Criminal Law | Original Program Date: october 6, 2016

In Canada, people can be charged and prosecuted for not disclosing their HIV-positive status to their sexual partner before engaging in sex. Ontario continues to lead Canadian provinces in charges against people living with HIV, even when there is little to no risk of transmission. People are usually charged with aggravated sexual assault. Prosecutions have serious consequences for people living with HIV and for public health at large. These prosecutions also have an impact on the sexual assault law in Canada. Criminalization of HIV non-disclosure is a sensitive and complex issue and requires a firm understanding of the science related to HIV.

Join us for the screening of the film "Consent: HIV non-disclosure and sexual assault law", produced by the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network and Goldelox Productions and available free online at http://www.consentfilm.org/ to:

• Learn more about the criminalization of HIV non-disclosure in Canada and Ontario and the most recent legal developments in this area
• Gain a better understanding of the current scientific and medical evidence regarding HIV and risks of HIV transmission
• Explore the Canadian consensus statement on HIV and its transmission in the context of the criminal law, a document endorsed by more than 75 HIV scientists from across the country and meant to assist actors in the criminal justice system
• Examine the broader implications of the criminalization of HIV non-disclosure in Canada including on the law of sexual assault while learning more about this very pressing issue.

PROGRAM CHAIR

Enzo Rondinelli, Lafontaine and Associates

MODERATOR

Ryan Peck, HIV & AIDS Legal Clinic Ontario

SPEAKERS

Cécile Kazatchkine, Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network
Dr. Mona Loutfy, MD, FRCPC, MPH
Jonathan Shime, Cooper, Sandler, Shime and Bergman LLP