Winnipeg artists design national monument recognizing the LGBT Purge

Canada's capital will soon host the Thunderhead Monument, a national tribute to the queer community and a recognition of historical government discrimination. The monument, set to be unveiled in Ottawa on Friday, honors the strength and resilience of Canada's 2SLGBTQ+ individuals.

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I would be wrong to say it’s not in our wildest dreams, we didn’t even have the wildest dreams of this happening.

Winnipeg artists Shawna Dempsey and Lorri Millan were instrumental in bringing the vision to life after their design won an international competition in 2020. "I would be wrong to say it’s not in our wildest dreams, we didn’t even have the wildest dreams of this happening," Millan shared with Global News.

The artists chose the imagery of a prairie thunderhead cloud to represent the community's experience. "We felt very invested from the beginning, because we’ve been engaged with the struggle for queer rights our whole lives. So we had a lot to say," Dempsey explained. Millan added, "That convection, that feeling of being larger than you are." The thunderhead symbolizes the powerful, uplifting feeling of community solidarity.

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We felt very invested from the beginning, because we’ve been engaged with the struggle for queer rights our whole lives. So we had a lot to say.

The monument specifically commemorates the LGBT Purge, a systemic, decades-long effort by the Canadian government to identify and remove thousands of queer members from the Canadian Armed Forces, RCMP, and federal public service between the 1950s and 1990s. This historical injustice led to a class-action lawsuit in 2016, resulting in a settlement in 2018 that included compensation for survivors and the establishment of the LGBT Purge Fund.

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That convection, that feeling of being larger than you are.