Take Action as an Individual – Canadian Coalition to Reform HIV Criminalization (CCRHC)

Take Action on World AIDS Day

The Government of Canada’s consultation on the criminalization of HIV non-disclosure concluded in January 2023 and the summary of its findings was released in the “What We Heard Report,” which was made public in June 2023. And yet we continue to wait for the government to take meaningful action on this file, while reminding policymakers that the current discriminatory and unscientific laws used to punish people living with HIV must be reformed.

As we heard clearly during our own, earlier consultations that informed the Coalition’s 2022 community consensus statement, the criminal law must be used only as a measure of last resort and must be strictly limited in its scope and application.

We need action, and we need it today, to:

Remove non-disclosure, exposure, or transmission of HIV or other STBBIs from the reach of sexual assault laws, including the current mandatory designation as a sex offender.
Enact reforms to ensure that any other provisions in the Criminal Codeare not used to further stigmatize and discriminate against people living with HIV and STBBIs. Prosecution under any offence in the Criminal Code should be limited to cases of actual, intentional transmission.
End the deportation of non-citizens following conviction.
Review past convictions so that people living with HIV previously criminalized under these harmful and stigmatizing laws no longer have to live with the label of a sex offender and criminal.

With your help we can make this happen!

Send a letter to government officials demanding the end of discriminatory and unscientific laws that criminalize people living with HIV.

A Canada where HIV is not a crime

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Minister for Women and Gender Equality: The Honourable Marci Ien marci.ien@parl.gc.ca  
Minister of Justice: The Honourable Arif Virani arif.virani@parl.gc.ca 
Minister of Health: The Honourable Mark Holland mark.holland@parl.gc.ca
Prime Minister: The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau justin.trudeau@parl.gc.ca

Dear Ministers; Dear Prime Minister,

I am writing to you as someone concerned with Canada’s discriminatory non-disclosure laws targeting people living with HIV. I urge the Government of Canada to limit HIV criminalization in accordance with international recommendations and informed by the best available scientific evidence. It’s time for Canada to become a positive leader on HIV non-disclosure law reform. This type of leadership would be most welcome as we come together to recognize World AIDS Day 2023, the 35th annual commemoration in honour of people living with and affected by HIV and in remembrance of those we have lost to AIDS. At this time, it is especially important to come together and show our support for people living with HIV and AIDS, as well as those groups that are most disproportionately affected by the epidemic, including GBMSM, people who use drugs, BIPOC communities, sex workers, and migrants.

In terms of HIV criminalization, people living with HIV in Canada can still be charged for not telling their sexual partners their HIV status in certain circumstances. With more than 220 prosecutions for alleged HIV non-disclosure since 1989, Canada has the shameful distinction of being a world leader in HIV criminalization. Canada’s approach to criminalizing HIV non-disclosure is unscientific. As Justice Canada has recognized, it disproportionately affects Black, Indigenous, and gay communities, undermines public health efforts to stop the spread of HIV, contributes to HIV stigma, and imposes significant harms on people living with HIV.

People accused of HIV non-disclosure are most often charged with aggravated sexual assault — one of the most serious crimes in the Criminal Code — even when they did not intend to transmit HIV, the risk of HIV transmission was low, they did not actually transmit HIV, and they engaged in otherwise consensual sex. The compounding stigma of HIV and a sex offender label means that many people criminalized for HIV non-disclosure experience barriers to housing and employment, social exclusion, increased risks of violence and abuse, and psychological harms, including post-traumatic stress.
 
The Government of Canada’s recent consultation was a step in the right direction to reforming the law on HIV non-disclosure. Before this happened in 2022/23, the Canadian Coalition to Reform HIV Criminalization (CCRHC) had already outlined necessary changes to HIV non-disclosure laws. In its 2022 Community Consensus Statement, the CCRHC, after broad national consultations with people living with HIV, service providers, allies, researchers, and legal experts, concluded that the criminal law must be used only in cases where there was actual and intentional transmission of HIV or another sexually transmitted or bloodborne infection (STBBI). Furthermore, the law should never be used when someone engaged in activities that, according to the best scientific evidence, posed no significant possibility of transmission.

As the Government of Canada considers law reform options, I ask you to take heed of the important work that has already been done in community, by community. I therefore call on the Government of Canada to amend the Criminal Code to:

1. Remove non-disclosure, exposure, or transmission of HIV or other STBBIs from the reach of sexual assault laws, including the current mandatory designation as a sex offender. 
2. Enact reforms to ensure that any other provisions in the Criminal Code are not used to further stigmatize and discriminate against people living with HIV and STBBIs. Prosecution under any offence in the Criminal Code should be limited to cases of actual, intentional transmission.
3. End the deportation of non-citizens following conviction.
4. Review past convictions so that people living with HIV previously criminalized under these harmful and stigmatizing laws no longer have to live with the label of a sex offender and criminal.

It has now been almost a year since the Government of Canada finished its own consultations and more than five months since it released the What We Heard Report. It has been years since the Department of Justice and previous Ministers of Justice have recognized the harms of HIV criminalization, harms which have been inflicted upon people living with HIV over several decades. It is beyond time for change.

I hope to see concrete steps taken by this government to change the laws on HIV non-disclosure. I am ready to see Canada as a global leader in HIV non-disclosure law reform and HIV-related stigma reduction. On World AIDS Day 2023, I expect the Canadian government to reaffirm its commitment to upholding the rights of people living with HIV in Canada who are negatively and disproportionately affected by HIV criminalization.

Please take action today towards law reform. People living with HIV in Canada should not be forced to live under the constant threat of criminalization.

Sincerely,

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Take Action on World AIDS Day

With your help we can make this happen!

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