In Canada, people living with HIV can be charged and prosecuted for not disclosing their HIV-positive status to their sexual partners (a phenomenon referred to in this short report as “HIV criminalization”). In 1998, in R. v. Cuerrier, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) established that people living with HIV have a legal duty to disclose their HIV-positive status to sexual partners before sex that poses a “significant risk” of HIV transmission.1 In 2012, in R. v. Mabior and R. v. D.C., the SCC ruled that there is a legal duty to disclose one’s HIV-positive status before having sex that poses a “realistic possibility” of HIV transmission. To learn more, click the View Resource button below.
HIV CRIMINALIZATION IN CANADA: Key Trends and Patterns
