Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for the question, Senator Cormier. I’m told that the government is strongly committed to putting an end to the AIDS endemic by 2030 and to supporting Canadians living with AIDS. The government is investing $87 million a year to combat the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, and other sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections. I’m also told that the government is investing $30 million through the Harm Reduction Fund to prevent and control HIV and hepatitis C. The government continues to work closely with community groups and people with lived experience.

Hon. René Cormier: Today is World AIDS Day, a reminder that this pandemic, which first emerged 40 years ago, is still going strong, and that sustained resources are needed to eradicate it.

Exactly one year ago today, on December 1, 2020, I moved a motion in this chamber that was adopted by the Senate, calling on the Government of Canada to evaluate the cost of implementing its five-year action plan on sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections, to establish national targets in the fight against HIV/AIDS and to increase funding for the Federal Initiative to Address HIV/AIDS in Canada.

Yes, there was the COVID-19 pandemic. Yes, there was an election. Sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections did not cease to exist, however. National targets in the fight against HIV/AIDS are still essential to eradicating this disease, and more money is needed to fight HIV/AIDS now than ever before.

Senator Gold, what does the Government of Canada plan to do during this Forty-fourth Parliament to respond effectively to the needs identified in that motion?

Hon. René Cormier: Honourable senators, since the emergence of AIDS, 80 million people have been infected and more than 36 million have died. Some 38 million people are living with the virus today, and between 700,000 and 1 million people die each year.

Behind those numbers are women, men, children, people from all walks of life, all origins and all regions of the world who are dying from or living with this terrible disease.

HIV/AIDS first appeared on this planet 40 years ago. It was considered a shameful disease at that time, one that only affected “other people,” mainly homosexual people and drug users.

People in my life, including Bernard, Laval, Pierre and so many others, died in silence, because one does not reveal the true nature of one’s illness, so as not to ostracize one’s family or be rejected.

Well, that remains true to this day, colleagues. It is still taboo to disclose one’s HIV status. Despite the advent of triple therapy in 1996, despite scientific advances, despite the fact that it is considered a chronic disease, silence still reigns in our communities. The spread of this virus continues because there is still no vaccine against AIDS.

According to data from the HIV in Canada surveillance report, in 2019, there were 2,122 new HIV diagnoses across the country. The most affected age groups were people aged 30 to 39, followed by those 20 to 29, and then those 40 to 49.

The most troubling part, colleagues, is that the Public Health Agency of Canada estimates that in 2018, 13% of people living with HIV did not know they were infected.

[English]

Prevention and access to drugs are both crucial in eradicating this disease off the face of the earth. However, the COVID-19 pandemic shows us that if northern countries do not effectively help southern countries have access to drugs, it won’t happen. If we do not work concretely toward reducing inequalities in the world, it won’t happen.

[Translation]

As we mark World AIDS Day and Aboriginal AIDS Awareness Week, what do we need to do, honourable senators, to ensure that Canada takes responsibility nationally and internationally and meets the targets it set with UNAIDS to eradicate this disease by 2030?

[English]

There is not a choice to be made between ending the AIDS pandemic that is raging today and preparing for the pandemics of tomorrow. The only successful approach will achieve both. As of today, we are not on track to achieve either, says the UNAIDS Executive Director.

[Translation]

Colleagues, it’s time for us to come together and urge our fellow citizens to do more. HIV/AIDS is not a pandemic of the past; it is a pandemic of today.

[English]

“End inequalities; end AIDS; end pandemics,” should be the theme that ought to inspire us, because no one is safe until we are all safe. Thank you. Meegwetch.

[Translation]