International protest at Canadian legal case

In advance of a landmark Supreme Court case, organizations world-wide are calling on Canada to stop crimilalizing people living with HIV.

Canadian criminal law requires people living with HIV to disclose their status before engaging in behaviour that involves a "significant risk" of transmitting the virus. Yet people have been charged and convicted for not disclosing their status, even though their activity did not pose a significant risk of HIV transmission.

This is a miscarriage of justice. Further, it has contributed to a climate marked by anxiety, fear, stigma and misinformation that undermines HIV counselling, education and prevention efforts. This puts all Canadians at greater risk.

On February 8, the Supreme Court of Canada will hear two landmark cases on this important issue.

POSITIVE LIVING BC and the other undersigned organizations are respectfully asking that the Court uses this opportunity to explicitly reconfirm that people living with HIV are not criminals in cases where the threshold of significant risk is not met - including cases where condoms are used or the HIV positive person was being successfully treated with antiretroviral drugs.

We are asking that the Court instruct lower courts that significant risk must be determined on the basis of the best available scientific evidence, not on assumptions, prejudice or fear.

We are also calling on the provincial and territorial Attorneys General to follow suit and adopt guidelines to limit prosecutions in cases of HIV non-disclosure. These prosecutions are not helpful in putting an end to this epidemic, and the radical over-extension of the criminal law is counter-productive and damaging.

Signatory List:

• Acción Ciudadana Contra el Sida Venezuela (ACCSI)
• Action Canada for Population and Development / Action Canada pour la population et le développement
• Action positive VIH/sida
• African and Caribbean Council on HIV/AIDS in Ontario (ACCHO) / Conseil des Africains et Caraïbéens sur le VIH/sida en Ontario (CACVO)  
• Africans in Partnership Against AIDS (APAA)
• Afrihealth Information Projects / Afrihealth Optonet Association
• AIDES
• AIDS Action Now!
• AIDS Committee of Durham Region
• AIDS Committee of Guelph and Wellington County
• AIDS Committee of Ottawa / Comité du sida d’Ottawa
• AIDS Committee of Toronto (ACT)
• AIDS Community Care Montréal / Sida bénévoles Montréal
• AIDS and Human Rights Research Unit, Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria
• AIDS Network
• AIDS New Brunswick / Sida Nouveau-Brunswick
• AIDS Programs South Saskatchewan, Inc.
• AIDS & Rights Alliance for Southern Africa (ARASA)
• All Nations Hope AIDS Network
• Alliance for South Asian AIDS Prevention (ASAAP)
• L'A.R.C.H.E. de l'Estrie
• Asia pacific network of people living with HIV/AIDS (APN+)
• Assaulted Women's and Children's Counsellor/Advocate Program
• Associação Mulher, Lei e Desenvolvimento (MULEIDE)
• Association of Substitution Treatment Advocates of Ukraine (ASTAU)
• Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations / Fédération australienne des organisations du SIDA
• B.C. Civil Liberties Association
• Black Coalition for AIDS Prevention (Black CAP)
• Blood Ties Four Directions Centre
• Bruce House
• Bureau local d'intervention traitant du sida (BLITS)
• Bureau régional d'action sida (BRAS Outaouais)
• CACTUS-Montréal
• Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network / Réseau canadien Autochtone du SIDA
• Canadian AIDS Society / Société canadienne du sida
• Canadian Associaiton of Nurses in AIDS Care (CANAC) / Association canadienne des infirmières et infirmiers en sidologie (ACIIS)
• Canadian Drug Policy Coalition, Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University
• Canadian Harm Reduction Network
• Canadian Hemophilia Society / Société canadienne de l'hémophilie
• Canadian Working Group on HIV and Rehabilitation (CWGHR)
• Central Alberta AIDS Network Society
• Centre des R.O.S.É.S. de l’Abitibi-Témiscamingue
• Centre for Health Policy and Innovation with the World Health Organization
• Centre for the Study of AIDS
• Centre Sida Amitié
• CF "VIRTUS", Ukraine
• Coalition des organismes communautaires québécois de lutte contre le sida (COCQ-Sida)
• Coalition Internationale Sida (Coalition PLUS)
• Coalition Sida des Sourds du Québec
• Corporation Félix Hubert d'Hérelle
• Danish AIDS Foundation (AIDS Fondet)
• Deutsche AIDS-Hilfe e.V
• Development for Peace Education Lesotho
• Dopamine
• ÉMISS-ère
• European Aids Treatment Group (EATG)
• Faculté des Sciences de la Santé, Université d'Ottawa / Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Ottawa
• Fondation d'aide directe — sida Montréal
• Fonds de recherche du Québec — Santé (FRSQ)
• Fundación Huésped
• Global Forum on MSM & HIV (MSMGF) / Forum mondial sur les HSH et le VIH
• Global Network of People living with HIV – North America / Réseau mondial des personnes vivant avec le VIH – Section nord-américaine
• Global Network of Sex Work Projects
• Groupe d'entraide à l'intention des personnes séropositives itinérantes et toxicomanes (Organisme GEIPSI)
• Groupe sida Genève
• Hassle Free Clinc
• HIV & AIDS Legal Clinic Ontario (HALCO)
• HIV Justice Network / Réseau Justice VIH
• Intervention Régionale et Information sur le Sida, Estrie (IRIS Estrie)
• Interagency Coalition on AIDS and Development (ICAD) / Coalition interagence sida et développement (CISD)
• International Community of Women Living with HIV (ICW Global) / Communauté internationale des femmes vivant avec le VIH
• John Mordaunt Trust
• M.A.I.N.S - Bas St. Laurent
• M.I.E.L.S-Quebec
• Maggie's Toronto Sex Workers Action Project
• Maison Plein Cœur
• Maison Re-Né
• Médecins du Monde Canada
• Most at Risk Populations' Society in Uganda
• National AIDS Trust (NAT)
• National Association of People Living with HIV/AIDS
• Observatoire du sida et des sexualités
• Ontario AIDS Network
• Peel HIV/AIDS Network
• People's Health Movement (South Africa)
• Pharmacies Martin Duquette
• Pivot Legal Society
• Le Planning Familial (MFPF)
• Point de Repères
• PolitiQ – Queers solidaires
• Portail VIH/sida du Québec
• Positive Living BC
• Positive Women's Network
• Positive Vibes Trust
• POZCO
• Public Personalities Against AIDS Trust
• Queensland Positive People
• Registered Nurses' Association of Ontartio
• Santamaria Fundación
• Scarlet Alliance, the Australian Sex Workers Association
• School of Public Health and Family Medicine, University of Cape Town
• Sero-stigma & Empowerment Resource Organization (SERO)
• Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD)
• St. Stephen's Community House
• Stella, l'amie de Maimie
• Tanzania Network of Women living with HIV and AIDS (TNW+)
• Toronto HIV/AIDS Network (THN)
• Toronto People With AIDS Foundation
• University Research Chair in Forensic Nursing, School of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Ottawa
• Victoria AIDS Resource & Community Service Society
• Warning
• Wezesha
• Women and Law In Southern Africa Research and Education Trust
• YouthCo

More information:

• Janet Butler-McPhee
  Director of Communications, Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network
  416 595-1666 ext. 228
  jbutler@aidslaw.ca