A Moment of Breakthrough: HLN Annual Report 2020-2021

16 The Legal Network acknowledges that the land on which we live and work is traditionally known as Turtle Island and home to the the Haudenosaunee, the Wendat, and the Anishinaabe, including the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. [...] This year, we again took the issue straight to the Government of Canada, and our analysis and advocacy contributed to the Senate passing a motion on World AIDS Day 2020, calling on the government to respond to earlier Parliamentary recommendations to increase HIV funding. [...] In early 2021, when the federal government was developing the budget, we submitted a pre-budget consultation highlighting the need to prioritize investing in public health and respecting, protecting, and fulfilling human rights as part of the response to a health crisis. [...] We encouraged the Government of Canada to learn from the history of HIV and from the current COVID situation — it’s time for a much-needed moment of breakthrough in both pandemics, with real commitments to adequately funding the response and to end the inequities and other human rights infringements that fuel them. [...] We highlighted the links between human rights and HIV, the need to restore funding to the HIV response, and the need to reform laws and policies concerning drugs, sex work, and HIV criminalization.