We are profoundly aware that systemic racism – and racism of any kind – stigma and discrimination severely compromise the effectiveness of our public health interventions and tear at the fabric of our society. As such, we remain fully committed to confront and rectify these whenever and wherever present.
Our Centre was established in 1992 with the specific mandate to promote strategies and initiatives that advance the control of HIV/AIDS in BC, Canada and the world. Confronting difficult issues and advocating for marginalized populations is at the very heart of our work. The BC-CfE has been and continues to be a leader in this area. We played a key role in the discovery and implementation of HAART. Building on the success of HAART, we created the Treatment as Prevention strategy and the 90-90-90 Target, both now formally embraced by the United Nation, the World Health Organization and countries around the globe. Our work has led us to recognize early on that the success of our programs is critically dependent on our ability to successfully engage with those who need our services, where they are and on their own terms. Having meaningfully engaged with the most vulnerable in our midst, and learning from them we have successfully advocated for policy changes in the areas of free access to antiretrovirals for treatment and prevention, LGBTQ2S+ rights, supervised consumption sites, safer drug supply, decriminalization of commercial sex and many others.
The murder of George Floyd on May 25th served as a wake-up call for all. Outright and systemic racism is pervasive in our society, and the BC-CfE acknowledges the incontrovertible fact that people of colour often suffer or are marginalized simply due to the colour of their skin. Canada is not exempt, as we have recently seen with violence and other forms of oppression directed against black Canadians, Indigenous peoples, and people of Asian descent.
Through all of our programs, the BC-CfE recognizes the need for actively promoting social justice, challenging racism and discrimination, and highlighting the disparities and inequities that often prevent people from accessing the services and support they need.
In solidarity with the now-global Black Lives Matter movement the BC-CfE will redouble its efforts to increase diversification of our staff, and increase supports and inclusion activities to ensure their success.
We will review our teaching, research materials and methods to ensure they neither propagate racism or discrimination, or through stereotyping, or through omission of underrepresented groups.
We will broadly communicate our organizational values and expectations.
We will prioritize equity, diversity and inclusion as we review our policies, practices and procedures.
We will commit to review our performance in this area to promote accountability.
This work, like the monumental task of ending racism, stigma and discrimination will be ongoing, and the BC-CfE’s leadership encourages feedback and advice on how we as an organization can, and must, improve. We encourage all staff members and BC-CfE stakeholders to contribute ideas and energy to support our collective work on this vital issue.
BC-CfE Leadership