Human rights, public health and COVID-19 in Canada.

Faced with the extraordinary global public health crisis of COVID-19, governments across Canada must decide, often with limited and imperfect evidence, how to implement measures to reduce its spread. Drawing on a health and human rights framework, this commentary explores several features of the Canadian response to date that raise human rights concerns. Our discussion focuses on criminal law, fines, data collection, and so-called snitch lines.

Ending overly broad HIV criminalization: Canadian scientists and clinicians stand for justice.

In Canada, people living with HIV who do not disclose their HIV status prior to sexual acts risk prosecution for aggravated sexual assault even if they have sex with a condom or while having a low (or undetectable) viral load, they had no intent to transmit HIV, and no transmission occurred. In 2013, six distinguished Canadian HIV scientists and clinicians took ground-breaking action to advance justice by co-authoring the "Canadian consensus statement on HIV and its transmission in the context of the criminal law." This effort was born out of the belief that the application of criminal law to HIV non-disclosure was being driven by a poor appreciation of the science of HIV.

Quebec: employer who disclosed employee's HIV-positive status violated rights to dignity and freedom from discrimination.

The Quebec human rights tribunal held that an employer who disclosed the HIV-positive status of an employee to his staff violated the employee's right to the safeguard of his dignity, without distinction or exclusion based on disability, contrary to Sections 4 and 10 of the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms (the Quebec Charter).

Africa: sexual minorities at risk.

Violence against homosexuality is growing in Africa, where most of the countries on the continent continue to criminalize same-sex relations, fostering a climate of hate that, in some cases, is abetted by politicians.

Phylogenetic analysis alone cannot prove source of HIV infection: experts.

According to a recent report from the United States of America published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, scientists could prove with certainty which person was the source of an HIV infection. However, international experts have disputed the claim.

Supervised injection sites in Quebec: one step closer to reality.

Thanks to the efforts of community groups CACTUS Montréal and Point de repères, two supervised injection sites could soon be opening in Montréal and Québec City.

Historic trauma contributes to high rates of hepatitis C among Aboriginal youth: study.

A recent study conducted of Aboriginal youth in British Columbia suggests that trauma associated with the residential schools system increases the risk of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection among those who inject drugs. The study also warns of a larger epidemic of HCV in the northern area of the province.

Surveys in Quebec reveal workplace discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS.

Two recent surveys reveal that people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHIV) continue to suffer discrimination in the workplace from both colleagues and employers. Findings from the surveys, which were commissioned by the Coalition des organismes communautaires Québecois de lutte contre le sida (COCQ-SIDA), were released in November 2009.

Multi-million dollar AIDS vaccine project cancelled.

Two years after calling for applications, the Government of Canada and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation decided not to proceed with a planned $88 million project to build an HIV vaccine plant, raising questions about what was behind the move.

British Columbia project seeks to improve access to HIV treatment and care among hard-to-reach populations.

A four-year, $48 million pilot program called "Seek and Treat" was recently launched by the government of British Columbia to improve access to treatment and care among hard-to-reach communities, including sex workers, injecting drug users and aboriginal people. The project will operate in Prince George and in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

Criminalizing HIV transmission or exposure: the context of francophone West and Central Africa.

Nations throughout the world are increasingly criminalizing HIV transmission or exposure. This trend, already very familiar to high-income countries such as Canada, the United States of America and some European nations, takes on a special meaning in Africa, where several national HIV/AIDS laws make HIV transmission or exposure a crime.