$600M class-action launched against Trudeau government as calls for apology to LGBTQ vets continue
As former civil servants and military members filed a more than $600-million class-action suit against the feds on Tuesday, pressure continued on Trudeau’s government to amend the records of veterans discharged under the previous ban on serving while gay.
Canada is not alone in facing legal action and political pressure, as other countries contend with their past legacies of official homophobia.
The lawsuit filed in Ontario and Quebec asks for $600 million for claimants outside Quebec and an unspecified amount for those within the province. Doug Elliott, the lead lawyer on the case, estimates as many as 9,000 people may be eligible to join the class.
“There was this rule, in fact, that you were unfit to serve our country if you were a homosexual,” Elliott said in a press conference. “That was the official policy, and after that official policy came to an end, there was an unofficial policy of the same effect.”
Meanwhile the all-party House of Commons defence committee has asked Trudeau’s government to change the records of those discharged because of policies in place until 1992 that lead to the automatic dismissal of LGBTQ military personnel.
Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan should tell the military ombudsman to investigate and amend the military records of veterans dismissed for homosexuality before the policy was changed in the early 1990s, NDP defence critic Randall Harrison said in a motion supported by committee members of all three parties.
Canadian Forces ombudsman Gary Walbourne requires permission from Sajjan to proceed with such a motion but told CBC News that it is wrong that there is a cloud over LGBTQ veterans.
The pressures on Trudeau’s government come as other nations are contending with their own legacy of discriminatory policies. The British government has announced plans to posthumously pardon Welsh and English men criminally convicted because of consensual same-sex relationships, to the chagrin of other MPs pushing for pardons granted during the person’s lifetime. Earlier this year, the government apologized for policies that kept LGBTQ people out of intelligence services.
A similar law will be introduced by parliament in Scotland.
And a new bill in Germany proposes not just an official apology and overturning of the convictions of 50,000 men but also financial compensation.
An apology to the LGBTQ community for past wrongdoings by the federal government is in the works, the Liberals announced in August. The announcement followed recommendations made by Egale Canada Human Rights Trust in a report released in June, but a timeline for the apology has not yet been specified.
Egale welcomed the summer announcement of an official apology, saying in an August press release, “This pending apology is the latest in a series of encouraging events in which the prime minister has demonstrated a willingness to work in support of Canada’s LGBTQ community.”
However, the Globe and Mail reported in October that no action had been taken on the file.
But it’s not yet clear if LGBTQ veterans will be specifically addressed, or if the apology will be tied to compensation. According to the CBC, Sajjan told reporters that the matter is important to both his department and the government more widely, but didn’t commit to any specific measures or actions.
