December 1st marks both World AIDS Day (WAD) and the start of Indigenous AIDS Awareness Week, offering an important moment to reflect on progress, renew commitments, and honour the communities and leaders who continue driving BC’s HIV response forward.
At the heart of PAN’s work is a commitment to centring community knowledge, particularly the leadership and lived experiences of people living with HIV. Their voices illuminate the realities faced in communities across the province and shape our programs, research priorities, and advocacy. This community-led wisdom will be essential to achieving the 95-95-95 goals—supporting people to access testing, link to care, and remain connected to treatment and supports regardless of their life circumstances or where they are geographically. We also recognize the disproportionate impact of HIV on Indigenous Peoples due to the intergenerational effects of residential schools, colonialism and ongoing racism. Indigenous-led organizations and leaders continue to guide the path toward culturally safe, trauma-informed, and self-determined responses and services.
This year, we recognize the successes here in BC that have been realized through Treatment as Prevention (TasP) and broad access to PrEP, thanks to the work of the BC Centre for Excellence (BC-CfE), along with PAN members and other CBOs, and health authority partners. At the same time, we know that HIV rates are on the rise here and across Canada, so we entirely endorse the BC-CfE’s call for free antiretroviral therapy and PrEP for all Canadians. Now is not the time to lose ground but rather to scale up our efforts to get folks on treatment and ensure universal access to PrEP.
PAN and our members also know that medication alone is not enough. Community-based services are foundational to the HIV response. PAN’s members work every day to ensure that people—whether living in major urban centres or small urban rural and remote (SURR) communities—can access testing, treatment, harm reduction, housing supports, food, and healthcare in ways that meet their realities. These wrap-around supports are what allow people to stay connected to care, especially when facing poverty, houselessness, mental health challenges, criminalization, or barriers as newcomers to Canada. Community supports can also challenge or minimize the impact of HIV-related stigma, and the other layered stigmas such as those faced by people who use drugs.
As we mark World AIDS Day and Indigenous AIDS Awareness Week, we honour the work happening across BC—from frontline workers to researchers, Elders to peer leaders, small community organizations to provincial partners. We also acknowledge that continued progress depends on strong, sustained investment in community-based responses. Any erosion of funding or infrastructure will be felt first—and most deeply—by people and communities. Together, we must continue strengthening a system where no matter who someone is, where they live, or what challenges they face, they have access to the care, dignity, and support they deserve. The work ahead is collective—and it is how we will ensure that BC’s progress not only continues but accelerates.
Learn more – this week in BC:
The BC-CfE is hosting a WAD Presentation and Panel at St. Paul’s Hospital on December 1st from 9:30-11:00 AM. PAN and Health Initiative for Men (HiM) are representing the community response on the panel. Everyone is invited as the speakers review the current situation, aiming to invigorate the response and reverse the course of the epidemic.
Other WAD/IAAW local events, advocacy and resources
Learn more – Canadian context:
On November 27th, the HIV Legal Network in partnership with the Honourable Rene Cormier, held a roundtable in Ottawa to discuss the state of HIV in Canada, “Toward a Fair and Equitable Public Health; Ending HIV/AIDS and STBBIs.” The event included leading experts sharing their perspectives on the state of HIV and other STBBIs in Canada and was followed by the release of a new report “The State of HIV in Canada” addressing the current landscape of HIV and making clear recommendations for the path forward.
Learn more – Canadian context:
CATIE’s World AIDS Day digital toolkit
CANFAR World AIDS Day resources
CAAN Indigenous AIDS Awareness Week resources
Learn more – Global context:
This year, the World Health Organization joins partners and communities across the globe, in marking WAD under the theme “Overcoming disruption, transforming the AIDS response.” This theme underscores the pressing need for sustained political leadership, stronger international cooperation, and a renewed commitment to human-rights-centred approaches. After decades of progress, the global HIV response is at a pivotal moment: services are being disrupted, inequities persist, and many communities continue to face heightened risks. Yet the determination, resilience, and innovation shown by affected communities remain a powerful source of hope and momentum. The UNAIDS WAD report can be downloaded here.