Ugo Giguere, The Canadian Press
MONTREAL — A little over six months following the International AIDS Conference was held in Montreal, community organizations fighting HIV/AIDS are fed up with the inaction of elected officials and have decided to cut ties.
In a press release published Tuesday morning, the Table of Montreal Community Organizations for the Fight once morest AIDS (TOMS) announces that it is “no longer possible” for it to remain within the “Montreal without AIDS” alliance. This action plan, which also includes the Regional Public Health Department, was set up in 2018.
This initiative, described as unique, was created in the wake of the Paris Declaration, which dates back to 2014. It is also part of the “Fast-track cities” project to which the United Nations contributes.
The thirty member organizations of the TOMS unfortunately denounce “the disengagement of elected Montreal officials and Mayor Valérie Plante” in the fight once morest AIDS. They say they have been waiting for almost three years for elected officials to commit themselves “to the realization of the action plan” and “to the intermediate targets of UNAIDS”.
TOMS acknowledges that signing the Paris Declaration was “one of the Mayor’s first actions when she took office in 2017”. However, Valérie Plante has never signed the amended versions of the declaration.
TOMS coordinator Olivier Gauvin says he has done everything to talk to Valérie Plante since 2020. Only councilor Josefina Blanco reportedly took the time to communicate with community groups, but it didn’t lead to any new signings commitments by the City of Montreal.
“We have been waiting for three years now for the City to sign these amendments and continue its commitment to cities without AIDS. Unfortunately, we have nothing behind at the moment,” explained Mr. Gauvin in an interview with The Canadian Press.
Yet time is running out since new intermediate targets have been adopted for 2025 and now Montreal finds itself with absent subscribers.
On the side of the office of the mayor Valérie Plante, we say we are “surprised” and “disappointed” by this withdrawal. It is assured that the fight once morest the epidemic remains a priority. In addition, it is argued that a meeting took place at the end of January to “discuss the conditions for the success of the process”.
“We are therefore surprised by the withdrawal of TOMS from the initiative, which is a pity considering the significant efforts of consultation and collaboration made by the DRSP and the City in recent months”, replies the firm. The problem is that without Valérie Plante’s signature at the bottom of the amended declaration, there is no longer any Montreal commitment and the City is simply no longer part of the movement.
Unveiled in 2018, the action plan of Montreal without AIDS “was to be the first ambitious step in a process of involving people living with HIV and communities affected by HIV”, argues TOMS, but only a campaign awareness would have come out of it. Community organizations deplore the fact that the main objective of improving the living conditions of marginalized communities seems to be sidelined.
If the City has appointed two people from the Diversity and Social Inclusion Department to contribute to the work of “Montréal sans sida”, these people have no decision-making power. “It is absolutely necessary that an elected official ratifies and that is where it blocks”, adds the coordinator of the TOMS.
More than the inaction of elected Montreal officials, community organizations decry the authorities’ repressive practices once morest marginalized groups. They call for real commitment and deep work on harm reduction and the fight once morest the AIDS epidemic so that it will be a thing of the past by 2030.
Until then, the community is determined to no longer serve as a guarantee to allow politicians to score points on its back.
Absence in Seville
Last fall, in October, an international summit brought together member cities of “Fast track cities” in Seville, Spain. Montreal was not represented there. At the end of this summit, the member cities signed a “Seville Declaration” with new commitments.
Once once more, “we have no news on the signing of this declaration,” mentions Olivier Gauvin.
All parties unreservedly reiterate their intention to continue working to improve the living conditions of marginalized people and prevent the spread of the virus. However, it seems that they will do so in a form other than that of “Montréal sans sida”.
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