VANCOUVER — Advocacy groups are calling on provinces to follow the Justice Department's directive to stop unjustly prosecuting HIV-positive people for not disclosing their status if there is no chance they could transmit the virus to their sexual partners.
The directive to limit prosecutions was issued in December but applies only to federal Crown attorneys in the three territories.
Richard Elliott, with the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, says international scientific consensus on HIV transmission was reviewed by the Public Health Agency of Canada and informed the federal decision.
Ontario amended it policies but in a limited way to no longer prosecute people with a suppressed viral load and Elliott says Alberta has said in a letter to the network it has done the same but without stating that in a policy.
The federal policy goes further in saying people who also use a condom or engage in oral sex should not face serious charges such as aggravated sexual assault.
The network is among others pushing British Columbia's attorney general to limit HIV prosecution.
Elliott will be one of the speakers on the issue Tuesday at Simon Fraser University.