The role of the Canadian Coalition to Reform HIV Criminalization in changing Canada's approach to HIV criminalization: 5 years of community-led strategies, advocacy and consensus-building

BACKGROUND: Canada has one of the world''s highest number of recorded HIV-related criminal cases, resulting from a broad interpretation of the sexual assault provisions in the Criminal Code. The most commonly laid charge in cases of alleged non-disclosure is aggravated sexual assault,whereconviction carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment and mandatory registration as a sex offender. People living with HIV (PLWH) have been convicted even in cases where no transmission occured, when they used a condom or had an undetectable viral load.
DESCRIPTION: In 2016, a number of organizations and advocates, including people with lived experience of HIV criminalization, created the Canadian Coalition to Reform HIV Criminalization (CCRHC) to change Canada''s approach to HIV criminalization. In 2017, CCRHC conducted its first national consultation, leading to a widely endorsed Community Consensus Statement that makes specific demands to the federal and provincial governments to limit HIV criminalization.
LESSONS LEARNED: Involving people with lived experience and adapting strategies to shifting (political and social) landscapes are key to the CCRHC''s work, and led to positive developments. In 2017, Justice Canada made recommendations to both federal and provincial officials to limit HIV criminalization. In 2018, following a call for action by the CCRHC, the Attorney General of Canada (AGC) issued a (limited) directive based on Justice Canada''s recommendations. In 2019, CCRHC members testified before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights (SCJHR) on the issue of HIV criminalization. The SCJHR majority report concluded that Canada''s approach is too broad, too punitive and unscientific. It recommended limiting the use of criminal law in cases of HIV non-disclosure, including through Criminal Code reform. In 2021, the CCRHC launched a second community consultation on Criminal Codereform advocacy. Since 2017, some provinces have also adopted policies or directives to limit HIV-related prosecutions.
CONCLUSIONS: While significant, these developments remain insufficient to end the overbroad criminalization of PLWH in Canada. While results from the ongoing consultation around Criminal Code reform will inform advocacy strategies at the federal level, CCRHC must continue to demand concrete actions from both levels of government to implement recommendations to limit HIV criminalization.

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