Upcoming Event

Please join us for our 2025 Chet Mitchell Memorial Lecture featuring Michelle Douglas, a Carleton alumni and Executive Director of the LGBT Purge Fund! Michelle’s lecture is titled, “Canada’s LGBT Purge: Is History Repeating Itself?”

RSVP is required to attend, and can be done so below. Lunch will be provided for attendees.

About the speaker: Michelle Douglas is a veteran, a survivor of Canada’s “LGBT Purge”, a retired federal public servant and an activist in the movement to seek legal equality for the 2SLGBTQI+ community over the past 30+ years.

Michelle served as an officer in the Canadian Armed Forces from 1986 – 1989. Despite a distinguished service record, she was honorably discharged after being deemed “Not Advantageously Employable Due to Homosexuality”.

After being fired by the military, Michelle’s landmark legal challenge in 1992 ended Canada’s formalized discriminatory policy against LGBT members of the military. This experience launched a decades-long commitment to volunteerism and activism for Michelle.

Professionally, Michelle had a 30-year career in public service. She retired from the Canadian Department of Justice in 2019 where she held the position of Director of International Relations. Since 2019, Michelle continues to serve as the Executive Director of the LGBT Purge Fund. In December 2023, Michelle was appointed by the Minister of National Defence as an Honorary Colonel in the Canadian Armed Forces with the Chief Professional Conduct and Culture organization.

Michelle is a member of the board of directors of the Michaëlle Jean Foundation. Michelle was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012 and the King Charles III medal in 2024. In 2021, Maclean’s Magazine named Michelle on their “Power List 50”. The McGill University Law School holds a lecture series in her name.

Michelle is a graduate of Carleton University and holds a Doctorate in Humane Letters (honoris causa) from Mount Saint Vincent University (2024).