Our Search for Safe Spaces: A Qualitative Study

Aboriginal women are continuing to be over-represented among new HIV cases in Canada.

Although Aboriginal people represent just 3.8% of the Canadian population, in 2005, estimates indicated Aboriginal people were about 7.5% of all prevalent HIV infections. Since 2004, at least 50% of newly reported HIV infections identified as Aboriginal are women and girls.¹

But knowing that you are HIV-positive also has other implications in your life — for example, deciding whom to tell about your HIV status. Because HIV can be transmitted during sex, the criminal law in Canada imposes an obligation on people living with HIV to share, or “disclose,” their HIV-positive status to their sexual partners in certain circumstances.

¹ PHAC 2007; Mehrabadi et al. 2008