#AIDSVigil: 35 Years And Still Counting
01 Jun 2019.  -

photo Raymond Helkio.

As far as HIV is concerned, we have a lot to celebrate in Canada. The HIV/AIDS movement has transformed the health of people living with HIV as well as impacting public policy and enabling the widespread availability of antiretrovirals. But we’re not out of the woods yet.

Globally, there’s still much to do including ensuring medication and treatment access for all, eliminating stigma and ensuring adequate supports for long-term survivors. As we near Pride month it’s our opportunity to remember all of those who fought for our health as well as the human rights we enjoy today.

Please join the community for a candle lighting ceremony as we honour the names being added to the memorial, as we pay tribute to all those whose lives were ended short because of this horrendous disease.
This year marks the 35th annual vigil which will be hosted by Amutha Samgam and Kerolos Saleib, and will include performances from drag artists Jezebel Bardot and Jade Elektra, Les Chiclettes’ Nathalie Nadon and spoken word artist Bryan Deresti.

A Brief History of the AIDS Memorial

In the mid 1980s a group of gay men, led by Michael Lynch, developed the idea for the AIDS Memorial in response to the isolation and fear that so often characterized the experience of AIDS. Volunteers constructed a temporary memorial every year on Lesbian and Gay Pride Day, while working with friends to raise funds in the community to build the permanent AIDS Memorial. Initially, the AIDS Memorial was a place where gay men — by far the largest group affected in Toronto in the 1980s — could grieve, remember and celebrate the lives of those lost.

The permanent AIDS Memorial, designed by Patrick Fahn, opened in 1993 in Barbara Hall Park (formerly known as Cawthra Square Park), behind The 519 Community Centre. Over time. the Memorial became a place for everyone infected and affected by AIDS in the broader Toronto community. Names of those to be honored are engraved and installed each year, by mid-June.

“Cry” by Michael Lynch and “Circle of Stones” byShoshanna J. Addley are engraved on the first pillar of the Memorial. This plaque recognizes the deaths of those unnamed.