We are celebrating an important victory for people living with HIV — and human rights for all.
On June 15, 2023, the HIV & AIDS Legal Clinic of Ontario (HALCO), the HIV Legal Network, and the Coalition des Organismes Communautaires Québécois de lutte contre le SIDA (COCQ-SIDA) called on Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to immediately revoke the discriminatory HIV Automatic Partner Notification Policy that applies to applicants in the family and refugee classes. For more information, see here.
On July 7 2023, the federal government announced the repeal of the long-standing policy, marking the end of two decades of an intrusive and discriminatory immigration policy.
Under the past policy, IRCC gave three choices to people living with HIV who were applying to immigrate to Canada in the family and refugee classes:
1. they could tell their sponsoring spouse or partner about their diagnosis and provide proof of this to IRCC;
2. they could withdraw their application; or
3. they could do nothing, knowing that IRCC would share their diagnosis with their sponsor after 60 days.
Canada has long claimed to be a leader on the world stage when it comes to both HIV and human rights. With the cancellation of this policy, we believe it is closer to being one.