Resource Kit for Service Providers

HIV Disclosure and the Law: A Resource Kit for Service Providers

With regularity, people living with HIV (PHAs) continue to be criminally prosecuted and convicted for not disclosing their HIV-positive status to sexual partners. As of December 2015, more than 170 people in Canada had been charged for not disclosing their status. Until the law is changed, criminalization is a reality that the community must live with and respond to. This Resource Kit is intended to provide both PHAs and service providers with useful information and tools to make informed and empowered choices about how to respond to criminalization.

This Resource Kit is produced with the partnership of AIDS Coalition of Nova Scotia, Canadian AIDS Society (CAS), Coalition des organismes communautaires québécois de lutte contre le SIDA (COCQ-SIDA), HIV & AIDS Legal Clinic Ontario (HALCO) and Positive Living B.C.

Download the flyer

Section 1: HIV disclosure to sexual partners

Additional resource

Section 2: Criminal law and HIV non-disclosure

Additional resources

Understanding the evolution of the Canadian criminal law on HIV non-disclosure:

Risks of HIV transmission:

Your rights when contacted, detained or arrested by the police:

Resource kit for defence lawyers and advocates:

Other:

Section 7: Public health laws

Additional resources:

Section 8: For more information and legal advice

HIV and the law in Canada

HIV and the law in Ontario

HIV and the law in Quebec

  • Coalition communautaire des organismes québécois de la lutte contre le sida (COCQ-SIDA) — Clinique d’information juridique VIH info droits:
    www.cocqsida.com
    Tel: +1 514 844-2477 (ext. 34)
    Toll-free (when calling from outside Montréal): +1 866 535-0481 (ext. 34)
    E-mail : vih-infodroits@cocqsida.com

To find a lawyer

Prisoner support

  • Prisoners’ HIV/AIDS Support Action Network (PASAN):
    www.pasan.org
    Toll-free: +1 866 224-9978
    Tel.: +1 416 920-9567
    Fax: +1 416 920-4314