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Positive Women: Exposing Injustice

Documentary looks at four women bravely speaking out about their personal experiences living with HIV.

North Island College’s Global Learning Initiative, in collaboration with AIDS Vancouver Island, will present a screening of Positive Women: Exposing Injustice this Thursday at the Stan Hagen Theatre.

Positive Women: Exposing Injustice is a documentary that takes its audience into the hearts and minds of four positive women bravely speaking out about their personal experiences living with HIV.  Legal experts, doctors, counsellors and support workers also lend their voices to challenge current Canadian laws that are letting down the very women they are meant to protect.

What happens if a woman does not disclose her HIV-positive status to a sexual partner? How does criminalization impact HIV-positive women in Canada, who are trying to live their lives in the shadow of stigma and fear? Does the law actually protect women's health?

Women's voices have rarely been heard on these important issues.

The stories of these four courageous women are real, raw and from the heart, and tell the truth about what it’s like to live in a society that often criminalizes intimate behaviour between consenting adults and discriminates against those living with HIV.

Following the film, there will be a discussion led by Jeanette Reinhardt and Sarah Sullivan from AIDS Vancouver Island (AVI) regarding issues pertaining to HIV and safety.

AIDS Vancouver Island is a community-based AIDS service organization that provides education, advocacy and support to clients. AVI also provides education and prevention information to schools, the broader community and target populations. They have offices in the communities of Greater Victoria, Nanaimo, the Comox Valley, and Campbell River, and also offer services in the Port Hardy area.

The Global Learning Initiative is a student-driven project that facilitates a greater understanding of global health issues, by learning about social and health practices in local and foreign settings, and provides students with opportunities to experience different contexts and culture.

Global Learning has partnered with such organizations as World Community, Africa Technical Service (ACTS) and A’eka-lixil to realize these goals.

In 2009 and 2010, students and faculty travelled to Uganda, Nepal, Mozambique, Rivers Inlet and Kingcome Inlet as part of NIC’s Global Learning Initiative and in 2011, NIC students returned to Nepal and Rivers Inlet.

This presentation will begin Jan. 17 at 7 p.m. Doors open at 6:30 and the event is open to the community.

Donations to the NIC Global Learning Initiative will be gratefully accepted. The Stan Hagen Theatre is on NIC’s Comox Valley campus.

For further information, contact Susan Auchterlonie at 250-334-5271 or visit www.nic.bc.ca.

— Global Learning Initiative