By Brent Bellamy, Senior Design Architect and Creative Director

Earlier this month, an emotional groundbreaking ceremony was held in Ottawa for Thunderhead, a LGBTTQ+ national monument set to rise in the shadow of Canada’s Parliament buildings.

The prominent new monument will recognize the courage and strength of those who were harmed by the LGBT Purge, a 40-year span of systematic government discrimination against LGBTTQ+ individuals in the federal public service, armed forces and RCMP. Once complete, the project will reach beyond its role as a memorial, striking a sympathetic balance as a place that honours the past while celebrating a creative and vibrant community, today and in the future.