The Liberal government plans to launch a consultation this October on the criminal justice system’s response to HIV non-disclosure. Justice Minister David Lametty made the pledge as he met with stakeholders this week ahead of the International AIDS Conference in Montreal over the weekend. The consultations will seek input on how to modernize the criminal justice system’s response to non-disclosure of HIV status in light of growing scientific evidence relating to the risk of sexual transmission of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. As the law is currently written, people who do not disclose their HIV status before having sex can be prosecuted for aggravated sexual assault, the most serious type of sexual abuse in the Criminal Code – even in cases where there is little or no chance of transmission. no transmission intent and no actual transmission. The way the law is enforced is “extremely punitive and excessive,” said India Annamanthadoo, a policy analyst at the HIV Legal Network, noting that advocates know of more than 200 cases that have been prosecuted since 1989. Annamanthadoo said in an interview that the consultation is a good first step by the federal government, but it is not enough. “We must act quickly and urgently,” he said. “So what we hope is that this consultation will not be something drawn out, but something that will lead to rapid legislative reform.” The Canadian HIV Criminalization Reform Coalition, of which the HIV Legal Network is a part, said in a statement Wednesday that the government needs to recognize “we’re not starting from scratch.” Over the past five years, the coalition has conducted two national consultations with the HIV community and identified consensus recommendations for the government to follow. After the first consultation resulted in a consensus statement in 2017, Canada’s Judiciary publicly referred to the “overcriminalization of HIV” and, two years later, the House of Commons justice committee concluded that the application of criminal law in such cases should to be limited. But successive Liberal justice ministers have made no concrete commitments. The coalition’s specific legislative recommendations, based on the second consultation, will be outlined in a policy statement it plans to publish on Friday, as the international AIDS conference begins. Canada has the dubious reputation of hosting this conference while remaining a “world leader in the criminalization of HIV,” as Annamanthadoo put it, with prosecutions disproportionately affecting Black, Indigenous and LGBTQ Canadians. The government did not set a timetable for the consultations beyond that they would start in October, adding that more information would be available “in the coming weeks”. Find out what’s happening in the halls of power with the day’s top political headlines and commentary selected by Globe editors (subscribers only). Sign up today.
