Welcome to our new
Executive Director,
Shannon Ryan!
“It’s clear that the OAN has many challenges to face over the coming months and years given the funding and political environment. I look forward to working with you all to face them and to build on a strong OAN legacy.”
Get Out And Vote!
Make sure your voice is heard in the 2019 federal election on October 21st. Ontario’s HIV community has an important opportunity to let all candidates, parties and voters know that the response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Canada requires strong federal leadership.
Let your vote count for meaningful targets and investments in testing, treatment and a strong and well funded front-line response. We also need federal leadership to address the criminalization of non-disclosure and ensure a safe drug supply.
So far, it seems to be a close election with no obvious outcome. This is a perfect opportunity to let your voice be heard in support of these issues as you vote. Go to oan.red/2019-election to get the information you need to help make an informed decision. Also check out our Facebook page for additional election resources.
Reconciliation and Action
Ontario’s HIV sector continues its conversation about our collective work towards Truth and Reconciliation. The Reconciliation Working Group composing six non-Indigenous AIDS service organizations: AIDS Committee of North Bay and Area, Elevate Northwest Ontario, The Gilbert Centre, the Ontario AIDS Network, Pasan, and Réseau Access Network, with support from Oahas, is working to provide guidance and tools for the sector on how to do the work of reconciliation.
It’s the goal of this group to arrive at a consensus on what that work should look like, thus continuing the difficult work of reconciliation with Indigenous people in their communities. The Working Group will present a process towards reconciliation at the OAN’s sector-wide Leadership Symposium on October 30 and will seek both feedback and commitments from OAN member agencies to continue this work.
The OAN remains committed to this effort and will provide agencies with updates as the work unfolds. The OAN also looks forward to doing its own work toward reconciliation in the coming months and will report to Members as the work progresses.
Slay Stigma Tour
Have you heard about the Slay Stigma Canadian Drag Tour with Trinity K Bonet? The tour is fiercely challenging the stigma surrounding people living with HIV, demanding access to services, testing, and prevention, and educating people on U=U, PrEP and PEP.
Go the their website to see if they are coming to a city near you, or for more information. You can get FREE TICKETS by visiting pozitivity.ca/slay-
Connected to Care
This week, the Ontario Ministry of Health announced a series of consultations with municipal governments and the public health and emergency health services sectors to strengthen and modernize public health and emergency health services.
These consultations are meant to increase the consistency and equity of service delivery across the province and improve clarity and alignment of roles and responsibilities between the province, Public Health Ontario and local public health. This work is also meant to identify innovative practices and improve public health delivery.
These consultations may be an important opportunity for people living with HIV and people involved in Ontario’s HIV sector to share their feedback and to ensure that HIV specific issues are included.
For more on this announcement and to receive updates about local consultations, go here.
PLDI Pilot Project
PLDI is excited to announce a new opportunity for graduates to be trained as facilitators and for these skills to be practiced in our Member agencies. This pilot project presents a unique opportunity for both PLDI graduates and agencies to build their skills bank while embodying the principles of GIPA/MEPA.
More details about this opportunity can be found here. We are seeking interested Member agencies to pilot this project with us – if you’d like your agency to be involved reach out to Tara Jewal at tjewal@oan.red before October 21st
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The OAN Outpost
Archives of the OAN Outpost
The OAN Outpost
The OAN Outpost is distributed to our email list of OAN Member and Affiliate agencies, Board members and friends of the OAN.
The Newsletter contains actionable items and events that offer an opportunity for our readers to engage with other organizations and initiatives.
To be included in the OAN Newsletter, items must be:
- Relevant to the friends/Members of the Ontario AIDS Network
- Timely: within the last 2 weeks or part of a new story within the last 2 weeks
- Informative – this usually means it links elsewhere to an existing or shared resource – especially if it re-directs to information on our website
- Promotion of a special event
Ultimately, the curation of items for distribution falls to the Manager of Communications. To submit an item for inclusion in the next OAN Newsletter, email hramsay@oan.red