Federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos has brushed off outrage over visa denials for hundreds of delegates from low-income countries planning to attend the International AIDS Conference in Montreal
Mr. Duclos sidestepped the question of whether the government would apologize, or change its policies, saying simply that it was his “personal and professional opinion” that more people should be at the AIDS conference, and he would raise the issue with his cabinet colleagues.
In a separate announcement, Harjit Sajjan, the Minister of International Development, announced $15-million in funding for UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS. Mr. Sajjan previously caused a stir at the conference when he backed out of making welcoming remarks, apparently because of concerns about protesters.There are roughly 63,000 Canadians living with HIV. An estimated 10-per-cent of them are undiagnosed.
But they also expressed disappointment that there wasn’t a broader funding commitment. “Obviously, this is not what we were hoping for but I view it as an important first step,” said Jody Jollimore, director-general of the Vancouver’s Community Based Research Centre. Funding for Canadians AIDS groups has been fixed at $73-million annually since 2008, and they have said that should be increased to at least $100-million.
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