NDP Commemorates World AIDS Day

QUEEN’S PARK – MPP Kristyn Wong-Tam, 2SLGBTQI+ Issues critic, released the following statement to mark World AIDS Day:

This World AIDS Day’s theme is “Take the Rights Path” — an appropriate call for governments and stakeholders to recognize that human rights are threatened by HIV/AIDS. Only by centering human rights and equitable access to health care for all people will our response be adequate to meet the international target of ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030.

Not only is World AIDS Day a chance to reflect on how HIV/AIDS is not over, but it is a chance to commit to action. HIV/AIDS survivors and everyone at risk should have a right to science-based public health education, prevention and treatment strategies. Canada and Ontario must be ready to take a larger role in global efforts to stop HIV/AIDS when American leadership falters. I want to sincerely thank everyone working in the HIV/AIDS sector and to recommit the Ontario New Democrats’ support for the fight ahead to defend science and our health care system.

The Ford government could show serious commitment on this World AIDS Day to fighting HIV/AIDS by passing my motion to extend coverage of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) through the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP).

This summer, I participated in the Friends for Life Bike Rally, a six-day cycling fundraiser from Toronto to Montreal for the PWA Foundation. We called for attention, support and services to people living with AIDS especially Two-Spirit, Black, racialized, Trans communities, and also women living with HIV/AIDS need to be centered in policy. I also want to recognize the invaluable work done by harm reduction advocates who are under attack by the Ford government.

The communities fighting HIV/AIDS have fought for decades, and in a way that has not been true for decades, everything we have won is at risk. We need to look at the inspiring people who fought HIV/AIDS when the odds were stacked against them. Women, men, and gender-diverse people who never gave up and kept fighting. We must keep fighting too.