Canadian Lawyer

w w w . c a n a d i a n l a w y e r m a g . c o m O C T O B E R 2 0 1 8 27 ven for seasoned class action lawyers, June 18, 2018 was an unusual day in court. Federal Court Justice Martine St-Louis presided over a hearing that lead class counsel Douglas Elliott calls "more of a therapy session than a legal hearing." Fifteen victims of the federal government's systemic discrimination and persecution of its gay, lesbian and bisexual employees stood up to tell their stories before the court. One of them was Michelle Douglas, whose dis- crimination case against the military ended in 1992, forcing the Canadian Armed Forces to grudgingly change its ban on allowing LGBT people to serve. Douglas' case was settled so she never had her day in court. For her, and others whose lives and careers were devas- tated, that settlement hearing "was a profoundly emotional day," she says. "It felt like a real sisterhood and brotherhood coming together, a group of people with shared experience, a shared com- mitment to service to Canada, who had been so unjustly treated. I addressed the court. I held in my hand as I did so a copy of the prime minister's apology, that might give you a sense about how much that meant to me. I wanted to say certain things to the court, I wanted the court to hear those things. And it was actu- ally my only time to ever really address the court on the painful chapter that I experienced back in the 1980s with the military." Crown lawyers say even though it was a settlement hearing with no findings of fact or anything to prove, the judge under- stood that allowing class members to speak was a valuable part of ensuring justice was done. "Justice St-Louis deserves credit, because she really went out of her way to make sure that there was a safe space for these people to tell their stories," says Alex- ander Pless, general counsel with the Department of Justice. "I am sure that they could see that she was interested in their stories, and it was important for her to hear them." The were many poignant, heart-breaking stories that day as well as tears not only from class members but counsel and staff in the court. Several participants say the emotions of the moment are likely what led St-Louis to make another unusual move: approving the settlement from the bench with members of the class in the courtroom. "[J]ust the eruption of happiness in the court, of the applause, and people were crying and hug- ging one another. I've never seen anything like that ever — in any case that I've been involved in. I doubt I ever will. It was an extraordinary moment," recalls Halifax lawyer John McKiggan, who has worked on a number of historical abuse cases. On top of all the emotions in the courtroom, though, the settlement of this case was the culmination of something that spanned decades, hundreds of government departments and a creative legal team fighting for redress. The class action T his was no ordinary class action against the govern- ment. Firstly, at $145 million, the LGBT purge class action is the largest such settlement for redress of his- torical harms to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender community in the world. In addition, the DoJ lawyers say that, E Class members celebrate just after Federal Court Justice Martine St-Louis approved the LGBT purge settlement from the bench in June in Ottawa.

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