As many readers of the Calgary Gay History Project know, a lot of our work has been focussed on the life of Everett Klippert—unjustly incarcerated for most of the 1960s for being gay.
In 2020, the Klippert family applied to the Parole Board of Canada for an expungement of their uncle’s criminal record—a provision that was made available to them through the Expungement of Historically Unjust Convictions Act. This Act was part of the Government of Canada’s formal apology to the LGBTQ2 community in 2017.
The expungement order was granted on November 18, 2020, which means Everett is deemed never to have been a criminal. Although he died almost 25 years ago, his family is deeply satisfied with the outcome.
Interestingly, Ottawa-based lawyer Brian Crane, who defended Everett in the Supreme Court trial of 1967, offered to assist the family with the application, pro bono. It’s remarkable that Mr. Crane’s career has spanned these two ends of Everett’s story.
The Calgary Gay History Project is very grateful to have been part of this journey with the Klippert family. To learn more about Everett’s story, and why it is important to Canadian history, we have included a few links.
Gross Indecency: The Everett Klippert Story, an award-winning 17 minute documentary by director Laura O’Grady.
Legislating Love, the podcast by playwright Natalie Meisner, Sage Theatre and the Alberta Queer Calendar Project.
Why I’m Celebrating 1969 and Calgary’s Gay Rights Anti-Hero in the Sprawl.
Everett Klippert in the Canadian Encyclopedia
Klippert Month: a series of articles on this website about the life of Everett Klippert.
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Calgary Gay History 