Results tagged “aids”

When was the last time you heard about Africa's development troubles? Not too long before the global economic disaster hit, the issue had finally permeated the mainstream media, which increased aid to the continent; since then, wealthy nations and the Western media have re-focused on their own problems. But it should come as no surprise that Africa's struggles have persisted—and in some cases deteriorated even further. Of these, access to medicines remains a prominent dilemma: Canada took a lead role in finding a solution to this debacle earlier this decade, but our work ultimately proved futile because the legislation we passed (Bill C-9, now known as Canada's Access to Medicines Regime or CAMR) was much too limiting. Following the tabling of Bill S-232 in the Senate this past Tuesday, though, that may no longer be the case.

Photo by guspim.

One day Pamela Anderson stood in the centre turn lane of a highway, clad only in a Canadian flag...picturing it? Welcome to the lead photo for the "Best of Canada" edition of SNAP!. Now in its seventh year, SNAP! combines a juried competition for established and emerging photographers with a gala fundraiser on March 2 at the National Ballet School. Organizers predict that the works offered in live and silent auctions will raise $140,000 for the AIDS Committee of Toronto.

Torontoist is ending the year by naming our Heroes and Villains of 2007––the people, places, and things that we've either fallen head over heels in love with or developed uncontrollable rage towards over the past twelve months. Get your dose, starting Boxing Day and running into the new year, three times a day––sunrise, noon, and sunset.

The AIDS Committee of Toronto (ACT) holds condom stuffing parties every first and third Wednesday of the month to make packages of condoms, lube, and info on ACT and safer sex. ACT delivers the packages to clubs and venues in the Church and Wellesley area as part of its community outreach program to reduce the risk of transmission of sexually transmitted infections. In 2007, volunteers helped ACT create over 120,000 condom packs.

Torontoist is ending the year by naming our Heroes and Villains of 2007––the people, places, and things that we've either fallen head over heels in love with or developed uncontrollable rage towards over the past twelve months. Get your dose, starting Boxing Day and running into the new year, three times a day––sunrise, noon, and sunset.

The Hidden Cameras are back home, and we are all better off for it.

It’s funny that we mentioned in our introduction last week, because it’s showing tonight at 11:30 p.m. at the Bloor. It’s been a while, in our memory, since the last time it showed, which would imply that the fans in Toronto aren't as rabid as elsewhere, but we’d still recommend that you don't head along unless you’re very familiar with the film. Who knows what could happen.

The half-wit OCAD student who planted a fake bomb at the ROM on Wednesday has turned himself in to police and been charged with mischief and common nuisance. Ha, closing a major thoroughfare, wasting the time of hundreds of police and emergency service personnel, and forcing the cancellation of an AIDS gala—what a lovable scamp. The death rates at Canadian Hospitals have now been made public in a report from the Canadian Institute for...

Thorarinn Ingi Jonsson has, as he put it to Torontoist in a phone interview earlier today, "seen better days." The Integrated Media OCAD student and his final project for his advanced video class are the direct cause––intended or not––for yesterday's bomb scare at the Royal Ontario Museum, and, a day later, Jonsson is now suspended from OCAD and is wanted for questioning by police. Inspired by Marcel Duchamp's readymades pieces (the most famous of...

This weekend, resist the urge to do the same old bar hop and try a more sophisticated means of indulging your party ADD: the art show hop. Okay, so we just invented that term, but the city does have three rad art happenings going on almost simultaneously this Friday, November 30. And we say, why choose? To start your adventure, knock back a whiskey for warmth and head down to the Harbourfront, where the...

Photo by David Topping. A mysterious bag discovered in an alleyway beside the Royal Ontario Museum at about 7:00 p.m. tonight has shut down all traffic––pedestrian and vehicular––on Bloor between St. George and University and on Queen's Park southbound from Bloor and Harbord. UPDATE (10:45 p.m.): CTV is now saying that police have found "what appears to be a pipe bomb," and that the building was (half-)evacuated (contrary to what we were originally told)....

In the opening line from 28: Stories of AIDS in Africa, author Stephanie Nolen illustrates a feeling many of us understand. "I looked at AIDS in Africa for a long time before I understood what I was seeing," she writes. Nolen is an award-winning journalist who has spent the past several years as our eyes and ears on the AIDS pandemic in Africa. As the Africa correspondent for the Globe and Mail, Nolen has written many articles on the ruthless disease that involves people we easily ignore. "It targets subjects we least like to discuss—the drugs we inject, the sex we have, especially the sex with people we aren’t supposed to have sex with—and the interaction least open to honest discussion."

When the Information and Privacy Commissioner for Ontario published its guidelines for the use of video surveillance cameras in public places back in October 2001 [.PDF], it summarized that institutions considering their use "must balance the benefits of video surveillance to the public against an individual’s right to be free of unwarranted intrusion into his or her life. Pervasive, routine and random surveillance of ordinary, lawful public activities interferes with an individual’s privacy."

Bluma Appel, philanthropist and patron of the arts, died last night in a Toronto hospital from complications of cancer. She was 86.

Once a year Toronto the Good becomes Toronto the very naughty.

The good people at Brunswick Theatre are hosting another week of free film screenings! Return their love and boost attendance by coming out to see one (or a few) of the following films:

Every weekday, we pick an image from the Torontoist Flickr Pool and feature it here on the site. It's our way to give the many excellent photographers in our pool the attention they deserve!

Photos of trey anthony, Dawn Whitwell, and Gein Fence courtesy of Get Your Lit Out.

It's the last day of Inside Out, and this afternoon, the gay and lesbian film fest presented a pretty exciting Q&A session with director Laurie Lynd. Lynd directed, among other things, gay-friendly fare like the film version of Torontoist-fave Daniel MacIvor's House as well as episodes of Queer As Folk, Degrassi: The Next Generation and Noah's Arc. But it was his latest project that brought him to the immediate attention of Inside Out. Lynd directed the upcoming film Breakfast With Scot, which is that "gay Maple Leafs movie" you may have been hearing so much about. The afternoon began, however, with a screening of two of Lynd's earlier short films, RSVP and The Fairy Who Didn't Want to be a Fairy. The former is a sad short about a man grieving for his partner who has died of AIDS and the latter is a musical fantasy with Holly Cole about (literally) a fairy who decides that he wants to have his wings surgically removed. Both star Daniel MacIvor, at his loveable, charming best. Torontoist gives him a hug!

June Callwood, the journalist and social activist dubbed by the CBC as "Canada's Conscience," succumbed to cancer this morning at 82.

The atmosphere outside of the (Elgin and) Winter Garden Theatre last night was similar -- not quite the same, but similar -- to that of a rock concert. Various people stood in the cold, holding signs that said "Need One Ticket, PLEASE," while the large crowd jostled around three or four groups handing out flyers and pimping petitions. "Mary," yelled one woman, excitedly. "There's a petition to ban Styrofoam!"

December 1st is World AIDS Day every year, but 2006 should stand out with particular significance. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the discovery of AIDS. And it was also the year that Stephen Harper decided to snub the International AIDS Conference.

The Toronto-based harm reduction group TRIP! has been providing Toronto partygoers with straight up, no-nonsense information and services since 1995. From condoms to needle exchange, "safer snorting" straws to its threesomes guide, TRIP! has the "nightlife health" thing down. This October, the next round of training begins, and TRIP! wants you to volunteer. The weekly workshops cover diversity awareness, basic counseling, harm reduction, the safer side of "better living through chemistry" and HIV prevention....

First some bad news. Southern Ontario and Quebec are going to be affected by the remnants of Hurricane Ernesto. The storm will be downgraded to a tropical depression but it'll make this long weekend wet and windy.

Breaking the law, breaking the law. We -ist folks love us some crime, and no misdemeanor is too petty for a post on any of our sites. This week, join us for a rogues' gallery of miscreants major, minor, and alleged.

Dalton McGuinty not only has a personality, he's apparently been chosen "personality of the year" by a British investment magazine. Foreign Direct Investment magazine selected McG because of his efforts to promote research and attract investment to Ontario. It's not People's 50 Most Beautiful People but it counts for something.

A 12-year old girl who has been missing for two days has been found after an exhaustive search in the city's east end. She had run away after a fight with her parents.

Everyone writes about the city's revelation that thieves are using two-by-fours to bust up the city's beloved lollipop bike posts. The Star's Betsy Powell, who broke the story last week, has her piece here. The Post marvels at how city staffers who are usually slow to act in August managed to react quickly to the problem. The Sun reports that around eight bikes have been stolen from busted stands in one week alone. Finally you can read our take on things here. We suggest a stakeout. Torontoist will bring the coffee.