Silence is not neutral: Canada’s leadership has stalled on HIV criminalization reform and communities are paying the price

It has been nearly a decade since Canada first acknowledged that the criminalization of people living with HIV was harmful, outdated and rooted in stigma rather than science. In 2015, when a new government took power at the federal level, there was hope. Momentum. A promise of modernizing the law, of ending the era of prosecuting people living with HIV based on fear instead of facts.

I know, because I was there. As a member of the Canadian Coalition to Reform HIV Criminalization, I have spent years in meeting rooms, Zoom calls, consultations and roundtables. We worked with Ministers of Justice. We worked with public health officials. We submitted evidence. We drafted recommendations. We were told change was coming.

But change didn’t come.

After 12 years of a government that claimed progress, we’re now entering another cycle of recycled leadership. New faces, old promises. The most recent signal was clear: in November 2025, we were told federal law reform “was not moving forward at this time”. No explanation. No plan. No urgency.

And since then, silence.

Even at CAHR 2025 in Halifax, Canada’s largest HIV research conference, there was no dedicated session on criminalization. No update. No call to action. No strategy for re-engaging newly appointed ministers. A critical human rights issue simply… disappeared from the agenda.

That’s not progress. That’s abandonment.

As someone who has lived through the impacts of Canada’s outdated laws – someone prosecuted under laws that experts, courts and scientists all acknowledge are rooted in stigma – I know that silence is not neutral. It is violence in slow motion. It harms people living with HIV every single day.

For years, I have publicly been a spokesperson for this cause – not because I wanted to be, but because it needed to be done. I’ve told my story in Ottawa, across provinces and internationally. I’ve stood on stages at CAHR, the International AIDS Conference and the HIV is Not a Crime National Training Academy. I’ve watched people across this country stand up and speak out.

And now, I’m watching the government sit down.

Canada once led. Now, it is falling behind.

We need to say it out loud: HIV criminalization is not a legal issue – it’s a social justice issue, a racial justice issue, a public health issue and a human rights issue.

The science is clear. The courts acknowledge U=U. The community has done its part. The Coalition has done its part.

It’s time the federal government did theirs.

To the new ministers of health and justice: re-open the file. Meet with the Coalition. Follow the science you claim to stand behind. End the criminalization of people living with HIV.

There is no excuse left.

It’s not that Canada can’t act. It’s that it won’t.

And until that changes, we keep pushing. Because silence is not an option – not for us, not for justice and not for those who can’t speak for themselves.

Chad E. Clarke is a national advocate and HIV criminalization survivor who has shared his story across Canada and internationally. He has presented at the Canadian Conference on HIV/AIDS Research, the International AIDS Conference and the HIV is Not a Crime National Training Academy. He works alongside the Canadian Coalition to Reform HIV Criminalization to push for meaningful legal change. Chad is committed to ending stigma and ensuring justice for people living with HIV.