On December 8, 2014, the Supreme Court of Canada heard R. v. W., which is an HIV non-disclosure case. HALCO, the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network and COCQ-SIDA (the provincial network of HIV organizations in Quebec) intervened in the case.
W. is a man living with HIV who was convicted for HIV non-disclosure and who appealed the conviction to the Supreme Court of Canada. The reasons for his appeal are mainly about how the trial judge dealt with evidence as well as the judge’s assessment of the credibility of both W and the complainant.
The appeal brought by the defense was dismissed in an oral judgment by the Supreme Court shortly after the December 8 hearing. The court said it did not believe the trial judge had erred in his analysis of the credibility of the parties or in his analysis of the evidence as a whole; therefore, the trial judge’s decision was upheld.
For more information, please visit the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network website: www.aidslaw.ca/site/r-v-w-hiv-non-disclosure-back-at-the-supreme-court-but-with-a-twist/.
If you are living with HIV in Ontario, please contact us for free legal advice.