[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.12.1″ custom_margin=”0px|||” custom_padding=”0px|||”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.12.1″ custom_margin=”0px|||” custom_padding=”0px|||”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.12.1″] Thank you to all of the Members, Affiliate Members and Delegates for your meaningful participation in this year’s Annual General Meeting. The Ramada was bursting with enthusiasm and spirited discussion – certainly a gathering to remember. On Thursday night, our PHA Body Dinner was attended by 30 PHAs from across Ontario; our Networking Meeting on Friday hosted 69 participants and our Saturday meeting — where we formally elected four new and two returning members to our Board of Directors and approved the addition of three new agencies to our family — hosted 52 participants. These

Of course the reason for our Annual General Meeting is to bring together our Membership to elect new Board Members and approve the addition of other organizations to our provincial Membership. Congratulations to our 2018 – 2019 Board of Directors: Co-Chair: John McCullagh, Central Declared Co-Chair: Janet Rowe, Central Undeclared Board Treasurer: Kim Dolan, Eastern Undeclared Board Secretary: Gord Asmus, Eastern Declared Holly Gauvin, Northern Undeclared Fred Young, Northern Declared Les Bowman, Western Declared Tim McClemont, Western Undeclared Asunta Wagura, At-Large Declared Dale Maitland, At-Large Declared Noulmook Sutdhibhasilp, At-Large Undeclared We also welcomed the following organizations to the Ontario AIDS Network Membership: Centre francophone de Toronto as an Affiliate

The Advisory Council on the Implementation of National Pharmacare is “leading a national dialogue on how to implement affordable national pharmacare for Canadians and their families, employers and governments.” Many sector The Advisory Council is planning a Town Hall (Community Dialogue Session) in Toronto on Monday, September 24, 2018 from 7:00pm – 8:30 pm. Here is a link to register for the Town Hall. If you are not in the Toronto area, you can visit the Council’s online consultation platform, send a written submission via email or complete an online questionnaire. HALCO provides free legal advice for people living with HIV in Ontario about access to drug benefits and other

Casey House is hosting a free all-day workshop on Trauma Informed Care in Toronto, on Tuesday October 9th, from 9:30am – 4:30pm. For more information and to register, click here.

The Gay Men’s Sexual Health Alliance (GMSH) has released their position statement on U=U (undetectable equals untransmittable)! The statement was developed with support from COQSIDA and members of GMSH’s Positively Healthy Advisory Committee and says, clearly, that HIV positive individuals with a sustained undetectable viral load cannot transmit HIV to their sexual partners. To ensure that this information is made available to Two Spirit, gay, bi, and queer men and their health care providers across Ontario, they have adapted materials from The Sex You Want campaign including posters, postcards, stickers and t-shirts into eye-catching resources and swag! Contact Christopher at cmaillais@gmsh.ca for more information (and to place a bulk order!)

During Saturday’s AGM, participants were invited to dedicate a rose to a loved one and light a candle, which anchored us in our work for the course of the day. Afterward, a team of volunteers led by Tara Jewal, Manager of PLDI and Special Events, laid more than 6 dozen red roses at the AIDS Memorial of the 519 Church Street Community Centre in Toronto.

Hemophilia Ontario has a new Interim Executive Director! Bojan Pirnat, based out of Toronto, can be reached at the following email: Director@hemophilia.on.ca. 

Well the event you’ve all been waiting for is around the corner: It’s just a few days until the 2018 OAN Annual General Meeting at the Ramada Hotel, Toronto: Friday September 7th 9:00am – 5:30pm* Saturday September 8th  9:30am – 3:30pm *Note the extra hour allotted for advocacy re: responding to recent government’s closure of Supervised Consumption Sites (SCS)  and Overdose Prevention Sites (OPS). The PHA Body Meeting will be held on Thursday evening from 5:30pm – 9:30pm. All of the AGM Materials (Agendas, Proxy form, Expense Form, List of Nominees) can be found here. As of yesterday, all hotel reservations

Thank you so much to everyone for registering for the OAN Leadership Symposium. The registration is now closed. Ryan will be sending out confirmation emails in the week after the AGM (after September 9). For those participating, the Leadership Symposium agenda has been posted and is sure to inspire much conversation and partnership over the 2 and a half days we will share together. Questions? Direct any further inquiries to Ryan Kerr, Manager of Communications and Member Development at rkerr@oan.red.