An organization that bills itself as Canada’s oldest HIV service agency says it will close next year, in part due to groundbreaking medical advances that have reduced the need for its services.
AIDS Committee of Toronto says plummeting demand coincided with financial challenges and broader changes in the health-care system, leading to the decision to close after 42 years.
ACT was founded in 1983 when AIDS was marked by stigma, long-term illness and often death.
New treatment and prevention measures mean people with HIV now live longer and fuller lives, with a third of ACT’s service users over the age of 55.
Needs are changing, ACT says
Executive director Ryan Lisk says it’s time to pass the torch to organizations that better serve current needs, with paramount issues including access to affordable medications and help managing HIV as a chronic disease.
“It felt like it’s the right time for us to take a step back,” Lisk said in an interview.
He said organizations that have in-house HIV and sexually transmitted infection testing as well as mental health and social services are better equipped to serve their clients.
Between 2010 and 2021, new HIV infections decreased globally by almost 22 per cent, suggests a new study from The Lancet HIV medical journal. But in Canada, the opposite is happening: in 2023, there was a 35 per cent increase compared to the year before.
One of those organizations is HQ Health Hub in Toronto, where executive director Dr. Kevin Woodward said HIV is managed as a chronic disease with daily medication.
“However, there’s still a lot of needs that are out there in terms of access to care, access to medications, making sure that newcomers who come into Canada, who may be living with HIV, are connected to care as soon as possible,” Woodward said.
“There’s a lot of challenges that still exist.”
He said incorporating mental health and social supports for this aging population has become a key focus at HQ Health Hub.
“We have a population of folks who are getting older, who are what we call long-term survivors that have gone through a lot of trauma,” Woodward said.
Lisk says the pool of federal, provincial and municipal funding for HIV organizations has essentially remained the same over the past four decades and that donations have also declined.
Donations slip despite increase in cases: advocates
ACT said it raised $3.6 million through donations and fundraising back in 2003, but in 2025, it is projected to raise less than $300,000.
Funding was affected by the COVID-19 and increased cost of living, Lisk said.
“We saw a significant change after COVID, the economy has been difficult,” Lisk told CBC News. “I think most non-profit organizations in 2025 are struggling for donations.”
Canada saw a 35 per cent jump in HIV cases in 2023 compared to a year before, according to Statistics Canada. Despite the uptick in new infections, particularly affecting marginalized communities, Lisk says there has been a decline in public awareness of the disease.
“HIV isn’t on the radar in the way that it was in the 80s, 90s and early 2000s.”
The closure of ACT underlines urgent gaps in funding, Shamin Mohamed Jr., founder and president of LetsStopAIDS, Canada’s largest youth-led HIV charity, told CBC News.
“It’s a heartbreaking moment for Canada … being someone who got involved with the HIV epidemic at 15, I can say that we need more movements like this,” Mohamed said.
Canada has the highest rate of new HIV infections of any G7 country, Mohamed said.
“HIV is silently in our communities across Canada,” he said. “Now is not the time to decrease our support for community led initiatives.