Mr. Speaker, the last three years have seen a 91% increase in the number of aboriginal people living with HIV-AIDS in the country. Three hundred and fifty new cases each year means that one aboriginal person per day is becoming infected.
On December 1 we recognize both World AIDS Day and Aboriginal AIDS Awareness Day because the HIV-AIDS pandemic is growing at an alarming rate in first nations communities. Twenty per cent of all AIDS cases in Canada are aboriginal people, yet less than eight per cent of all funding for prevention and care is targeted to aboriginal communities. Perhaps even more worrisome is the age of aboriginal persons living with AIDS. Fully one-third of them are under 30 years old.
We need to give special attention to the alarming crisis of HIV-AIDS in the aboriginal community. I urge the government to increase its efforts in the prevention and care of aboriginal people in first nations communities.