Join walk for life

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Members of the Healing Our Spirit BC Aboriginal HIV/AIDs Society want to invite people to take part in their annual "AIDS Walk for Life" on Sept. 25.

The purpose of the walk is to help raise awareness about the HIV/AIDS epidemic and to assist the society in raising funds for Aboriginal HIV/AIDS programs and services.

The co-founders of the society were Frederick Haineault and Leonard Johnston, both of the Cree Nation. They both have passed on, but their work initiated in British Columbia, and their contributions to HIV/AIDS awareness, remains in the hearts and minds of many. Their HIV diagnosis compelled them both to action, and they formed the society to create awareness of AIDS among Aboriginal people.

Through the society office in Vancouver, a wide-range of support and education programs are offered, including family support and advocacy, a community-based research centre, information on legal issues and on living with HIV/AIDS.

People living with HIV/AIDS and those who support them, health professionals, representatives of funding bodies, political leaders and Aboriginal people from all over are also encouraged to attend the 10th annual Aboriginal HIV/AIDS Conference to be held in Cranbrook from May 28 to May 31, 2006.

The first conference was held in Vancouver in 1997.

"I hope this year we get a lot more support and financial support," said Ken Clement, executive director at Healing Our Spirit. According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, Aboriginal people contract HIV/AIDS at rates higher than that of the non-Aboriginal population. It has been estimated that 250 to 450 Aboriginal people in Canada were newly infected with HIV during 2002. The pre-determinants that put Aboriginal people at risk of getting HIV/AIDS is said to include addiction problems, family violence, lack of housing and education, the impact of the residential school experience, sexual, emotional and physical abuse, poverty and unemployment.

But the society believes HIV/AIDS can be reduced or even prevented through their programs and services.