The OAN Board and staff would like to thank those who attended our 2019/20 Annual Meeting and meeting of delegates living with HIV. Both were a tremendous success with approximately 83 attendees!  Membership collective efforts yielded this great outcome. This was only possible through member commitment of time and effort which is especially noticeable and appreciated during this current COVID-19 environment. Included in the Annual Report is a message from the Co-Chairs and Executive Director plus program highlights. Go here to download the full Annual Report. We’re so excited to welcome our new Board members Viviana Santibanez (Central), Eugen Nam (Central), Charles Parchem (West) and Lila Desjardine

Are you a young person living with, at risk of, or affected by HIV/AIDS?  LetsStopAIDS’ is hosting a conference for you!  The Youth-HIV Virtual Leadership Conference is designed to educate young people about the intersecting nature of HIV, social justice, and the impacts of youth leadership. This conference is scheduled to take place on November 21-22, 2020. In preparation for the conference LetsStopAIDS’ is looking for keynote speakers with a focus on Prevention, Your HIV Status,  Treatment & Access, and/or Staying Healthy. In addition, if you are interested in facilitating breakout sessions or facilitating a Skills-based workshop for the conference reach out to Laura Foran at LForan@letsstopaids.org. For

We’re happy to be sharing a great resource: “A Reflection of Sex Work and Harm Reduction Discourse” developed by Stella in Montreal, Butterfly Asian, and the Migrant Sex Worker Support Network.  This very helpful resource includes tools useful in workshop facilitation and program framing. During this time of heavy virtual interaction, these tools are also applicable to online facilitation.

As COVID-19 continued to impact our everyday lives, this summer wasn’t quite what anyone expected. To help continue managing life during this pandemic, the GMSH teamed – up with the folks at BoylesqueTO to ask how they were exploring intimacy and self-love.  Public Health officials continue to call for us each to establish ‘social bubbles’. This also means limiting our sexual and social interactions to a smaller group to reduce potential COVID-19 exposures. It’s important to recognize that the bubble we think we’re in is not always the reality, especially with increased interactions between members of multiple social/sexual networks. It can help to think of these

Since the start of the COVID pandemic we’ve seen reduced access to sexual health services, HIV and STI testing and prevention resources. The City of Toronto continues to offer the sexual health info line and e-chat and provides free and anonymous sexual health counselling services.  Call to speak to a live counselor from anywhere in Ontario. Services are also offered in various languages including French. For more information please go to toronto.ca/health/shilo

The OAN Board of Directors and staff would like to remind you that the Annual Meeting (AM) of the Members of the Ontario AIDS Network (OAN) will be held on Tuesday, October 6, 2020, between 5:00 and 7:00 p.m. The Annual Meeting follows the OAN’s meeting of delegates living with HIV, which takes place on Monday, October 5, 2020, between 5:00 and 7:00 p.m. Here are some things you can expect at this year’s AGM:  Meet the OAN Board of Directors and staff Get an update on the OAN’s work in 2019/20 Help guide our work over the coming year

The Ontario AIDS and Hepatitis C Programs and the Ontario HIV Treatment Network are pleased to announce the creation of a web portal (www.hivtestingontario.ca) containing information on HIV testing in Ontario. The site provides information and training materials for the Ontario Ministry of Health’s HIV rapid/point-of-care and anonymous testing programs.   The portal also contains updates to, and information about, the HIV testing window period, testing recommendations for Ontario’s priority populations, pre-natal HIV testing, Post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). The portal also includes important updates on self/home HIV testing in anticipation of Health Canada’s decision to approve the sale of these tests in Canada.   If you would like to learn

While COVID-19 continues to impact the lives of everyone in Canada and around the world, we know that the pandemic has created unique pressures on the health and well-being of gay, bi, queer and trans men, and Two-Spirit and non-binary people (GBT2Q). Even before COVID-19, our communities have faced significant mental, social, and sexual health challenges, which have been negatively impacted by physical distancing and the pandemic’s disruption to the health services we rely on such as, testing for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.  In order to better understand how the pandemic has affected GBT2Q people across Canada, the Community-Based

Health Canada is currently reviewing a licensing application for an HIV self-testing kit. If approved, HIV self-testing will likely be available in the coming months. This test will be the first, and only, licensed HIV self-test available in Canada. While the exact timing of Health Canada’s decision is not known, it is anticipated a decision will be made in the coming weeks. HIV self-tests are currently used in several countries. Research shows that some people prefer self-testing because it is convenient and confidential. The enhanced privacy of self-testing makes it an effective way to reach first-time testers and those who

The AIDS committee of Durham Region (ACDR) and its partners invite you to Ontario’s newest and most exciting show about, for, and by the LGBTQ2+ community. Join co-hosts Kerolos Saleib (MSM Outreach Coordinator at ACDR and founder of Middle Eastern Nights), Vivianna Santibanez, Antoine Elhashem, Ticha Albina, and Alphonso King Jr. for their new monthly show, The Queer Bunch. Check out the premiere episode of The Queer Bunch as they explore the question: ‘What’s up with racism and the police?’ with special guests Ruth Cameron (Executive Director of The AIDS Committee of Cambridge, Kitchener, Waterloo & Area) and Toronto City Councillor Kristyn