George Everett Klippert (September 6, 1926 – August 7, 1996) was the last person in Canada to be arrested, charged, prosecuted, convicted, and imprisoned for gross indecency before the decriminalization of homosexual acts in 1969; decriminalization was a direct result of the Klippert case.
He was working as a mechanic in Pine Point, Northwest Territories, in 1965 when he was picked up by police for questioning in connection with a case of suspected arson.
[1] Although he was found not to have had any involvement in the fire, Klippert voluntarily admitted to having had recent consensual homosexual relations with four different adult men.
[2] The day after Klippert's conviction was upheld, New Democratic Party leader Tommy Douglas invoked Klippert's name in the House of Commons of Canada, stating that "homosexuality is a social and psychiatric problem rather than a criminal one", and asking Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson if he would consider setting up a commission to study the issue, similar to the Wolfenden Committee in Britain which brought in "enlightened and humane recommendations for coping with this problem.
In 2016 the government of Justin Trudeau indicated that it planned to recommend a formal posthumous pardon of Klippert's conviction.