Criminal law has perpetually trapped sex workers within dualities of criminality and victimization. Whereas the previous criminal offences concerning sex work framed sex workers in terms of nuisance and criminality, the passage of the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act (PCEPA) in 2014 legally enshrined sex workers as victims, invalidating the labour of sex … Read more
Submission to the International Commission of Jurists’ consultation: “Developing principles to address the detrimental impact on health, equality and human rights of criminalization with a focus on select conduct in the areas of sexuality, reproduction, drug use and HIV” February 2019 The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network (“Legal Network”) welcomes this opportunity to make a submission … Read more
“Re: City of Toronto’s consultation on human trafficking The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network (“Legal Network”) promotes the human rights of people living with, at risk of or affected by HIV or AIDS, in Canada and internationally, through research and analysis, litigation and other advocacy, public education and community mobilization. We are also a member of … Read more
Letter to the Standing Committee on Justice Policy, attention Jocelyn McCauley, Clerk March 6, 2019 As organizations involved in the response to HIV in Ontario, we write to express our concerns with certain provisions in the recently introduced Bill 68 (Comprehensive Ontario Police Services Act, 2019) – and specifically the provisions in Schedule 7 that … Read more
The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network is pleased to share with you the full report of Overdue for a Change: Scaling Up Supervised Consumption Services in Canada. This report documents a research project that was undertaken in 2018 to explore the current state of supervised consumption services (SCS) in Canada, to monitor legal and policy changes affecting … Read more
The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network is pleased to share with you Overdue for a Change: Scaling Up Supervised Consumption Services in Canada. Our summary brief describes the key findings and recommendations of a research project that was undertaken in 2018 to explore the current state of supervised consumption services (SCS) in Canada, to monitor legal … Read more
In October 2017, The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network and Anglicans for Decriminalization hosted a two-day conference examining the role of the Church in anti-sodomy laws across the Commonwealth. The conference, Intimate Conviction, was a groundbreaking gathering that brought together activists, church officials, and politicians from around the world for an inspiring discussion. Now, to mark … Read more
“Exploitation within the sex industry, including human trafficking, is of great concern to sex workers and to allied groups such as the Legal Network working to uphold sex workers’ human rights. However, anti-trafficking policies must be based on evidence and human rights — not ideological positions on sex work or moral panic.”
From June 3-5, 2018 the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network participated in the 48th General Assembly (GA) of the Organization of American States (OAS) held in Washington D.C. Unlike most other OAS GAs, there was no central theme for the this gathering and so many issues were open for discussion. The Legal Network therefore collaborated with other civil society organizations working on similar issues, including LGBTI human rights, sex worker rights, drug use … Read more
The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network promotes the human rights of people living with, at risk of or affected by HIV or AIDS, in Canada and internationally, through research and analysis, litigation and other advocacy, public education and community mobilization. Since the 2012 publication of the final report of the Global Commission on HIV and the … Read more