them have already been subjected to access to information (ATI) requests and so may be available to the public in some form.

      FA 146-3, also known as the Public Use Copies finding aid, contains copies of records from RG146 that were released in previously completed ATI requests. This finding aid does not include every completed ATI request for records from RG146, so researchers should not consider it a complete list. It can be found in the Finding Aid section of the above record.

Private records

  • John K. Starnes fonds
    Reference: R7588-0-X-E, MG31-E56K

    Between 1970 and 1973, Starnes served as the Director General of the Security and Intelligence Directorate for the RCMP. His fonds contains a handful of records from his time in this position, along with several files relating to his involvement as a person of interest in the MacDonald Commission. For information about the file-level contents, see the linked finding aid.

Audiovisual records

1983 – The National Advisory Committee on AIDS

The first reported case of HIV/AIDS in Canada dates to 1982, and by 1983 Canada had formed a National Advisory Committee on AIDS to address the developing health crisis. This section will focus on the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Canada at large, with an emphasis on its intersection with 2SLGBTQIA+ history.

However, not all records will be specifically related to 2SLGBTQIA+ history, as making a distinction between catalogue entries that address the HIV/AIDS pandemic and those that address its impact on 2SLGBTQIA+ folk in Canada is not always possible.

For published records concerning the HIV/AIDS pandemic, please see the HIV/AIDS pandemic and organizations above.

Government records
Private records
Audiovisual records

The cultural resonance of the HIV/AIDS pandemic was apparent in the news coverage, press conferences, documentaries, television shows, movies, etc., that were created in response. What follows are sample lists of the A/V holdings concerning the HIV/AIDS pandemic in relation to 2SLGBTQIA+ folks. Records relating to specific topics (e.g., the Krever Commission) are not part of this section.

1985 – Equality for All report released

On January 31, 1985, MP John Crosbie tabled a discussion paper to the House of Commons entitled Equality Issues in Federal Law (PDF document). The paper discussed the complex implications of Section 15 (i.e. equality rights) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms that were coming into law by April 1985. As a result, the House created the Subcommittee on Equality Rights (under the Standing Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs) to inquire into and report upon equality rights under the Charter. The subcommittee’s mandate also addressed Bill C-225, submitted in March of 1985 by M.P. Svend Robinson, which called for amending the Canadian Human Rights Act to include sexual orientation as a prohibited grounds for discrimination.

On October 25, 1985, the subcommittee’s report, Equality for All, was published. Recommendations 10 through 14 addressed sexual orientation and are covered in Chapter 4 of the report.

In 1986, the Department of Justice published its response, Toward Equality, which affirmed its support for bringing the proposed recommendations about sexual orientation into law.

Government records
Private records
Audiovisual records

1989 – Veysey v. Canada

In 1988, Timothy Veysey, a prison inmate at the Warkworth Institution, was denied participation in the Private Family Visiting Program, where he wanted to see his same-sex partner, Leslie Beu. He grieved this issue with the Commissioner of the Correctional Service and, when that was rejected, applied for it to be reviewed by the courts. The federal court rejected the prison’s decision in 1989, on the basis that it discriminated against Veysey because of his sexual orientation and went against his legal protection under Section 15 (i.e., equality rights) of the Charter (Veysey v. Canada, 1989 CANLII [ON CA]). This decision predates the 1995 Egan v. Canada Supreme Court of Canada ruling that codified sexual orientation as a prohibited ground for discrimination under Section 15.

Government records

1992 – Reformation in the military regarding sexual orientation

In August 1992, Captain Joshua Birch won a human rights complaint after being discharged from the Canadian Armed Forces for disclosing his sexual orientation. The case with the Ontario Court of Appeal (Haig v. Canada, 1992 CanLII 2787 [ON CA]) successfully argued that the omission of sexual orientation as a protected ground from discrimination was itself a form of discrimination. As a result, sexual orientation was “read into” the Canadian Human Rights Act, meaning that sexual orientation had to be understood as covered by the Act. The government did not appeal this decision.

The Canadian Armed Forces’ institutionalized discrimination against 2SLGBTQIA+ community members was brought to the courts again by Michelle Douglas, who won her settlement in 1992. As a former member of the Canadian Armed Forces, Douglas was discharged in 1989 because of her sexual orientation. In 1990, she launched a lawsuit against the military for her own unjust dismissal and to challenge its discriminatory policy against 2SLGBTQIA+ service members. The case with the Federal Court of Canada settled out of court and led to the Canadian Armed Forces formally rescinding its exclusionary enlistment policy. Douglas was not the only serviceperson to pursue legal recourse because of the military’s discrimination during this period; other individuals whose cases also reached the Federal Court of Canada in 1992 or after include Sylvain Bordeleau, Derrick Colin Dwyer, Michele Poirier, Shawn Wayne Morash and Sherrie Anne Reed. For information about accessing the Federal Court of Canada’s records, see Legal system and the courts in the published collections section.

Government records
Private records
  • Fonds Kim Campbell
    Reference: R10052-0-7-F, MG26-S
    • Justice – sexual orientation
      Reference: MG26-S3-1, volume number: 30, file number: 3-6
    • Justice – sexual orientation
      Reference: MG26-S3-1, volume number: 30, file number: 7-8
    • Justice – human rights
      Reference: MG26-S3-1, volume number: 30, file number: 9
    • Sexual orientation
      Reference: MG26-S3-2, volume number: 21, file number: 10
    • Information – homosexuality
      Reference: MG26-S4-1, volume number: 9, file number: 2
    • Scrum – sexual orientation (homosexuals in the military)
      Reference: MG26-S10-2, volume number: 2, file number: 3-74
    • Scrum – Toronto – CHRA amendments, sexual orientation, Bembenek, extradition, O’Bomsawin, Robert Miller, rape shield
      Reference: MG26-S10-2, volume number: 2, file number: 12-13
    • Scrum – Amendments to the Canadian Human Rights Act (sexual orientation)
      Reference: MG26-S10-2, volume number: 2, file number: 16-34
    • Scrum – sexual orientation
      Reference: MG26-S10-2, volume number: 3, file number: 5-72
  • Canadian Union of Public Employees fonds
    Reference: R5440-0-X-E, MG28-I234
    • Equality Branch
      Reference: R5440-3-5-E
      • GLBTT – Homophobia course: training facilitators-first
        Reference: R5440-3-5-E, Box number: 250, file number: 12
      • GLBTT - Homophobia course: training facilitators-first
        Reference: R5440-3-5-E, Box number: 250, file number: 13
      • GLBTT – “Winning out at work” – Background material
        Reference: R5440-3-5-E, Box number: 250, file number: 15
      • GLBTT – “Winning out at work” – Background material
        Reference: R5440-3-5-E, Box number: 250, file number: 16
      • GLBTT – “Winning out at work” – Background material
        Reference: R5440-3-5-E, Box number: 250, file number: 17
  • Michael Wilson fonds
    Reference: R1360-0-7-E
    • Cabinet Committee files
      Reference: R1360-38-X-E
      • Operations Cabinet Committee, Operations Meeting – 29 March 1993
        Reference: R1360-38-X-E, Volume number: 216, File number: V.216F.5

1993 - Canada (AG) v. Mossop

In 1985, Brian Mossop applied for bereavement leave from his job with the federal public service to attend the funeral of his partner, Ken Popert. His request was rejected because of the stipulation that he was not considered to be “immediate family.” Because sexual orientation was not a protected ground of discrimination under the Charter, the case instead argued that he had been discriminated against based on “family status” under Section 3 of the Canadian Human Rights Act. The case reached the Supreme Court, which ruled in 1993 that this did not constitute as discrimination, though Justice L’Heureux-Dubé famously dissented in proposing that the legal definition of “family” should evolve to reflect non-traditional families. While Mossop did not win his case, it was the first time a case concerning equality rights for gays reached a Supreme Court decision.

Government records
Private records
  • Fonds Claire L’Heureux-Dubé
    Reference: R8067-0-0-F, MG31-E110
    • Dossiers des causes entendues
      Reference: R8067-18-8-F, MG31-E110
      • Case no. 509: Canadian Human Rights Commission v. Department of Secretary of State (Brian Mossop) – 22145
        Reference: MG31-E110, Volume number: 52, File number: 2--3
Audiovisual records

1995 - Egan v. Canada

Jim Egan and John Norris Nesbit applied to be recognized as spouses for the purpose of old age security (OAS), but their request was rejected by the Department of National Health and Welfare on the grounds that the Old Age Security Act defined a spouse as a member of the opposite sex. The two pursued a legal case against the federal government on the grounds that this constituted a breach of Section 15 (i.e., equality rights) of the Charter.

It reached the Supreme Court of Canada in 1994. The court ruled upon the case in 1995. It upheld the verdict of the OAS definition of “spouse,” that it did not include same-sex partners. In spite of this verdict, the Court unanimously concluded that sexual orientation was an analogous ground of discrimination under Section 15, even if it had not been officially added to the Charter.

Government records
  • Department of Justice fonds
    Reference: R188-0-3-E, RG13
    • Egan v. Canada civil litigation records of the B.C. Region
      Reference: RG13, R188, 97-0841 VFRC, 8-1997-08-041 VFRC, 2016-00511-4
    • Legal opinion files of the Department of Justice
      Reference: RG13, R188, 2011-033 OFRC, 2014-00627-X
      • Census 1996 whether requiring information re same-sex partnerships contravenes Charter statute: Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms S8, S15 Statistics Act
        Reference: RG13, R188, 2011-033 OFRC, 2014-00627-X, Volume number: 24, File number: HGSLAS 295103-8-91
      • Pension Act and same-sex benefits—whether S15 requires spousal benefits to be paid to same-sex partners: Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms S15 Pension Act
        Reference: RG13, R188, 2011-033 OFRC, 2014-00627-X, Volume number: 24, File number: HGSLAS 295103-15-267
      • Quality of life Pension Act amendment with retroactive effect and modernizing benefits initiative—section 15 same-sex Charter issues
        Reference: RG13, R188, 2011-033 OFRC, 2014-00627-X, Volume number: 56, File number: HGSLAS 295103-15-466
    • Legal opinion files of the Department of Justice
      Reference: RG13, R188, 2011-31 OFRC, 2014-00629-6
      • Same-sex partners—whether non-extension of employment benefits to same-sex partners breaches S15 of the Charter or the Canadian Human Rights Act
        Reference: RG13, R188, 2011-31 OFRC, 2014-00629-6, Volume number: 35, File number: HQSLAS 295015-37
  • Supreme Court of Canada fonds
    Reference: R927-0-X-E, RG125
    • Case files
      Reference: R927-13-8-E, RG125-A, RG125M 78903/9, RG125M 79003/40, RG125M 78903/79
      • Egan, James, et al. v. Her Majesty The Queen - (FC) (civil) (by leave)
        Reference: RG125, Volume 4741
      • Egan, James, et al. v. Her Majesty The Queen - (FC) (civil) (by leave)
        Reference: RG125, Volume 4742
Private records
Audiovisual records

1996 – Bill C-33

On April 29, 1996, MP Allan Rock introduced Bill C-33 to the House of Commons, which proposed including sexual orientation as a prohibited ground of discrimination (Section 3.1) in the Canadian Human Rights Act. The bill received royal assent on June 20. You can track its progress through the House by using the index to the Debates.

Government records
Private records
Audiovisual records

1998 – Vriend v. Alberta

Delwin Vriend worked as a lab instructor at King’s University College in Edmonton until he was fired in 1991 because his employer found out he was gay. This was cited as the reason for his termination. Vriend attempted to file a complaint with the Alberta Human Rights Commission but was advised that it wasn’t possible because Alberta’s Individual’s Rights Protection Act (IRPA) did not include sexual orientation as a protected ground of discrimination.

The case was appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada in 1998, with the court ruling that this violated Section 15 (i.e., equality rights) of the Charter. As a result, the Court ordered that sexual orientation be read into the IRPA. In the larger scope, this case defined that provincial legislation could not supersede the Charter’s protection of sexual orientation as a protected ground of discrimination.

Government records
  • Supreme Court of Canada fonds
    Reference: R927-0-X-E, RG125
    • Case files
      Reference: R927-13-8-E, RG125-A, RG125M 78903/9, RG125M 79003/40, RG125M 78903/79
      • Vriend, Delwin, et al. v. Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Alberta et al. - (Alta.) (civil) (by leave)
        Reference: RG125, Volume 5305
      • Vriend, Delwin, et al. v. Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Alberta et al. - (Alta.) (civil) (by leave)
        Reference: RG125, Volume 5306
      • Vriend, Delwin, et al. v. Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Alberta et al. - (Alta.) (civil) (by leave)
        Reference: RG125, Volume 5307
Private records
Audiovisual records

1999 – M. v. H.

The case of M. v. H. involved two women who lived together for an extended period as a couple. When they broke up in 1992, “M.” attempted to sue “H.” for spousal support under Ontario’s Family Law Act. The issue was that the act defined a “spouse” as a married couple or as a man and woman who lived together for at least three years. The case was appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada, which ruled in 1999 that same-sex couples should be held to the same benefits and obligations as opposite-sex couples.

Government records
  • Supreme Court of Canada fonds
    Reference: R927-0-X-E, RG125
    • Case files
      Reference: R927-13-8-E, RG125-A, RG125M 78903/9, RG125M 79003/40, RG125M 78903/79
      • Attorney General for Ontario v. M. et al. - (Ont.) (civil) (by leave)
        Reference: RG125, Volume 5486
      • Attorney General for Ontario v. M. et al. - (Ont.) (civil) (by leave)
        Reference: RG125, Volume 5487
      • Attorney General for Ontario v. M. et al. - (Ont.) (civil) (by leave)
        Reference: RG125, Volume 5488
Private records
Audiovisual records

2000 - Modernization of Benefits and Obligations Act

The Modernization of Benefits and Obligations Act (S.C. 2000, c. 12) revised a series of federal statutes related to the legal definition of a “spouse.” These changes updated existing statutes to recognize same-sex couples living in common-law partnerships as spouses. Its importance can be seen in the Egan v. Canada Supreme Court of Canada decision, which had previously ruled that Egan and Nesbit could not be considered as spouses for the purpose of old age security. The passing of this Act addressed a number of statutes that, similar to the Old Age Security Act, previously barred same-sex couples from participation.

Government records
Private records

2000 – Supreme Court rules on Little Sister’s customs challenge

Little Sister’s Book & Art Emporium opened in 1983 in Vancouver and carried 2SLGBTQIA+ related publications. In their attempts to import shipments of 2SLGBTQIA+ erotic literature, their packages were seized and destroyed by Canada Customs agents for containing “obscene” content. In response, Little Sister’s launched a legal battle in 1985 challenging that Canada Customs breached Section 1 and Section 2(b) of the Charter.

On December 15, 2000, the Supreme Court ruled that the legislation surrounding Customs agents’ power to seize material was to be upheld but ordered that Canada Customs cease its targeted discrimination against the bookstore and 2SLGBTQIA+ content.

Despite this ruling, Canadian border agents continued to seize shipments destined for Little Sister’s. This led to another round of legal action against Canada Customs that lasted from 2001 to 2007. The case reached the Supreme Court of Canada again, but it ruled against providing Little Sister’s advanced funding to pursue the litigation any further.

Government records
  • Department of Justice fonds
    Reference: R188-0-3-E, RG13
    • Civil litigation and aboriginal civil litigation records of the B.C. Region
      Reference: RG13, R188, 98-1101 VFRC, 2016-00529-7
      • Little Sister’s Book & Art Emporium - *personal information* - the Director of Film Classification of B.C. - constitutional question Motion Picture Act, SBC 1986, c. 17 - Court F#; BCSC No. A97057 (1997/03/07-1998/01/13)
        Reference: RG13, R188 2016-00529-7, vol. 1. File 2-147391
    • Civil litigation and Aboriginal civil litigation records of the B.C. Region
      Reference: RG13, R188, 99-0326 VFRC, 2016-00533-5
      • Little Sister’s - notice of constitutional questions - constitutional validity & applicability of the Motion Picture Act, S.B.C. 1986, C17 (1996-1998)
        Reference: RG13, R188, 2016-00533-5, vol. 1, file 2-145407
      • Little Sister’s Book & Art Emporium - constitutional question - Motion Picture Act, SBC 1986, c. 17
        Reference: RG13, R188, 2016-00533-5, vol. 1, file 2-145440
    • Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal civil litigation records of the B.C. Region
      Reference: RG13, R188, 04-1006 VFRC, 2015-01507-8
      • Little Sisters Books & Art Emporium et al. v. Minister of Justice et al. SCBC A901450 - whether the provisions of the customs tariff and the Customs Act relating to the prohibition of the importation of obscene literature contravenes section 2(b) of the Charter (1990-2001)
        Reference: RG13, R188, 2015-01507-8, vols. 1-5, file no. 2-101047, file parts 1-18
      • Little Sisters Book & Art Emporium and B.C. Civil Liberties Association et al. v. Minister of Justice et al. A901450 (1994-1998)
        Reference: RG13, R188, 2015-01507-8, vol. 5, file no. 2-101047-1, file parts 1-2
      • Little Sisters Book & Art Emporium and B.C. Civil Liberties Association et al. v. Minister of Justice et al. A901450 - Injunction / Costs (1996-1998)
        Reference: RG13, R188, 2015-01507-8, vols. 5-6, file no. 2-101047-2, file parts 1-2
      • Little Sister’s Book & Art Emporium - re Supreme Court of Canada (1999-2001)
        Reference: RG13, R188, 2015-01507-8, vol. 6, file no. 2-101047-3, file parts 1-2
Private records
Audiovisual records

2004 – Bill C-250, Amendment to the Criminal Code

Bill C-250 was first submitted by MP Svend Robinson as a private member’s bill in November 2001. It sought to expand the definition of an “identifiable group” as related to hate propaganda in the Criminal Code (S.318) to include any section of the public distinguished by sexual orientation. The bill received royal assent in April 2004.

Private records
Audiovisual records

2000–2006 - Prime ministers on 2SLGBTQIA+ issues

Debates over 2SLGBTQIA+ rights have been longstanding and frequently addressed with every newly elected government. Some of the greater advancements relating to same-sex rights occurred in the early 2000s with the legalization of same-sex marriage, among other important markers. This section will focus on the archival records of the prime ministers in power during this time.

Audiovisual records

The following list of audiovisual records relates to the political developments surrounding the legalization of same-sex marriage: Legalization of same-sex marriage.

2017 – Bill C-16, gender identity and expression as prohibited grounds of discrimination

On May 17, 2016, Minister of Justice Jody Wilson-Raybould introduced Bill C-16 to the House of Commons. It proposed including gender identity and gender expression as prohibited grounds of discrimination in the Canadian Human Rights Act, along with amending Section 318 of the Criminal Code to include “gender identity or expression” as an “identifiable group” related to hate propaganda. The bill received royal assent on June 19, 2017. You can track its progress through the House and the Senate.

Records from the 2017 decision are too recent to be held at LAC, but there are records from the Department of Justice related to previous times gender identity and expression became subjects of interest to the federal government.

Government records
  • Department of Justice fonds
    Reference: R188-0-3-E, RG13
    • Legal opinion files of the Department of Justice
      Reference: RG13, R188, 2011-033 OFRC, 2014-00627-X
      • *** December 9 Coalition v. Attorney General of Canada – Are “gender identity” and “transsexualism” included in “sex” for the purposes of the Canadian Human Rights Act? Does the Canadian Human Rights Act infringe S15 of the Charter (equality rights)?
        Reference: RG13, R188, 2014-00627-X, Box number: 48, File number: HQSLAS 295103-15-455
    • Legal opinion files of the Department of Justice
      Reference: RG13, R188, 2011-31 OFRC, 2014-00629-6
      • Inmates in penitentiaries – gender change – whether denying an inmate permission to undergo a sex-change operation would contravene S1, S7, S12, S15(1), and S28 of the Charter
        Reference: RG13, R188, 2014-00629-6, Box number: 12, File number: HQSLAS 295103-0-122
    • Legal opinion files of the Department of Justice
      Reference: RG13, R188, 4-2012-03-008 OFRC, 2011-34 OFRC, 2014-00631-8
      • Whether the needs of transsexuals are subject to the duty of reasonable accommodations statute: Canadian Human Rights Act
        Reference: RG13, R188, 2014-00631-8, Box number: 31, File number: HQSLAS 295213-68

LGBT Purge class action lawsuit and settlement

The LGBT Purge was the systematic discrimination against self-identified or suspected 2SLGBTQIA+ employees of the Government of Canada, RCMP and Canadian Armed Forces between the years 1955 and 1996. As a result, individuals were subject to harassment, discrimination, surveillance, investigation, interrogation and abuse and were even fired or imprisoned.

Generations endured physical or psychological harm, and thousands of careers were ruined. Many survivors faced unemployment or were denied opportunities for promotion if they managed to keep their jobs. They were also denied their benefits, severance and pensions.

LGBT Purge survivors fought for years to get the Canadian government to officially recognize the wrongs that had been done. In 2016, they launched a class-action lawsuit. The three representative plaintiffs were Todd Ross, Martine Roy and Alida Satalic.

A settlement was reached in 2018. As part of the settlement, the Purge Fund, a non-profit corporation, was set up to manage various projects, including the collection of, preservation of and access to federal historical records related to the LGBT Purge. The first group of records consisted of 11,000 pages copied from LAC’s holdings. As part of its mandate, the Purge Fund uploaded the scans of these records to their website and categorized them by subject.

A further 15,000 pages of records were released to the Purge Fund in July 2025. These included records from LAC as well as several other federal departments. These additional pages are also available on the LGBT Purge Fund website as their Document Library 2.

People and organizations

The following fonds or collections are from private donors and include documents that address 2SLGBTQIA+ communities and history. They include individuals who identify as members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community or whose work represents queer life. They also include people from the pre-Stonewall era who may not have identified as members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community but who are broadly known to have had same-sex life partners. Finally, they include individuals and organizations who worked as allies to support the rights and lives of queer people. Note that fonds predominately featured in the Timeline section, such as those of politicians, are not repeated here.

Audiovisual holdings

A sample of LAC’s A/V holdings relating to 2SLGBTQIA+ content are listed below and are broadly categorized as films, television and other media and interviews and news broadcasts. See the audiovisual section in the published collections section for materials like CDs and DVDs.

Interviews, news broadcasts and press conferences

The following research list includes records found in a variety of fonds/collections and addresses a range of topics: Interviews, news broadcasts and press conferences.

Films, television and other media

The following research list includes records found in a variety of fonds/collections and addresses a range of topics: Films, television and other media.

Transgender people and gender identity

The following research list brings together several relevant audiovisual records: Transgender people and gender identity.

Access the records

Consulting restricted material

The records in this guide are a mix of open, restricted and closed. Many of the government records in this guide are restricted by law (code 32) simply because they have not yet been reviewed for potentially sensitive or injurious information.

You can request access to these records under the Access to Information Act or Privacy Act. Launch the ATIP assistant to help you determine the type of request to submit. As mentioned in the LGBT Purge section, you can also look at the previously released ATIP records database to see what has already been released.

When private records are donated to LAC, the institution works with the donor to set the conditions of access. We make records open and available to the public as much as possible, but some may be restricted (code 18) or closed (code 10). You can request access to these records by contacting Reference.

Read Document restrictions for more information on access codes and what they mean.

Consulting open material

If there is a digitized image, it may be attached to the catalogue entry or available through a partner website, Héritage Canadiana. If a microfilm reel is available, it may have been digitized on Héritage Canadiana.

For records that are not digitized, you’ll need to see them in person. Archival documents are stored off-site in our various facilities and can take up to 10 days to arrive at our Ottawa location for viewing.

Use the Material Retrieval form to order archival material. You will need your LAC user card number and full archival references for the items you want to order. Here is the information in the order it needs to be entered:

Use the Track my archival order feature in My account to ensure your material is ready before your visit.

If you can’t visit us in person, you can order copies or hire a researcher.

Footnotes

Page details

2026-08-14