Publication Topic : Access to Medicines

Statement on the Federal Court’s Decision Regarding Public Interest Standing in the Medical Inadmissibility Challenge

We are deeply disappointed by the Federal Court’s decision dismissing the HIV Legal Network’s application (“motion”) for public interest standing in the constitutional challenge to Canada’s medical inadmissibility regime. In February 2024, the HIV Legal Network joined RA, an international student living with HIV, in challenging section 38(1)(c) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act … Read more

Open Letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney and Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand

Download the letter Sign the letter here. The Right Honourable Mark Carney, P.C., M.P Prime Minister of Canada 80 Wellington Street Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A2 November 7, 2025 Dear Prime Minister and Minister Anand, On behalf of the undersigned civil society and community-led organizations engaged in global health and international development, we take note of … Read more

MEDIA STATEMENT: Canada Must Show Leadership for Global Fund’s Eighth Replenishment

International Frontline Advocates in Ottawa to Rally Support for Critical Programming on Health and Human Rights   This statement can be attributed to the HIV Legal Network October 20, 2025 – OTTAWA/TORONTO – Tomorrow — one month from the day that the Eighth Replenishment event for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria … Read more

It’s Not So Simple

It’s Not So Simple: The impact of simple drug possession and trafficking offences on health equity builds on research demonstrating the many harms resulting from laws and policies that punish people who use drugs by specifically examining the consequences of recent shifts in how police and prosecutors pursue and lay drug possession and trafficking charges. … Read more

Hard Time Persists: Healthcare and Harm Reduction in Canada’s Prison System

In 2007, the HIV Legal Network (Legal Network) published Hard Time: HIV and Hepatitis C Prevention Programming for Prisoners in Canada, exploring health and harm reduction policies and practices in Canada’s provincial, territorial, and federal prisons. Then, as now, the Legal Network confirmed that everyone benefits from improved healthcare in prison, and that imprisonment is … Read more

2025 Election Candidate Questions – Response from the Bloc Québécois

On Friday, April 11, the HIV Legal Network wrote to the party leaders in the Canadian Federal election with key questions on their party’s positions on issues related to HIV, human rights, and the law.  Download the response from the Bloc Québécois, received on April 16, 2025 (French only):

2025 Election Candidate Questions – Response from the Green Party of Canada

On Friday, April 11, the HIV Legal Network wrote to the party leaders in the Canadian Federal election with key questions on their party’s positions on issues related to HIV, human rights, and the law.  Download the response from the Green Party of Canada, received on April 22, 2025:

Submission to the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Review of Canada at 32nd Session (March 3-21, 2025)

The HIV Legal Network (“Legal Network”) made this submission to the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (“Committee”) in advance of its review of Canada’s periodic report, detailing our concerns about Canada’s implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (“Convention”) with respect to the rights of people living with … Read more

HARD TIME PERSISTS: HEALTHCARE AND HARM REDUCTION FOR INDIGENOUS PEOPLE IN PRISON

Indigenous people in Canada have long been subjected to mass incarceration, due to the enduring legacy of colonialism and ongoing racism. In 2023, Indigenous people represented 32% of the federal prison population, while making up just 5% of the total adult population. In fact, the increasing incarceration of Indigenous women has resulted in Indigenous women … Read more