Veterans Affairs committee  We're looking for these purge victims, purge survivors. We'd like to talk to their families, and we don't know how to find them. We don't have the data to know who they are or how to reach them. We think the government might be able to help by doing much more information broadcas

Veterans Affairs committee  Historical education is helpful grounding for culture change. I think bringing in outside stakeholders for the journey of change that is under way in both the CAF and Veterans Affairs is essential. Also, a shifting culture that grounds respect and diversity in everything that's d

Veterans Affairs committee  It's a great question. I joined the Canadian Armed Forces because I love Canada. I believe in the fundamental values of Canada and the proposition that we are a just society or always pursuing the idea of equality and justice. These were things that chimed for me. I realize how

Veterans Affairs committee  It took the LGBT Purge Fund a really substantial, challenging effort to work with the government to uncover an additional 15,000 pages of purge-related documents. A court settlement gave us access to 10,000 pages, but we knew there were a lot more. It was a difficult journey, but

Veterans Affairs committee  Thanks for raising that question. I think it's a great one. I'm going to pick up on what others have said. Veterans Affairs Canada needs to do a lot more outreach, to put out television ads and some social media. We find that we can put things on Twitter all day, but it's just n

Veterans Affairs committee  Good afternoon, Chair and members of the committee. Thank you very much for inviting me to be here today. I'd like to start by giving you a bit of background. I'm a veteran. I'm also a survivor of Canada's LGBT purge. The LGBT purge is described by the Canadian Museum for Huma

Veterans Affairs committee  Of course, we could do that—

Veterans Affairs committee  I think that would help enormously if they had that kind of baseline training. There are other, broader human rights kinds of training or respectful engagement training that would also be helpful. There are those kinds of base levels that we'd like to see. The LGBT Purge Fund pr

Veterans Affairs committee  There are some terrific safe space or positive space ambassadorial training courses available through the Canada School of Public Service, including online. I know there are other training opportunities within Veterans Affairs that are being delivered slowly, but if we could spe

Veterans Affairs committee  I have had quite a bit of involvement with them. Early on, they reached out to us, and we said, “Nothing about without us.” They said: “Great. Come to lots of meetings, help us learn and help us improve.” My sense of the organization and the office is that they're highly motiva

Veterans Affairs committee  Perhaps I could take a start at answering that question. Obviously, I'm very cautious about drawing direct comparisons. The devastating impact of residential schools stands as such a horror in Canada that I'll be very careful to not draw comparisons. We know that the LGBT purge

Veterans Affairs committee  Well, I really was devastated to be fired by the Canadian Armed Forces. I was a top performer when I was there, but it didn't matter. In the 1980s, the policy said, if you're LGBT, you can stay, but no promotions, no pay raise, no training and no postings. It was a pretty devas

Veterans Affairs committee  That's exactly right. It was one of the very first section 15 cases under the charter. On the eve of a three-week trial at Federal Court, the federal government settled out of court with me, and at that moment ended the codified policy of discrimination in the Canadian Armed Forc

Veterans Affairs committee  That's right. There were about 720 members of that class.

Veterans Affairs committee  I think it is, based on my awareness of these things. It also set for a settlement the greatest settlement in the world, to my knowledge, for LGBT reconciliation outcomes from a class action lawsuit. However, I would say that no matter what was paid to LGBT purge survivors, mak