Canada gets its first LGBTQ Heritage Minute — watch

In 1948, decades before the first Canadian Pride Parade, homosexuality in Canada was still a crime. But despite the dangers of speaking out, gay activist Jim Egan paved the way for groundbreaking legal protections — and now he and his longtime partner Jack Nesbit the subject of Canada's first LGBTQ Heritage Minute.

For years, Egan wrote opinion columns that aimed to correct false stereotypes about the LGBTQ community, and eventually became one of the first openly gay politicians in Canada.

But his most lasting legacy is a lawsuit he launched against the government, which didn't allow him to claim a spousal pension under the Old Age Security Act — despite the fact that he and Nesbit were together for decades.

They lost that case in 1995 — just 18 years ago — but it sparked another wave of activism that eventually led to a Supreme Court ruling that enshrined LGBTQ rights in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Now a new Heritage Minute has just been released, honouring Egan and Nesbit and the legacy they created — and exposing Canada's darker past. Watch:

The short's director Stephen Dunn is on q with guest host Ali Hassan Thursday.

"Generally queer history isn't really well documented for a number of obvious reasons," said Dunn in an earlier interview with CBC. 

Dunn points out that homosexuality wasn't decriminalized in Canada until 1969 so very few stories made it into the historical record. "I really struggle as a queer person to find people throughout history to look up to."

Historica Canada also considered other LGBTQ stories, among them the Brunswick Four — a group of lesbians whose 1970s arrest spurred a wave of activism — as well as "the Fruit Machine," a device used by the civil service in an attempt to identify gay men.

The short reflects the organization's goal to not only reflect Canada's proudest moments, but also the more shameful aspects of its history.

"The stories tend to not shy away from the more complex stories of Canadian history," said Dunn. "They're doing cinematic and edgier pieces that don't quite portray Canada as the glossy utopia it's often regarded as."

Listen to q Thursday for Hassan's full interview with Dunn.