[Viva] Fwd: FW: A personal note of thanks and call to action

Fri Mar 25 13:01:58 PDT 2011

I am forwading this message from Richard Elliott with sadness in my heart
but a sense of pride in the women in Viva and how we have come together as
an advocacy group.  I can tell you that we have by far outdone the other HIV
groups in B.C. and for that you have my heartfelt thanks and admiration.

Believe me, this does not stop here.  I have been very saddened at the
response of people with HIV during this campaign, people who have medication
and have not been involved in the campaign.  However, I put it down to have
to deal with their own very large issues.

When the election is over we will have a new chess board and we will not
tread so lightly.  We will strategize and come through with amazing clarity
that we will not stand for big pharma preventing affordable medicines
reaching our brothers and sisters in Africa.

I hope at that time you will join me in battling for the medication to reach
them.

Denise Becker

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Ross Harvey <rossh at bcpwa.org>
Date: Fri, Mar 25, 2011 at 12:21 PM
Subject: FW: A personal note of thanks and call to action
To: BCPWA Group <BCPWAGroup at bcpwa.org>

 FYI (I am indebted to Daphne Spencer of the BCCDC for forwarding this
message from the CHALN’s Richard Elliott)

Ross Harvey

Executive Director

BC Persons With AIDS Society

1107 Seymour Street, 2nd Floor

Vancouver, BC   V6B 5S8

t. 604.893.2252

f. 604.893.2251

c.604.788.9111

1.800.994.2437 <http://www.bcpwa.org/>

www.bcpwa.org

 ------------------------------

*From:* Richard Elliott [mailto:relliott at aidslaw.ca]
*Sent:* Friday, March 25, 2011 7:51 AM
*To:* camr-reform-campaign at googlegroups.com; GTAG at yahoogroups.ca
*Subject:* A personal note of thanks and call to action

A PRIVATE MESSAGE

Dear comrades in the struggle to reform CAMR and to overcome AIDS:

As you know, it is virtually certain that later today the Harper government
will fall on a non-confidence motion and this Parliament will be dissolved
shortly thereafter.  The effect of this is to wipe away all legislation
before Parliament that has not yet made its way through the legislative
process.  Bill C-393, the “little bill that could,” will die on the Order
Paper.  It is hard to convey the depth of rage and sadness I feel at the
prospect, after so many years of so much hard work by so many.  But any
thinking person is confronted with much, every day in the world, from
unnecessary petty injustices to barbaric brutality on a mass scale, that is
cause for such sentiments, and so we cling to the notion that there is
enough spark of human decency left in enough people that things can change
for the better.  And sometimes they do.

I wish to take a few moments, in a sleep-deprived haze, to offer a few
thoughts about where we’ve been and what comes next.  Some of these thoughts
I shared previously with my own staff at here at the Legal Network on the
eve of the third reading vote in the House of Commons, but of course the
last two weeks have been an intense flurry of advocacy – the latest loops on
the procedural and emotional rollercoaster that has been the life of Bill
C-393 (and Bill S-232 before it).

The death of the bill today does not mean that our contribution to the
struggle for access to medicines, for dignity and for life, is over.  It
means that the struggle moves into a new phase – most immediately that of a
federal election.  There is a commitment on the part of our allies to bring
back the essence of Bill C-393 should the configuration of the next
Parliament be such that there is a prospect of success.

Being realistic, given what we have witnessed in the last few years and
especially in the last few months and days, there is no reason to think
that, if re-elected, the current Prime Minister or his circle would somehow
acquire the capacity for compassion of which they seem so utterly devoid.
The future hope of fixing CAMR – and indeed of getting a better response
generally from Canada to the global (and domestic) AIDS crisis and similar
issues – lies in not having a Harper-led, Conservative government.  That day
will come, although many will die and suffer needlessly until it does.

The question before us, in my view, is what we can do to hasten its
arrival.  This is not to suggest, by any means, that a Conservative minority
government led by someone else, or a Liberal government, would automatically
be better.  Indeed, we have little reason to think it would, particularly
given what we’ve heard and seen from some key players in those quarters.
 But they may at least be more susceptible to public pressure, if only
marginally – and it will only be through the vigilance of thousands of
Canadians who care that we will ever wrest from our government(s) any decent
policy or action.  Rare are those occasions when those with their hands on
the levers of power do the right thing without a great deal of determined
advocacy.  However, it is hard to see how any government could be much worse
than the current one for health – whether it’s the health of people living
with HIV in Canada or in the developing world, the health of various
communities whose vulnerability to HIV is exacerbated by many policies
pursued by this government, or indeed the health of our democracy.

The power of Big Pharma’s lobby, and the venality, cynicism, disinterest and
cowardice of too many in Parliament, never cease to amaze.  We have had an
uphill battle from the outset on this.  We have had the much harder task of
trying to bring reason and evidence to bear in explaining a complex matter
of public policy – although in the end it is really a simple question of
even more power and minor additional profits for the already
super-profitable vs. life and freedom from pain and suffering for millions
of poor people.  Our opponents need simply cast doubt and spread
misinformation to obfuscate and obstruct, thereby seeking to preserve the
status quo that, as is usually the case, serves the interests of the rich
and powerful while discarding lives and dignity.

And yet, despite this, we have done tremendous work in this campaign.  We
have helped catalyze an extraordinary amount of public attention and of
activism, from the grassroots to the engagement of very prominent people, in
this collective effort.

I am extraordinarily proud of the Legal Network and its staff for what we
brought – and will keep bringing – to this campaign.  In particular, I want
to note the tremendous dedication and effort of Janet Butler-McPhee (our
communication director) and Lindsey Amèrica-Simms (our outreach coordinator)
for all their efforts in recent months -- as well as our good friend Chris
Holcroft, who has been so generous with his time and his insights again and
again, including, far too often, in the wee hours of the morning.  Rachel
Kiddell-Monroe (President of UAEM) and Cailin Morrison (legal advisor) have
also been allies in this for years, including working as consultants for the
Legal Network and bringing their passion and smarts to the cause.  oline
Twiss has been a friend and collaborator in this for many years, wearing
many hats along the way.  These are all people of insight, commitment and
deep integrity and I am so fortunate to have worked with them.

I also wish to remind us that not all is rotten in Parliament, disheartening
though much of it may be.  In particular, let us remember that the entire
NDP caucus has been solidly behind this effort from the outset – indeed, as
far back as 2003, during the first campaign to a law in place to supply more
affordable, generic medicines to developing countries, they were our allies,
and time and again they did the right thing when we asked for their
support.  In particular, I want to acknowledge and thank current or former
NDP MPs Brian Masse, Judy Wasylycia-Leis, Paul Dewar, Libby Davies, Megan
Leslie and Jack Layton for their ongoing support, as well as current or
former staffers Katy Kydd-Wright, Mohummed Peer and Kiavash Najafi who have
played key roles in this campaign.  It has been frustrating to me, and
challenging for our organization, that we have been unable to acknowledge
fully all of this support as publicly as is deserved.  This has arisen out
of both our limitations as a charitable organization in having to avoid
partisan political activity and the tactical consideration that, in the
context of Parliament, our cause was, and is, best served throughout by
insisting, quite correctly, that this is and should be a non-partisan
issue.  But let us remember who in Parliament has stood with us and stood up
for people in developing countries.

I also want to acknowledge specifically the staunch support of some Liberal
MPs, and in particular Raymonde Folco and Joyce Murray, who spoke out again
and again, in caucus and in the House, to support this cause.  On the Senate
side of things, we have received critically important support from Liberal
leader James Cowan and deputy leader Claudette Tardif, as well as Liberal
Senators Carstairs, Dallaire and Jaffer, and Progressive Conservative
Senator Lowell Murray and Conservative Party Senator Nancy Ruth.  They all
deserve our thanks.

Let us also remember that we have had journalists who have covered this
story carefully, honestly, critically and in-depth… and, importantly,
repeatedly.  They’ve done so, I believe, because they think it’s an
important and worthwhile story to tell.  They’re absolutely right.  Their
positions have given them the means to educate millions of Canadians about
the issues at stake, and to ensure that the concern of so many Canadians for
others around the world is reflected in the public forum.  They used that
power to ensure the story got told, with most of its twists and turns.  (The
definitive account of the campaign, in its entirety, is still to be written
– I want to have a crack at it someday, but there are still chapters to
come.)  In particular, I want to note the excellent work of Tanya Talaga and
Gord Barthos at the Toronto Star, Louisa Taylor at the Ottawa Citizen,
Gloria Galloway at The Globe and Mail and Dale Smith at Xtra!  They deserve
our thanks for what I think is fine journalism, about things that matter.

As I said above, this has been, and remains, a collective effort.  Literally
tens of thousands of Canadians took the time to add their voices, in various
ways, to the call for reason, compassion and decency.  From the RESULTS
Canada volunteers to the circle of supporters mobilized by Dignitas
International, to our friends at ICAD and Avaaz and MSF’s Access to
Essential Medicines Campaign, to the students at the University of Toronto,
McGill and in UAEM groups, to supporters at UNDP and UNICEF, to committed
Canadians such as Stephen Lewis, James Orbinski, Fanta Ongoiba and K’naan to
individual academics and other experts such as Professor Fred Abbott who
testified repeatedly before Parliament… many gave their time, energy and
talents to this cause.

I must reserve special mention, of course, for the extraordinary women of
the Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign.  I have said it so many times,
but it always bears repeating: we would not have achieved what we have
without them – and as we go into an election in which all parties are vying
for “the seniors vote”, you  have muscle to flex yet again.  To have the
power of such women, wise and strong, and in such numbers across the
country, has been inspirational.  Every time I am in their presence – and I
was again every day this past week as we mobilized yet another time on
Parliament Hill to try to push Bill C-393 through the Senate – I am moved
and re-energized.  I have learned an extraordinary amount about grassroots
organizing and about advocacy (including tips about taking wine and butcher
knives to Parliament Hill!), and have made new friends.  Most importantly, I
have been reminded of what is possible.  I thank them from the bottom of my
heart and with the greatest admiration and affection.

This has been an effort into which both the Legal Network, and I personally,
have invested a great deal of effort for many years.  We have done so out of
a deep conviction that our human rights mission must, of course, extend to
acting in global solidarity with those bearing the worst of the brunt of the
pandemic.  We have taken a stand, we have tried to make a difference – to
alleviate pain and suffering, to make the world a better place.  In my view,
that is the best any of us can hope to do in the time we have on this
planet.  Thank you for joining in that struggle.  Let us keep it going.

In solidarity,

Richard

________________________________________________

Richard Elliott

Executive Director | Directeur général

Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network | Réseau juridique canadien VIH/sida

+1 416 595-1666 (ext./poste 229) | relliott_aidslaw

www.aidslaw.ca | www.twitter.com/aidslaw

*Access to Medicines Campaign:* www.aidslaw.ca/camr |
www.aidslaw.ca/facebook
*Campagne pour accès aux médicaments :* www.aidslaw.ca/rcam |
www.aidslaw.ca/facebook**

[image: Description: Description: P]*           **please don't print this
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