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Starting Home Fires, an Indigenous-led HIV awareness campaign featuring eight short films created by Indigenous storytellers, launched nationally during National Indigenous History Month. Organizers say the project is designed to reduce stigma, increase awareness and encourage community-led conversations about HIV prevention and treatment. (photo credit: Submitted)<\/p>\n
Hand-out<\/p>\n
An Indigenous-led HIV awareness campaign launched Tuesday during National Indigenous History Month, with organizers saying the initiative arrives at a critical time for Manitoba and other provinces grappling with rising HIV rates.<\/p>\n
The campaign, called Starting Home Fires, was developed by the Two-Spirit Program at the Community-Based Research Centre (CBRC) in partnership with Indigenous HIV leaders from across Canada. Through a series of short films and public outreach efforts, organizers hope to improve understanding of HIV, combat stigma and encourage more Indigenous-led discussions about prevention, testing and treatment.<\/p>\n
Its launch comes less than a month after Manitoba declared a public health emergency over rising HIV rates, a move that drew national attention to the growing impact of the virus in the province. Advocates in neighbouring Saskatchewan have continued to call on their government to make a similar declaration.<\/p>\n
Organizers said Indigenous communities continue to experience a disproportionate burden of HIV because of systemic inequities, barriers to health care access and the ongoing effects of colonialism.<\/p>\n
“Too often, Indigenous communities are spoken about in public health campaigns instead of being trusted to lead them,” Lane Bonertz, associate director of Two-Spirit Health at CBRC, said in a statement announcing the campaign.<\/p>\n
“Starting Home Fires was built by Indigenous people for Indigenous communities. That matters because culturally grounded education has the power to reduce stigma, increase access to prevention and testing, and help people feel seen instead of judged.”<\/p>\n
At the centre of the campaign are eight short films created by Indigenous filmmakers, artists and storytellers. The films draw on Indigenous worldviews, lived experience and community knowledge to address common misconceptions about HIV while sharing information about prevention and treatment.<\/p>\n
Campaign organizers said misinformation and stigma remain significant barriers to testing and care in many communities, despite major advances in HIV treatment over the past several decades.<\/p>\n
The campaign emphasizes that HIV treatment is safe and effective and that people living with HIV can lead long, healthy lives. It also promotes prevention tools including regular testing, condom use, pre-exposure prophylaxis, commonly known as PrEP, and access to treatment.<\/p>\n
For Manitoba organizations working on the front lines of HIV prevention and education, the campaign’s timing is particularly significant.<\/p>\n
Laverne Gervais, manager of the Mino Pimatisiwin Sexual Wellness Lodge at Winnipeg-based Ka Ni Kanichihk, said community-led initiatives can help build trust and make health information more accessible.<\/p>\n
“With the recent announcement of a public health emergency related to HIV in Manitoba, community-led campaigns like Starting Home Fires are critical because they build trust and create opportunities for people to engage with HIV information in ways that feel relevant, respectful and grounded in their own experience,” Gervais said in a statement.<\/p>\n
“The stories in this campaign reflect the realities communities are facing right now.”<\/p>\n
The campaign was developed over a two-year period through consultations with Indigenous communities, leaders and people with lived experience. Organizers said that process helped ensure the final project reflected community priorities and perspectives rather than relying on a top-down public health approach.<\/p>\n
National support for the campaign was provided by the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research (CANFAR) and CATIE, with additional support from pharmaceutical companies Gilead and Merck, the Ontario HIV Treatment Network and the Public Health Agency of Canada.<\/p>\n
Roxanne Ma, CANFAR’s vice-president of national awareness, said Indigenous-led initiatives will play an important role in Canada’s broader efforts to reduce HIV infections and improve health outcomes.<\/p>\n
“Indigenous-led initiatives like Starting Home Fires help ensure that HIV awareness efforts are shaped by the communities most impacted,” Ma said in a statement. “That leadership is essential if we are going to reduce stigma and improve access to prevention, testing and care.”<\/p>\n
The campaign is being distributed nationally through radio advertising, targeted social media outreach and partnerships with Indigenous creators and influencers. Production support was provided by M\u00e9tis-owned Saltmedia.<\/p>\n
The launch coincides with National Indigenous History Month and comes ahead of National Indigenous Peoples Day on June 21, when communities across Canada will celebrate Indigenous cultures, histories and contributions.<\/p>\n
More information about the campaign and its films is available through the Starting Home Fires website.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Starting Home Fires, an Indigenous-led HIV awareness campaign featuring eight short films created by Indigenous storytellers, launched nationally…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":713571,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[49,48,84,258599,56834,258600,68074,258601],"class_list":["post-713570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-health","tag-hiv-awareness","tag-hiv-prevention","tag-indigenous-led","tag-public-health-emergency","tag-stigma-reduction"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=713570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713570\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/713571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=713570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=713570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=713570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}