I think this new directive is a big part of it.
One of the things I can share with you in terms of what we have noticed is probably the most powerful.
Very quickly, last year in Ottawa was our year of U=U. We did a lot of work with our community partners around “undetectable and untransmittable”. Since the messaging has been out there and there has been an official endorsement by the Canadian government, the shift we have seen in people living with HIV, and also people who are at risk and don't know about their status, has been massive and significant. We have done art projects around it, in terms of how this has impacted lives. We have talked to people at risk in terms of whether they are more comfortable getting tested for HIV now, or if they feel it has made a difference. The answer has been overwhelmingly, yes.
Now I know that if I get tested and I am positive and have the opportunity to go on treatment and be undetectable, I'm no longer a vector of transmission. There's a much smaller chance of being criminalized in terms of passing on the virus to someone else. It's made a massive, massive difference in that particular way.
In terms of other aspects of the Criminal Code, I am not a lawyer. I think folks from CATIE mentioned that the experts on that are HALCO, the HIV and AIDS Legal Clinic Ontario, for example, and the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network. They would be much better suited to answer that particular question.
The one thing I can tell you is that sexual assault law needs to be completely removed from any cases that involve HIV non-disclosure.