Ten years ago, the Legal Network was fortunate to team up with filmmaker Alison Duke and four amazing women living with HIV in Canada on a project exploring the profound effects of criminalization on their lives. The result of this collaboration was Positive Women: Exposing Injustice (2012), a documentary film shown in Canada — and around the world — to many diverse audiences over the past decade. These women and their important stories touched and inspired viewers, and ultimately made Positive Women a galvanizing moment in the worldwide movement to end HIV criminalization. The documentary retains its resonance even today and, unfortunately, these stories of the looming threat of criminalization still ring true for people living with HIV in Canada and beyond. This year, to mark the 10th anniversary of Positive Women, the HIV Legal Network went back to two of the protagonists featured in the original documentary to understand if and how criminalization was still part of their lives. You can watch Positive Women Revisited (2022) now to hear about what it’s still like to live with the constant fear of prosecution, and why this needs to change for people living with HIV in Canada.
