Michelle Douglas
Country
Canada
Birth - Death
1963 -
Occupation
Activist, Military
Description
Executive Director of the LGBTQ Purge Fund. Was dismissed from the Canadian Armed Forces for being a lesbian. She initially took the case to court and settled out-of-court when the Armed Forces removed its ban on gays and lesbians. A class action lawsuit was filed in 2015 by a group representing similarly dismissed Armed Forces, RCMP and federal government employees. The Federal government acceded to the class action lawsuit in 2018 - an historic formal apology was issued and read in the House of Commons by then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and the LGBT Purge fund of $145 million was established to both compensate the victims of The Purge and provide future programming (including a National Monument) to educate Canadians about the horrific behaviour. Founding president of the Foundation for Equal Families, and former Chair of the Board of The 519 Church Street Community Centre in Toronto. Since 2005, serves on the Canadian board of directors of WE (formerly Free the Children) as its Chair, Board of Directors.
