STATEMENT: BILL C-22 INTRODUCES WELCOME DRUG POLICY AMENDMENTS BUT FALLS SHORT, ADVOCATES SAY The following can be attributed to Richard Elliott, Executive Director, HIV Legal Network. February 18, 2021 – Ottawa – Today, the HIV Legal Network welcomes some of the amendments in Bill C-22, An Act to amend the Criminal Code and the Controlled … Read more
BREAKING: AIDS-Free World and HIV Legal Network Release Delayed IACHR Report Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Censures Jamaica for Violating the Rights of LGBTI Citizens, Recommends Repeal of Homophobic Law Criminalizing Consensual Sex FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 17, 2021—In response to the first-ever petition filed in this matter, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights … Read more
The following letter was sent to Federal Health Minister Patty Hajdu on behalf of the HIV Legal Network, the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition, and Pivot Legal Society. DELIVERED BY EMAIL February 10, 2021 The Hon. Patty Hajdu Minister of Health Dear Minister: Re: Vancouver and British Columbia exemptions to decriminalize simple drug possession … Read more
STATEMENT: CIVIL SOCIETY APPLAUDS CITY OF MONTRÉAL DECRIMINALIZATION MOTION The following can be attributed to Richard Elliott, Executive Director, HIV Legal Network. January 26, 2021 – Montréal – The Montréal city council today passed a motion to call on the Government of Canada to decriminalize possession of drugs for personal use. We at the HIV Legal … Read more
A joint submission to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights by the HIV Legal Network and the Centre on Drug Policy Evaluation, focusing on human rights violations against people in Canada of African descent, in the context of Canada’s drug laws and policies. “For the period 2014 to 2019, police in … Read more
STATEMENT: SENATE MOTION CALLING ON FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO INCREASE HIV FUNDING WELCOMED BY CIVIL SOCIETY The following can be attributed to Richard Elliott, Executive Director, HIV Legal Network. December 1, 2020 – Ottawa – For far too long, year-over-year, the HIV response in Canada has been stalled, with funding flat-lined. More than $123 million … Read more
CANADA AND THE HIV RESPONSE: TOP ISSUES FOR WORLD AIDS DAY 2020 Human rights, federal funding, opioid overdose crisis top priorities this year November 27, 2020 — Tuesday, December 1st, is World AIDS Day. Given our current context, the dangers of underfunding the response to public health crises are all too evident. Every … Read more
The HIV Legal Network wishes to express our support for Mayor Stewart’s motion to direct “the City of Vancouver to write to the federal Ministers of Health, Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, and Justice and Attorney General to request a federal exemption from the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to decriminalize personal possession of illicit … Read more
On November 15, 2020, the Legal Network sent this letter to the Honourable Mary Ng, Minister of Small Business, Export Promotion, and International Trade, and the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science, and Industry, urging them to support a proposal currently before the WTO’s TRIPS Council (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) to waive stringent … Read more
From the launch of the Federal Initiative in 2004–05 through the end of the 2017–18 fiscal year, more than $123 million in total has been diverted or withheld from committed HIV funding. Services and organizations have either closed or have discontinued some programs, despite the clear need. Community organizations across the country have called for an adequately funded federal HIV … Read more