Canada’s Cut in AIDS Funding Protested

As thousands of AIDS researchers and activists from more than 100 countries headed toward Vancouver for this weekend’s 11th International AIDS Conference, controversy erupted Friday over the Canadian government’s commitment to fighting the epidemic.

A wide spectrum of Canadian AIDS research and activist groups launched a nationwide publicity blitz to protest the government’s decision not to renew $31 million in annual funding for Canada’s principal AIDS program after 1998.

The program, called the National AIDS Strategy, has existed since 1990 and includes funding for care, research, education, prevention and community support organizations.

Prime Minister Jean Chretien also was singled out for criticism for declining an invitation to officially open the conference in the British Columbia city on Sunday.

It will be the first time the leader of a host country has not opened the meeting.

The decision to curtail funding for the AIDS program is part of the Chretien government’s tough deficit-reduction program.

Health Minister David Dingwall has said it will not mean an end to all AIDS funding. It will, however, place AIDS researchers and community groups in competition with other health-related organizations in the scramble for dwindling government dollars.

Joan Anderson, director of education and advocacy for the AIDS Committee of Toronto, said that unlike diseases such as cancer and heart disease, there is no private fund-raising structure in place for AIDS in Canada.

“It’s irresponsible for the government to move out, because that creates a vacuum,” she said. “We just can’t turn to the private sector for this. . . . The result will be more infections, more people becoming ill and ultimately more people dying.”

Anderson said advocates hope to persuade the government to reverse the decision before 1998.

“I don’t think the door is closed yet,” said Ken Hennessy, executive director of the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research in Toronto. “When the government sees the facts and figures, particularly rising out of the conference in Vancouver, they may change their minds.”

About 15,000 people are expected at the Vancouver conference, making it the largest yet.

Chretien’s press office said an unspecified scheduling conflict prevents him from attending, but there are no other public events on his calendar Sunday.

Anderson said Chretien’s snub is being interpreted as indifference. “It’s a mistake,” she said. “Not only is it a bad sign for Canadians, it’s a bad sign for our international partners in fighting the epidemic.”

In a May letter to Chretien that was leaked to the Canadian media, Dingwall said a decision not to attend would be taken as “a signal that Canada is less than committed to fighting this disease.”

Canadian health officials estimate that more than 60,000 people in this country have been infected with HIV, the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS, and more than 9,100 have died from AIDS-related causes.

The rate of infection, however, remains much lower here than in the United States.