Letter to Governor General Jean: HIV AIDS Pandemic

Excellency:

Attached, please find a copy of a recent letter from the Canadian Council of Churches addressed to Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Since this letter represents the combined wisdom of the member churches of the Canadian Council of Churches we thought the content of the letter, responding to the HIV AIDS pandemic, might interest you. The Canadian Council of Churches (CCC) is the largest ecumenical body in Canada, now representing 20 churches of Anglican, Eastern and Oriental Orthodox, Protestant and Roman Catholic traditions.

Canadian churches have been active in advocacy campaigns leading up to the 2006 International AIDS Conference to be held in Toronto this August, suggesting that there are several upcoming opportunities for the Canadian government to demonstrate leadership in this area.

In addition the Governing Board of the CCC, which is made up of senior representative of member churches who together represent 85 per cent of Christian Canadians who profess adherence to a church, has recently invited all our churches to

• shun all prejudice toward people with HIV,
• root out social stigma and discrimination against all people living with HIV/AIDS,
• support all who dedicate themselves to caring for people living with HIV and AIDS,
• promote all kinds of appropriate behaviours that prevent the spread of the virus,
• work to make lifesaving medicines accessible to all who need them, and to
• work to cancel the debt of countries with high prevalence of HIV rates (recognizing that poor economic circumstances are a powerful determinant in the quality of life of an HIV patient).