Publication Language: English

Recommendations to Canada: Submission to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

Racialized communities are disproportionately charged, prosecuted and incarcerated in Canada under laws that criminalize people who use drugs, depriving them of their rights to equal treatment in the justice system, to security of the person, and to health and social services. Canada’s failure to provide prisoners, who are disproportionately Indigenous and Black, with equivalent access … Read more

Towards a New NAFTA: Safeguarding Public Health and Access to Medicines: Submission to Global Affairs Canada

“The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network welcomes this opportunity to provide submissions to Global Affairs Canada on the scope of the renegotiation and modernization of the existing North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). “Given the potential impact, domestically and globally, of a new trade agreement between Canada, the United States and Mexico, this briefing focuses on how … Read more

Mandatory Minimum Incarceration for Drug Offences: Bad public policy: Submission to the Department of Justice

“There is no evidence that mandatory prison time for people convicted of drug offences reduces the problems associated with drug use, or drug use itself. “At the same time, there is a growing body of evidence that mandatory minimum sentences wreak terrible damage on individuals (particularly those who are dependent on drugs), families and communities, … Read more

New report from Canada’s Drug Futures Forum outlines recommendations for the next decade of drug policy in Canada

Toronto, Canada (July 14, 2017) — Against the backdrop of a national opioid overdose crisis and the fracturing of the global consensus on criminalization-based drug policies, over 200 participants met in Ottawa at Canada’s Drug Futures Forum in April 2017 to produce a ten-year agenda for the future of Canadian drug policy. A new report … Read more

Review of Canada’s Compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination

“The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network submits this briefing to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in advance of its review of the periodic report of Canada, held during its 93rd session from July 31 to August 25, 2017. “[T]he Legal Network has focused this briefing on its concerns about Canada’s implementation of … Read more

UN day against “drug abuse” gets it all wrong

By Nicholas Caivano, Policy Analyst, and Richard Elliott, Executive Director, Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network June 29, 2017 As the world again marks the United Nation’s “International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking,” too many UN member states are still missing the point — namely, that drugs are primarily a health issue and not a … Read more

Indigenous Communities and HIV: Resilience, strength and solidarity

June 21, 2017 Today, National Aboriginal Day, we recognize not only the cultures and contributions of First Nation, Inuit and Métis people in Canada, but also the resilience and strength of these communities. Many Indigenous Peoples have had to cope with traumatic life circumstances, including those related to experiences with the residential school and child … Read more

Urgent Action Needed To Save OAS LGBTQI Human Rights Resolution

By Maurice Tomlinson, Senior Policy Analyst, Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network June 21, 2017 Without urgent action by the Government of Canada and other countries supportive of fundamental human rights, protections for LGBTQI people across the western hemisphere are about to be set back by a decade. This is because a very unfortunate precedent is likely … Read more