Addressing homophobia in relation to HIV/AIDS in aboriginal communities: final report of the environmental scan 2004-05

Conference Reports
Ottawa
Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network, CAAN
2005
134 p.

Addressing Homophobia in Relation to HIV/AIDS in Aboriginal Communities (AHRHAAC) is a project of the Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network (CAAN). AHRHAAC was created to look at how organizations serving Aboriginal people can help to create supportive and nonjudgmental environments for two-spirit people living with HIV/AIDS through the development of policies that address homophobia and by raising awareness in Aboriginal communities on how to address homophobia when it is a barrier to HIV/AIDS prevention and education. The final report is a summary of an environmental scan using two surveys, one for two-spirit people and another for organizations serving Aboriginal people, to get a sense of current policies and to provide recommendations for future directions for policy development. Health Canada's HIV/AIDS Community-Based and Aboriginal Research Programs funded AHRHAAC, which is now at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. The research questions driving this project include: 1. How can anti-discrimination policies be developed and implemented to address the needs and rights of two-spirit people who are accessing Aboriginal organizations? 2. How can Aboriginal organizations best implement anti-discrimination policies to improve the quality of services for two-spirit people living with HIV/AIDS? 3. How can awareness be raised in Aboriginal communities on how to address homophobia when it is a barrier to HIV/AIDS prevention and education? The remaining two phases that were part of the AHRHAAC project were: Phase II - create an anti-homophobia policy development model for Aboriginal organizations; and Phase III - develop a communications strategy to promote the implementation of anti-homophobia policies. Due to the delay of Phase I, the Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network is unable to complete the other two phases, however key aspects are being incorporated in other projects currently underway at CAAN, including a discrimination policy framework and a privacy and confidentiality project.

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