{
  "id": 2185391,
  "title": "Winnipeg artists design national monument recognizing the LGBT Purge",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/20/winnipeg-artists-design-national-monument-recognizing-the-lgbt-purge-2185391",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-08-20T17:20:08.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Global News",
    "slug": "global-news-globalnews",
    "url": "https://globalnews.ca/news/12028347/winnipeg-artists-design-national-monument-recognizing-the-lgbt-purge/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The Thunderhead Monument, a groundbreaking symbol of Canada's commitment to recognizing the harm caused by the historic LGBT Purge, is set to be unveiled in Ottawa on Friday. This national monument, the first of its kind globally, was designed by a team of Winnipeg artists, Shawna Dempsey and Lorri Millan, who won an international design competition in 2020. Their vision for the monument, inspired by the strength, hope, and resilience of the queer community in Canada, took form through the imagery of a thunderhead cloud over the Prairies.\n\nDempsey and Millan, deeply invested in the struggle for queer rights throughout their lives, sought to depict a feeling of uplift and community through their design. The thundercloud, a symbol of their prairie roots and the expansive, powerful emotions experienced in unity, was chosen to represent the monument's message of hope and commemoration. The monument, funded by the LGBT Purge Fund established through a 2018 settlement in the class-action lawsuit against the federal government, serves as a poignant reminder of the harm caused by the Canadian government's historic discrimination against the queer community between the 1950s and 1990s.\n\nThe design, crafted in collaboration with Winnipeg knowledge keeper Albert McLeod and Public City Architecture, extends beyond the monument itself. Along the banks of the Ottawa River, the surrounding area features a healing circle anchored by 13 stones selected by two-spirit community members from every province and territory. Narrative walls tell the story of the LGBT Purge, a tribute basin, and a fruit orchard, all elements designed to create an emotional and reflective space. The monument's unique design, a white, monolithic column hollowed out to resemble a thundercloud with disco-ball mirror tiles, offers a joyful yet serious experience, symbolizing the power of unity and resilience.\n\nAs the Winnipeg design team prepares for the unveiling, Shawna Dempsey acknowledges that the monument will serve as a site of grieving for those who didn't survive due to homophobia and transphobia. However, she also envisions it as a powerful symbol of hope, strength, and the collective power of the queer community. The monument, funded by the LGBT Purge Fund, embodies the commitment of the Canadian people to acknowledge past harm and prevent its recurrence.",
  "summary": "A Winnipeg team designed a monument that's being unveiled in Ottawa to mark the harm caused by the LGBT Purge.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Global News",
        "title": "Winnipeg artists design national monument recognizing the LGBT Purge",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/20/winnipeg-artists-design-national-monument-recognizing-the-lgbt-purge",
        "published": "2026-08-20T17:20:08.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}