Red Deer organization receives $500,000 in federal funding for project addressing HIV and Hepatitis C stigma in Métis community

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Government officials say STBBIs are preventable, treatable, and in many cases curable, yet they remain a significant public health concern in Canada, particularly among Indigenous, 2SLGBTQ+, and other equity-deserving communities.

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The Shining Mountains Living Community Services (SMLCS) will be receiving $500,000 for their project titled, “Building Métis cultural responses to HIV and Hep C related Stigma”.

The project aims to decrease the various levels of disease and gender-related stigma, whether individual, family, community and institutional, including governing bodies and health services, related to Métis people and HIV, hepatitis C and other STBBI. They say the project will increase the capacity of service providers, enabling them to provide culturally appropriate and safe prevention and treatment programs and services through in-person workshops, podcasts, online webinars, and Métis cultural gatherings.

The Government of Canada says they will continue to work with and support community-based organizations, Indigenous partners, provinces and territories, researchers, public health, and the health sector to prevent new infections and support the global goal of ending HIV, hepatitis C and other STBBI as public health concerns by 2030.

Through the HIV and Hepatitis C CAF, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) invests $26.4 million annually to support time-limited projects of up to five years across Canada to address HIV, hepatitis C and other sexually transmitted infections like chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis, among others.

Through the Harm Reduction Fund, PHAC invests $7 million annually to support time-limited projects of three to five years across Canada to help reduce HIV and hepatitis C among people who share injection and inhalation drug-use equipment.

On August 1, 2022, the Government of Canada announced $17.9 million in time-limited funding (2022-2023) to improve access to testing, including $8 million to community-based organizations to support their capacity to distribute and promote HIV self-tests and link people to care. An additional $9.9 million was provided to the National Microbiology Laboratory to expand community-based testing in northern, remote, and isolated communities.

Officials say efforts to address STBBI in Canada are guided by the Pan-Canadian Framework for Action on STBBI and the Government of Canada Five Year Action Plan on STBBI (Action Plan).