OTTAWA—Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has formally apologized for the “tragic act of discrimination” that saw hundreds of civil servants the target of a decades-long “witch hunt” because of their sexual orientation.Speaking in a hushed House of Commons Tuesday, Trudeau related the disturbing legacy of systemic discrimination and delivered a long-awaited and detailed apology to those who suffered at the hands of a “prejudiced” system.“It is our collective shame that you were so mistreated,” the prime minister said. “We were wrong. We apologize,” Trudeau said, triggering a sustained round of applause. Listening, with many weeping, in the gallery were former LGBTQ employees including Michelle Douglas who fought her dismissal from the Canadian Armed Forces 25 years ago, and Douglas Elliott, the lead lawyer in a class-action lawsuit that fought for Tuesday’s apology and an unprecedented $145 million settlement – the largest of its kind anywhere in the world.“I was truly overwhelmed,” said Elliott, who sat in the gallery alongside his husband and partner of 41 years. “I cried several times. We were both crying. I never thought I’d live long enough to hear this.” Trudeau uttered the words that the people who lost their jobs, and in some cases their loved ones, needed to hear, Elliott said, that “They were good people. And that the government was wrong. That’s what they needed to hear, and also that we’re never going to let this happen again.”Between the 1950s and 1990s, the federal government acted in a “cruel and unjust manner” to probe the private lives of military personnel, foreign service workers and others in the public service, with an eye to root out all those who weren’t heterosexual, said the prime minister.The thinking of the day, Trudeau said, was that non-heterosexual federal employees were at increased risk o ...
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