Reckoning with Queer History: The Canadian “LGBT Purge” Case and the Limits of Forgiveness

Authors

Daniel Del Gobbo, University of Windsor Faculty of Law

Document Type

Article

Abstract

The Canadian government has a long history of regulation, exploitation, and violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, and two-spirit (LGBTQ2S+) people. One of the most painful chapters in this history is the “LGBT Purge,” a term that refers to the expulsion of LGBTQ2S+ service members and employees from the Canadian Armed Forces, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and Federal Public Service between 1955 and 1992. The LGBT Purge was the subject of a class action lawsuit filed in 2017 that resulted in a settlement agreement in 2018. On a parallel track to the settlement, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued a formal apology for the government’s history of state-sponsored discrimination against LGBTQ2S+ people in 2017. In this article, I consider these events from a legal historical and queer theoretical perspective. I focus on the potential of the settlement to promote reconciliation with LGBTQ2S+ people, contextualizing the settlement in light of neoliberal and homonationalist pressures on the class members to settle the past and forgive legacies of homophobic violence that continue to be felt today. Praiseworthy as the settlement terms might be, I conclude by arguing that forgiving the government’s history of discrimination against LGBTQ2S+ people is an historical impossibility.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Citation Information

Del Gobbo, Daniel. "Reckoning with Queer History: The Canadian “LGBT Purge” Case and the Limits of Forgiveness." Osgoode Hall Law Journal 62.1 (2025) : 201-253.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.60082/2817-5069.4100
https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/ohlj/vol62/iss1/6

References

1. Assistant Professor and Chair in Law, Gender & Sexual Justice, University of Windsor Faculty of Law. I am grateful to Brenda Cossman, Christopher Campbell-Duruflé, R Douglas Elliott, Toby Goldbach, Jasminka Kalajdzic, Gary Kinsman, Robert Leckey, Karen Pearlston, Sarah Riley Case, Joshua Sealy-Harrington, Patricia McMahon, Bruce Ryder, Simon Stern, Mary Anne Vallianatos, and Sujith Xavier for conversations and comments. This article benefited from feedback received at the Canadian Law and Society Annual Meeting in Toronto, Ontario, the Annual Meeting on Law and Society in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and the Annual Conference of the Association for the Study of Law, Culture, and the Humanities in Toronto, Ontario, all in 2023. This article is dedicated to Mari Ruti.

2. See Todd Edward Ross, Martine Roy and Alida Satalic v Attorney General of Canada, Federal Court File No T-370-17 [Ross et al]; Ross et al (Statement of Claim, Plaintiffs) [Statement of Claim]; Ross et al (Final Settlement Agreement) [Settlement Agreement]; Ross et al (Certification and Settlement Approval Order) [Settlement Approval Order].

3. See Ross et al, supra note 2 (Affidavit, Todd Ross, 5 June 2018 at para 64) [Ross Affidavit No 1].

4. See Gail J Cohen, “An Extraordinary Class Action” (1 October 2018), online: www.canadianlawyermag.com/practice-areas/litigation/an-extraordinary-class-action/275492 [perma.cc/TW8N-HFWG].

5. Settlement Agreement, supra note 2 at para D(iii).

6. “Remarks by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to Apologize to LGBTQ2 Canadians” (28 November 2017), online: Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau pm.gc.ca/en/news/speeches/2017/11/28/remarks-prime-minister-justin-trudeau-apologize-lgbtq2-canadians [perma.cc/G66C-QSZP] [Formal Apology].

7. “Prime Minister Delivers Apology to LGBTQ2 Canadians” (28 November 2017), online: Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau www.pm.gc.ca/en/news/news-releases/2017/11/28/prime-minister-delivers-apology-lgbtq2-canadians [perma.cc/EH32-PQ5M].

8. See generally Debora L Threedy, “Legal Archaeology: Excavating Cases, Reconstructing Context” (2006) 80 Tul L Rev 1197; Jim Phillips, “Why Legal History Matters” (2010) 41 VUWLR 293 at 313-14, DOI: https://doi.org/10.26686/vuwlr.v41i3.5228; Julie Novkov, “Legal Archaeology” (2011) 64 Pol Res Q 348, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1065912909355714.

9. The Ethics of Opting Out: Queer Theory’s Defiant Subjects (Columbia University Press, 2017) at 172, DOI: https://doi.org/10.7312/ruti18090, citing Ann Cvetkovich, An Archive of Feelings: Trauma, Sexuality, and Lesbian Public Cultures (Duke University Press, 2003), DOI: https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822384434.

10. Ibid.

11. Ibid at 173. See also Heather Love, Feeling Backward: Loss and the Politics of Queer History (Harvard University Press, 2007), DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvjghxr0; José Esteban Muñoz, Cruising Utopia: The Then and There of Queer Futurity (New York University Press, 2009); David Eng, The Feeling of Kinship: Queer Liberalism and the Racialization of Intimacy (Duke University Press, 2010), DOI: https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822392828; Elizabeth Freeman, Time Binds: Queer Temporalities, Queer Histories (Duke University Press, 2010), DOI: https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822393184.

12. (UBC Press, 2010).

13. See e.g. Government of Canada, “Apology to LGBTQ2 Communities” (28 August 2022), online: www.canada.ca/en/women-gender-equality/free-to-be-me/apology-discrimination-individuals-families-communities.html [perma.cc/VE7J-UFSD].

14. See Ross Affidavit No 1, supra note 3 at para 78.

15. See e.g. Steven Maynard, “Through a Hole in the Lavatory Wall: Homosexual Subcultures, Police Surveillance, and the Dialectics of Discovery, Toronto, 1890-1930” (1994) 5 J History Sexuality 207; Gary Kinsman, The Regulation of Desire: Homo and Heterosexualities, 2nd ed (Black Rose Books, 1996); Tom Hooper, “Queering ’69: The Recriminalization of Homosexuality in Canada” (2019) 100 Can Historical Rev 257, DOI: https://doi.org/10.3138/chr.2018-0082-4 [Hooper, “Queering ’69”].

16. See e.g. Bruce Macdougall, Queer Judgments: Homosexuality, Expression, and the Courts in Canada (University of Toronto Press, 2000), DOI: https://doi.org/10.3138/9781442678941; Karen Busby, “The Gay Agenda: A Short History of Queer Rights in Canada (1969-2018)” in Joanna Radbord, ed, LGBTQ2+ Law: Practice Issues and Analysis (Emond, 2019) 1 at 14-15.

17. See David Kimmel & Daniel J Robinson, “Sex, Crime, Pathology: Homosexuality and Criminal Code Reform in Canada, 1949-1969” (2001) 16 CJLS 147 at 157, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S082932010000661X; Jack Drescher, “I’m Your Handyman: A History of Reparative Therapies” (2002) 5 J Gay & Lesbian Psychotherapy 5, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1300/J236v05n03_02; Ummni Khan, “Homosexuality and Prostitution: A Tale of Two Deviances” (2020) 70 UTLJ 283 at 293-97, DOI: https://doi.org/10.3138/utlj.2019-0082; Florence Ashley, Banning Transgender Conversion Practices: A Legal and Policy Analysis (UBC Press, 2022), DOI: https://doi.org/10.59962/9780774866941.

18. See Nicole LaViolette, “Coming Out to Canada: The Immigration of Same-Sex Couples Under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act” (2004) 49 McGill LJ 969 at 973; Sean Rehaag, “Patrolling the Borders of Sexual Orientation: Bisexual Refugee Claims in Canada” (2008) 53 McGill LJ 59; Jamie Chai Yun Liew, “Denying Refugee Protection to LGBTQ and Marginalized Persons: A Retrospective Look at State Protection in Canadian Refugee Law” (2017) 29 CJWL 290, DOI: https://doi.org/10.3138/cjwl.29.2.290.

19. See e.g. Erin Dej & Jennifer M Kilty, “‘Criminalization Creep’: A Brief Discussion of the Criminalization of HIV/AIDS Non-Disclosure in Canada” (2012) 27 CJLS 55, DOI: https://doi.org/10.3138/cjls.27.1.055; Isabel Grant, “The Over-Criminalization of Persons with HIV” (2013) 63 UTLJ 475, DOI: https://doi.org/10.3138/utlj.63.3.0301-2; Kyle Kirkup, “Releasing Stigma: Police, Journalists and Crimes of HIV Non-Disclosure” (2014) 46 Ottawa L Rev 127, DOI: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2503261; Kyle Kirkup, “The Gross Indecency of Criminalizing HIV Non-Disclosure” (2020) 70 UTLJ 263, DOI: https://doi.org/10.3138/utlj.2019-0054.

20. See e.g. Janine Fuller & Stuart Blakely, Restricted Entry: Censorship on Trial (Press Gang, 1996); Brenda Cossman et al, Bad Attitude/s on Trial: Pornography, Feminism, and the Butler Decision (University of Toronto Press, 1997); Brenda Cossman, “Censor, Resist, Repeat: A History of Censorship of Gay and Lesbian Sexual Representation in Canada” (2013) 21 Duke J Gender L & Pol’y 45.

21. See e.g. Scott Lauria Morgensen, Spaces Between Us: Queer Settler Colonialism and Indigenous Decolonization (University of Minnesota Press, 2011), DOI: https://doi.org/10.5749/minnesota/9780816656325.001.0001; Julie Depelteau & Dalie Giroux, “LGBTQ Issues as Indigenous Politics: Two Spirit Mobilization in Canada” in Manon Tremblay, ed, Queer Mobilizations, Social Movement Activism and Canadian Public Policy (UBC Press, 2015) at 64, DOI: https://doi.org/10.59962/9780774829090-005; Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, As We Have Always Done: Indigenous Freedom through Radical Resistance (University of Minnesota Press, 2017).

22. See Kinsman & Gentile, supra note 12 at 7, 139-40.

23. See Privy Council Office, Canadian Security Policy and Procedures – 1957-1963 (Memorandum for the Prime Minister), by RBB (PCO, 14 May 1963), online: lgbtpurgefund.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/AGC-1206.pdf [perma.cc/FTF7-34LP].

24. Government of Canada, Canadian Forces Administrative Order (CFAO) 19-20: Homosexuality – Sexual Abnormality Investigation, Medical Examination and Disposal (GC, 9 July 1976) at para 1, online: lgbtpurgefund.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/AGC-1481.pdf [perma.cc/3EB4-W3VU] [CFAO 19-20].

25. Government of Canada, Cabinet Directive No. 35: Security in the Public Service of Canada (GC, 18 December 1963) at paras 5-6, online: lgbtpurgefund.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/AGC-1262.pdf [perma.cc/W6CU-5D4P].

26. CFAO 19-20, supra note 24.

27. Ibid at para 5.

28. See Kinsman & Gentile, supra note 12 at 11.

29. Ibid at 1-2, 125, 146.

30. Ibid at 2, 228.

31. Ibid at 359-60.

32. Ibid at 168-88.

33. Ibid at 177.

34. Ibid at 233, 240-41.

35. Ibid at 240.

36. See Criminal Law Amendment Act, SC 1968-69, c 38, s 149; Criminal Code, SC 1953-54, c 51, ss 147-49.

37. Hooper, “Queering ’69,” supra note 15 at 259.

38. See ibid at 258; Tom Hooper, Gary Kinsman & Karen Pearlston, “Anti-69 FAQ” (14 February 2019), online: anti-69.ca/faq/#1 [perma.cc/CY66-39DH]. For additional commentary, see Brenda Cossman, “The 1969 Criminal Amendments: Constituting the Terms of Gay Resistance” (2020) 70 UTLJ 245, DOI: https://doi.org/10.3138/utlj.2019-0058; Christopher Dummitt & Christabelle Sethna, eds, No Place for the State: The Origins and Legacies of the 1969 Omnibus Bill (UBC Press, 2020), DOI: https://doi.org/10.59962/9780774862448.

39. Canada, Privy Council Office, Report of the Royal Commission on Security (MacKenzie Commission) (1969) (PCO, June 1969) at 109, online: web.archive.org/web/20240812141726/https://secretlaw.omeka.net/items/show/70 [perma.cc/SML8-KX4N]. See also Kinsman & Gentile, supra note 12 at 216-17.

40. See e.g. Canada, Department of National Defence, Final Report – Charter Task Force on Equality Rights, by PD Manson (DND, 13 November 1986), online: lgbtpurgefund.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/AGC-1775.pdf [perma.cc/PH3Y-88EQ]; Department of National Defence, Memorandum: Action Against the Canadian Forces Release of a Service Member for Homosexual Activity, by PD Manson (DND, 28 January 1987), online: lgbtpurgefund.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/AGC-1799.pdf [perma.cc/A8UE-TKV3] [Manson, Memorandum]; Canada, Department of National Defence, Statement by the Honourable Perrin Beatty, Minister of National Defence before the Standing Committee on Human Rights, by Perrin Beatty (DND, 11 February 1987), online: lgbtpurgefund.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/AGC-0424.pdf [perma.cc/6S2G-9NXX].

41. See Kinsman & Gentile, supra note 12 at 241. See also Tom Warner, Never Going Back: A History of Queer Activism in Canada (University of Toronto Press, 2002), DOI: https://doi.org/10.3138/9781442677623.

42. See Kinsman & Gentile, supra note 12 at 255-56.

43. Ibid at 232-38. See also Warner, supra note 41 at 142.

44. Kinsman & Gentile, supra note 12 at 234.

45. Ibid at 244-55, 287. See also Gary Kinsman, Dieter K Buse & Mercedes Steedman, eds, Whose National Security: Canadian State Surveillance and the Creation of Enemies (Between the Lines, 2000).

46. Kinsman & Gentile, supra note 12 at 255, 293.

47. See e.g. Warner, supra note 41 at 113; Thomas Hooper, “‘More Than Two Is a Crowd’: Mononormativity and Gross Indecency in the Criminal Code, 1981-82” (2014) 48 J Can Studies 53 at 54, DOI: https://doi.org/10.3138/jcs.48.1.53. The 1981 gay bathhouse raids were the largest and most significant, but they were preceded and followed by other raids of LGBTQ2S+ establishments from the 1940s to the 1980s, both in Toronto and other cities. See Warner, supra note 41 at 38-41.

48. See Mark Gollom, “Toronto Bathhouse Raids: How the Arrests Galvanized the Gay Community,” CBC News (22 June 2016), online: www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/bathhouse-raids-toronto-police-gay-community-arrests- apology-1.3645926 [perma.cc/N2HL-GFXD].

49. See Department of National Defence, Charter Task Force Final Report, vol 1 (DND, September 1986), online: lgbtpurgefund.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/AGC-1756.pdf [perma.cc/8E5P-NLBB].

50. Ibid at 19.

51. See Developments Related to CF Policy on Sexual Orientation: Chronology of Events, online: lgbtpurgefund.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/AGC-0769.pdf [perma.cc/ZJ45-UFAZ]; Department of National Defence, Equality Rights Policy for the Canadian Forces, by PD Manson (DND, 26 January 1987), online: lgbtpurgefund.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/AGC-1797.pdf [perma.cc/N6TF-H6JL].

52. See e.g. Kinsman & Gentile, supra note 12 at 412; Canada, Department of National Defence, Resolution of Homosexual Federal Court Actions (Letter to Legal Counsel Barb McIsaac), by WA Weatherston (DND, 30 October 1992), online: lgbtpurgefund.com/wp- content/uploads/2022/05/AGC-2246.pdf [perma.cc/ZQ45-G8GA] [Letter to Barb McIsaac].

53. See Daniel J Robinson & David Kimmel, “The Queer Career of Homosexual Security Vetting in Cold War Canada” (1994) 75 Can Historical Rev 319 at 320, DOI: https://doi.org/10.3138/CHR-075-03-01.

54. See e.g. Andrea Huncar, “Apology Part of Mandate for LGBTQ Adviser Randy Boissonnault,” CBC News (15 November 2016), online: www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/apology-part- of-mandate-for-lgbtq-adviser-randy-boissonnault-1.3852505 [perma.cc/GR7N-SDVB].

55. See Carmen Poulin, Lynne Gouliquer & Jennifer Moore, “Discharged for Homosexuality from the Canadian Military: Health Implications for Lesbians” (2009) 19 Feminism & Psychology 497, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0959353509342772.

56. See Kinsman & Gentile, supra note 12 at 230.

57. The Fruit Machine (TVO, 2018) at 00h:43m:25s-40s [The Fruit Machine].

58. See Kinsman & Gentile, supra note 12 at 229.

59. Lynne Gouliquer, Carmen Poulin & Kristina Hobson, “Health Implications for Gay Soldiers; Canadian Military Policies and Practices” (2012) [unpublished], cited in “The We Demand An Apology Network Submission on the Urgent Need for an Official State Apology and Redress for those Affected by the Anti-gay/Anti-lesbian Purges in the Public Service and the Military” (8 June 2016) at 3, online (pdf): lgbtpurge.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/We-Demand-An-Apology-Network.pdf [perma.cc/FFK7-YQ33] [“We Demand an Apology Network Submission”]. See also Kinsman & Gentile, supra note 12 at 229-30.

60. “We Demand an Apology Network Submission,” supra note 59 at 3-4. For additional reports, see The Fruit Machine, supra note 57 at 00h:47m:34s-40s.

61. Egale Canada, The Just Society Report: Grossly Indecent: Confronting the Legacy of State Sponsored Discrimination Against Canada’s LGBTQ2SI Communities (2017), online (pdf): web.archive.org/web/20230311083032/http://individual.utoronto.ca/motala/files/justsocietyreport.pdf [perma.cc/DL4Q-VHFS].

62. See e.g. Statement of Claim, supra note 2 at paras 8-15; Ross Affidavit No 1, supra note 3 at paras 1-12; “We Demand an Apology Network Submission,” supra note 59 at 3-4.

63. Brian Bradley, “She Was Among Those Purged from Canada’s Military. Today, Michelle Douglas Looks Back on the Pain and the Progress,” Toronto Star (2 April 2023), online: www.thestar.com/news/canada/2023/04/02/she-was-among-those-purged-from-canadas-military-today-michelle-douglas-looks-back-on-the-pain-and-the-progress.html.

64. Todd Ross, “Canada’s LGBT Purge, 30 Years Later: Todd Ross Reflects” (8 November 2022), online (blog): University of New Brunswick blogs.unb.ca/newsroom/2022/11/lgbt-purge.php [perma.cc/92F2-UA5U].

65. See Cohen, supra note 4.

66. Ibid.

67. Government of Canada, Public Service Employee (PSES) Results: Sexual Orientation (GC, 13 May 2022), online: www.canada.ca/en/treasury-board-secretariat/services/innovation/public-service-employee-survey/2020/pses-employee-results-dashboards/pses-result-sexual-orientation.html [perma.cc/3SY9-NCA8].

68. See The Canadian Press, “$100 Million for Gay Purge Victims as PM Apologizes for LGBTQ Discrimination,” CBC News (27 November 2017), online: www.cbc.ca/news/politics/100-million-apology-gay-purge-victims-1.4421921 [perma.cc/7NNG-253Y]. See also Kinsman & Gentile, supra note 12 at 120, 403.

69. See Aaron Belkin & Jason McNichol, “Homosexual Personnel Policy in the Canadian Forces: Did Lifting the Gay Ban Undermine Military Performance?” (2000) 56 Intl J 73 at 80, DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/40203532.

70. See Canada, Privy Council Office, Cabinet Minutes (PCO, 28 April 1977), online: lgbtpurgefund.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/AGC-1506.pdf [perma.cc/2ARH-ECNB]; Solicitor General of Canada, Letter from Perrin Beatty to Jake Epp (SGC, 15 January 1986), online: www.lgbtpurgefund.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/AGC-0397.pdf [perma.cc/6D2T-XEAG].

71. Gary Kinsman, “How Canada’s historic apology to LGBT people falls short,” Xtra Magazine (1 December 2017), online: xtramagazine.com/power/how-canadas-historic-apology-to-lgbt-people-falls-short-81945 [perma.cc/35ZA-N2PG] [Kinsman, “Canada’s Historic Apology”].

72. See Kinsman & Gentile, supra note 12 at 42.

73. See generally Jim Bronskill, “718 Victims of Canadian Government’s Gay Purge Compensated in Settlement,” Global News (13 July 2019), online: globalnews.ca/news/5491739/gay-purge-victims-canada [perma.cc/CUE4-YAMX].

74. See Settlement Agreement, supra note 2 at 149.

75. Besides Ross, who is Métis, Rainbow Veterans of Canada identifies Sharp Dopler, a former CAF member and LGBT Purge victim, as Indigenous. See Rainbow Veterans of Canada, “Who We Are” (last visited 9 November 2024), online: rainbowveterans.ca/who-we-are [perma.cc/5P96-BQNT]. The Halifax Rainbow Encyclopedia identifies Darl Wood, also a former CAF member and victim, as Black and Indigenous. See Halifax Rainbow Encyclopedia, “Darl Wood” (16 June 2020), online: gay.hfxns.org/DarlWood [perma.cc/4P4S-2C8W].

76. See Bradley, supra note 63.

77. Douglas v Canada, 1992 CanLII 2419 (FCTD) [Douglas].

78. LGBT Purge Fund, “The Ongoing Struggle to Access Historical Government Records” (10 February 2022), online: lgbtpurgefund.com/the-ongoing-struggle-to-access-historical-government-records [perma.cc/YZ9L-HWLX]. For legal opinions received by the government that take a similar view, see Department of Justice, Re: Canadian Forces Policy with Respect to Sexual Orientation (Letter to Lt Col K Watkin), by Debra M McAllister & Barbara A McIsaac (DOJ, 9 November 1990), online: lgbtpurgefund.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/AGC-2032.pdf [perma.cc/8JJL-PHSB]; Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, Letter from A Kim Campbell to the Honourable Marcel Masse (24 September 1991), online: lgbtpurgefund.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/AGC-2117.pdf [perma.cc/9EMX-5E9G].

79. See Letter to Barb MacIsaac, supra note 52.

80. See generally Douglas, supra note 77 at paras 28-29.

81. 1995 CanLII 98 (SCC).

82. See Manson, Memorandum, supra note 40; Canada, Department of National Defence, Revocation of CF Sexual Orientation Policy: Post-Announcement Action, by PJ O’Donnell (DND, December 1992), online: lgbtpurgefund.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/AGC-2257.pdf [https://perma.cc/BGS8-BRNR]; Department of National Defence, Canadian Forces Policy on Sexual Orientation (Letter to Mister N Kawamura), by JY Lavigne (DND, 8 June 1993), online: lgbtpurgefund.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/AGC-2286.pdf [perma.cc/VTY3-NX6T].

83. Department of National Defence, Homosexual Conduct (Memorandum), by AJGD de Castelain (DND, 27 October 1992), online: lgbtpurgefund.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/AGC-2229.pdf [perma.cc/Y7AE-JUUZ].

84. House of Commons Debates, 34-3, vol 8 (27 April 1992) at 9713 (Hon Brian Mulroney). See also Kinsman & Gentile, supra note 12 at 339.

85. See “We Demand an Apology Network Submission,” supra note 59.

86. The Supreme Court of Canada upheld Klippert’s conviction in 1967. See Klippert v The Queen, 1967 CanLII 73 (SCC). For media reports on the case, see John Ibbitson, “Trudeau to Urge Pardon for Man Deemed a Dangerous Sex Offender for Being Gay in 1960s,” The Globe and Mail (27 February 2016), online: www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-to-consider-pardon-for-gay-men-convicted-under-pre-1969laws/article28927302; Nikki Wiart, “Everett Klippert: An Unlikely Pioneer of Gay Rights in Canada,” Maclean’s (10 June 2016), online: macleans.ca/society/everett-klippert-an-unlikely-pioneer-of-gay-rights-in-canada.

87. See Egale Canada, supra note 61.

88. See Nikki Wiart, “Egale’s Helen Kennedy on Canada’s Homophobic, Transphobic Past,” Maclean’s (13 June 2016), online: macleans.ca/news/canada/egales-helen-kennedy-on-canadas-homophobic-transphobic-past [perma.cc/EHP8-CZ2M].

89. Ross Affidavit No 1, supra note 3 at paras 19-21.

90. See Wiart, supra note 88.

91. Ibid.

92. See John Ibbitson, “Ottawa Moves on Plans for Apology to those Wronged Over Sexuality,” The Globe and Mail (14 November 2016), online: www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-moves-on-plans-for-formal-apology-legislation-for-injustices-toward-sexual-minorities/article32845811.

93. Ryan Maloney, “LGBT Canadians Purged from Military and Public Service Await Overdue Apology,” Huffington Post (28 November 2017), online: www.huffpost.com/archive/ca/entry/lgbt-canadians-purged-from-military-and-public-service-await-overdue-apology_ca_5cd500e5e4b07bc72973e04c [perma.cc/WX3B-QHWC].

94. 2007 SCC 10 [Hislop]. Elliott was inspired by the result in Vancouver (City) v Ward as well, a Supreme Court of Canada case that provides for constitutional damage awards under s 24(1) of the Charter. See 2010 SCC 27.

95. See Settlement Agreement, supra note 2 at 4, citing Todd Edward Ross v Attorney General of Canada, Ontario Superior Court of Justice File No CV-16-5653275 and Martine Roy v Attorney General of Canada, Quebec Superior Court File No 500-06-000819-165.

96. See Settlement Agreement, supra note 2, citing Alida Satalic v Attorney General of Canada, Federal Court File No T-2110-16.

97. See Ross Affidavit No 1, supra note 3 at para 30; Cohen, supra note 4.

98. See Ross Affidavit No 1, supra note 3 at para 30.

99. While the legislative frameworks vary between provinces, Canadian courts may certify national and multijurisdictional class actions in cases involving class members and parallel causes of action in multiple provinces, so long as the class action is found to be the preferable procedure for a fair and efficient resolution of the common issues. See Walter v Western Hockey League, 2017 ABQB 382 at paras 61-65, aff’d 2018 ABCA 188; Rebuck v Ford Motor Company, 2018 ONSC 7405 at para 30. The practice of certifying national and multijurisdictional class actions is becoming increasingly common. See Keely Cameron & Alicia Yowart, “Co-ordination and Collaboration: Multijurisdictional Class Actions,” Law360 Canada (5 May 2022), online: www.law360.ca/ca/articles/1758157/co-ordination-and-collaboration-multijurisdictional-class-actions [perma.cc/AMN5-7K4K]. For commentary on this procedure, see Peter W Hogg & S Gordon McKee, “Are National Class Actions Constitutional?” (2010) 26 NJCL 279; Janet Walker, “Are National Class Actions Constitutional? – A Reply to Hogg and McKee” (2010) 48 Osgoode Hall LJ 96, DOI: https://doi.org/10.60082/2817-5069.1119; Valerie Scott, “Access to Justice and Choice of Law Issues in Multi-Jurisdictional Class Actions” (2012) 43 Ottawa L Rev 233.

100. See Cohen, supra note 4; Ross Affidavit No 1, supra note 3 at para 30.

101. See Statement of Claim, supra note 2. The class definition in the settlement was:

All current or former members of the CAF, current or former members of the RCMP, and current or former members of the FPS, who were alive as of October 31, 2016 and who faced threat of sanction, were investigated, were sanctioned, or who were discharged or released from the CAF or RCMP or terminated from the FPS, or who resigned from the FPS, in connection with the LGBT Purge, by reason of their sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression between December 1, 1955 and June 20, 1996.

Settlement Approval Order, supra note 2 at para 4.

102. See Cohen, supra note 4.

103. Cohen, supra note 4. Ross explains, “Negotiations were intense, but I am advised by Douglas that they proceeded relatively quickly compared to the usual pace of complex claims of this nature. We had to make some difficult compromises along the way.” Ross Affidavit No 1, supra note 3 at para 48.

104. See Ross Affidavit No 1, supra note 3 at para 73. For commentary on the importance of the timing of benefits received in the Hislop case, see Tonda Maccharles, “Gay Survivors Win Benefits,” Toronto Star (2 March 2007), online: www.thestar.com/news/2007/03/02/gay_survivors_win_benefits.

105. Maloney, supra note 93.

106. See Formal Apology, supra note 6; Ross Affidavit No 1, supra note 3 at para 54.

107. See John Ibbitson, “The Power of an Apology,” The Globe and Mail (12 August 2016), online: www.theglobeandmail.com/news/real-healing-can-come-from-a-symbolicapology/article31389027 [Ibbitson, “Power of an Apology”]; Brenda Cossman & Daniel Del Gobbo, “Words are Powerful, but LGBTQ2 Equality Requires More than a Trudeau Apology,” The Globe and Mail (27 November 2017), online: www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/words-are-powerful-but-lgbtq2-equality-requires-more-than-a-trudeau-apology/article37090387 [perma.cc/W2P8-AGLL]; Kinsman, supra note 71.

108. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, News Release, “Government of Canada Initiatives to Support LGBTQ2 Communities and Promote Diversity and Inclusion” (28 November 2017), online: pm.gc.ca/eng/news/2017/11/28/government-canada-initiatives-support-lgbtq2-communities-and-promote-diversity-and [perma.cc/8NA6-E7KQ].

109. RSC 1985, c C-46, s 159, as repealed by An Act to Amend the Criminal Code, the Youth Criminal Justice Act and Other Acts and to Make Consequential Amendments to Other Acts, SC 2019, c 25.

110. Formal Apology, supra note 6.

111. See John Ibbitson, “‘We Were Wrong’: Trudeau Apologizes for Decades of LGBTQ Discrimination,” The Globe and Mail (28 November 2017), online: www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/trudeau-apologizes-for-decades-of-lgbtq-discrimination/article37110400.

112. See “New Advisory Council to Help Government of Canada Develop an Apology for Injustices Faced by LGBTQ2 Communities,” Cision (18 September 2017), online: www.newswire.ca/news-releases/new-advisory-council-to-help-government-of-canada-develop-an-apology-for-injustices-faced-by-lgbtq2-communities-645419363.html [perma.cc/8NN7-HZQ6].

113. Gary Kinsman, “Why I Could Not Sign the Contract and Confidentiality Agreements to Be on the Advisory Council for an Apology,” Radical Noise (27 September 2017), online: radicalnoise.ca/2017/09/27/why-i-could-not-sign-the-contract-and-confidentiality-agreements-to-be-on-the-advisory-council-for-an-apology [perma.cc/8VF5-WW6N].

114. Ross Affidavit No 1, supra note 3 at paras 51-53.

115. See Class Proceedings Act, SO 1992, c 6, s 5(1).

116. Ibid, ss 27.1(1), 29(2).

117. Jasminka Kalajdzic, Class Actions in Canada: The Promise and Reality of Access to Justice (UBC Press, 2018) at 96, DOI: https://doi.org/10.59962/9780774837903.

118. See Shah v LG Chem, Ltd, 2019 ONSC 554 at paras 19-24.

119. See Dabbs v Sun Life Assurance Co of Canada, 1998 CanLII 14855 at paras 9-16 (ONSC) [Dabbs]; Dabbs v Sun Life Assurance Co of Canada, 1998 CanLII 7165 at para 4 (ONCA), leave to appeal to SCC refused [1998] SCCA No 372; Lavier v MyTravel Canada Holidays Inc, 2013 ONCA 92 at para 9; Merlo v Canada, 2017 FC 533 at para 16 [Merlo]; Cass v WesternOne Inc, 2018 ONSC 4794 at para 85; Hodge v Neinstein, 2019 ONSC 439 at para 37 [Hodge].

120. See Hodge, supra note 119 at para 39.

121. See Merlo, supra note 119 at para 18.

122. Class Proceedings Act, supra note 115, s 27.1(7). See also Dabbs, supra note 119, s 4; Hodge, supra note 119 at para 38; Parsons v Canadian Red Cross Society, 1999 CarswellOnt 2932 at paras 71-72 (ONSC) [Parsons]; Serhan v Johnson & Johnson, 2011 ONSC 128 at para 52; Waldman v Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd, 2016 ONSC 2622 at para 22; Kauf v Colt Resources Inc, 2021 ONSC 2814 at para 30; Berg v Canadian Hockey League, 2024 ONSC 1573 at para 48.

123. See Kalajdzic, supra note 117 at 101-102.

124. Supra note 122.

125. See Cohen, supra note 4.

126. Ibid.

127. Ibid.

128. Ibid.

129. The Federal Court of Canada issued an order certifying the action as a class proceeding, approving the settlement, and approving the notice of the settlement, claims period, opt out period, and other ancillary orders on 22 June 2018. The order does not meaningfully engage with the test for settlement approval or provide the court’s reasons for approving the settlement. See Settlement Approval Order, supra note 2.

130. See Kalajdzic, supra note 117 at 96.

131. See Class Proceedings Act, supra note 115, s 9.

132. See Ross et al, supra note 2 (Affidavit, Michelle Douglas at 144) [Douglas Affidavit].

133. Settlement Agreement, supra note 2 at s 3.05.

134. See generally Ross Affidavit No 1, supra note 3 at paras 79, 82, 86; Ross et al, supra note 2 (Affidavit, Todd Ross, 1 Fe