Justice committee  I am not sure I fully understand your question. However, clearly someone who does not know his HIV status will not be receiving treatment for HIV. Yes, the first step in what we call the treatment cascade is to know one's HIV status.

Justice committee  A huge amount can be done to improve access to, and the regularity of, screening. I could not tell you what fraction can be attributed to the fact that it is criminalized, but that it one of the things that must be done. Clearly, that will make access to screening easier. Screen

Justice committee  People like that do not get to me. I work in a clinic that provides screening and treatment. Generally, the people we see have managed to get to us; they are ready to be tested, and to be treated if necessary. We do not see people who are afraid to know their HIV status for those

Justice committee  The directive rightly points out that those from backgrounds most affected by HIV are also the most marginalized. They are the same populations that are most affected by criminal law enforcement. So any measure that public authorities may take that disproportionally affects those

Justice committee  Yes, that would be one of a series of measures that would ultimately lead to advances in HIV prevention. That question absolutely must be asked.

Justice committee  We do see that problem in our work. The stigmatization that comes with HIV and the requirement to reveal one's HIV-positive status slows down the process of going for screening. This harms people personally, and may well harm their sexual partners.

Justice committee  A number of studies have been conducted about people's intentions to have an HIV screening test, because they know that not disclosing that they have HIV could land them in prison. The criminalization of the non-disclosure of HIV-positive status makes people say, according to the

Justice committee  I will end with the idea of how the federal level can collaborate with the province on this directive. Basically, I am not at all familiar with your levers and your interfaces with the provincial level. But, at very least, it could be about highlighting the most helpful points in

Justice committee  That's fine. Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Thank you very much for having me as a witness in your study on the criminalization of the non-disclosure of HIV status. I have organized my testimony around the four questions that were sent to us by Mr. Girard, the clerk of thi