Stop jailing HIV-positive Canadians for not telling sex partners: Doctors

Canadians living with HIV/AIDS should no longer face a possible prison sentence for failing to disclosure their HIV status to sexual partners, says an acclaimed Canadian doctor who helped revolutionize the treatment of HIV worldwide.

Today’s triple drug cocktails known as HAART, or highly active antiretroviral therapy, can reduce the viral load of people living with HIV to undetectable levels – making their risk of transmitting the virus to partners “exceedingly low,” Dr. Julio Montaner, director of the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS and colleagues write in this week’s edition of the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

Despite this, Canada has witnessed “an escalation in the number of people prosecuted for allegedly exposing sexual partners to the virus,” the team writes. This country “now ranks among the world leaders in the rate of such prosecutions.” Yet strong scientific evidence now exists to justify doing away with routine prosecutions for HIV nondisclosure, Montaner and colleagues Dr. M-J Milloy and Thomas Kerr, write in the journal.

More >>

Scroll to Top

During the Canada Post strike announced September 25, 2025, the following measures will be undertaken to minimize service disruption to BC-CfE clients and providers.

  • The BC-CfE Laboratory has transitioned to private courier for delivery of outgoing reports and documents. Results required urgently can be faxed upon request. (Lab Contact Information: Phone 604-806-8775; FAX 604-806-9463)
  • The BC-CfE Drug Treatment Program (DTP) will fax outgoing forms and documents to the provider’s office. (DTP Contact Information: Phone 604-806-8515; FAX 604-806-9044)
  • St. Paul’s Hospital Ambulatory Pharmacy has transitioned to private courier for delivery of medications. We recommend requesting medication at least 2 weeks in advance in case of delivery delays, particularly to rural/remote parts of BC. (Contact Information: Phone 1-800-547-3622; FAX 604-806-8675)

During the Canada Post strike, we recommend that documents be faxed or couriered to our sites, versus utilization of regular mail service

The BC-CfE Laboratory is streamlining reporting processes for certain tests in order to simplify distribution and record-keeping, and to ensure completeness of results. Beginning September 2, 2025, results for the ‘Resistance Analysis of HIV-1 Protease and Reverse Transcriptase’ (Protease-RT) and ‘HIV-1 Integrase Resistance Genotype’ tests will be combined into a single ‘HIV-1 Resistance Genotype Report’.
For more details and example reports, please click on the button below