{"id":100305,"date":"2025-12-12T08:44:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T13:44:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=100305"},"modified":"2025-12-12T08:44:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T13:44:15","slug":"racism-misunderstanding-block-indigenous-access-to-hiv-care-in-canada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/12\/racism-misunderstanding-block-indigenous-access-to-hiv-care-in-canada\/","title":{"rendered":"Racism, misunderstanding block Indigenous access to HIV care in Canada"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Sonal Gupta, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada&#8217;s National Observer Trevor Stratton recalls the day he wandered out of a pharmacy without paying last summer. The pharmacist chased him down and scolded him \u2014 only to later confirm there had been no charge at all. Stratton, who was recovering from a seizure and unclear on his medication coverage, describes the experience as \u201cdisrespectful,\u201d but also painfully familiar. A member of the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation, Stratton is an HIV activist diagnosed with the virus in 1990. He serves as a board member for the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research and as the Indigenous leadership policy manager for Communities, Alliances and Networks. Experiences such as his, he said, are common for Indigenous people who face increased scrutiny in&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2025%2F12%2F12%2Fracism-misunderstanding-block-indigenous-access-to-hiv-care-in-canada%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Sonal Gupta, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada&#8217;s National Observer Trevor Stratton recalls the day he wandered out of a pharmacy without paying last summer. The pharmacist chased him down and scolded him \u2014 only to later confirm there had been no charge at all. Stratton, who was recovering from a seizure and unclear on his medication coverage, describes the experience as \u201cdisrespectful,\u201d but also painfully familiar. A member of the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation, Stratton is an HIV activist diagnosed with the virus in 1990. He serves as a board member for the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research and as the Indigenous leadership policy manager for Communities, Alliances and Networks. Experiences such as his, he said, are common for Indigenous people who face increased scrutiny in... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2025%2F12%2F12%2Fracism-misunderstanding-block-indigenous-access-to-hiv-care-in-canada%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-100305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Racism, misunderstanding block Indigenous access to HIV care in Canada - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/12\/racism-misunderstanding-block-indigenous-access-to-hiv-care-in-canada\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Racism, misunderstanding block Indigenous access to HIV care in Canada - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Sonal Gupta, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada&#8217;s National Observer Trevor Stratton recalls the day he wandered out of a pharmacy without paying last summer. The pharmacist chased him down and scolded him \u2014 only to later confirm there had been no charge at all. Stratton, who was recovering from a seizure and unclear on his medication coverage, describes the experience as \u201cdisrespectful,\u201d but also painfully familiar. A member of the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation, Stratton is an HIV activist diagnosed with the virus in 1990. He serves as a board member for the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research and as the Indigenous leadership policy manager for Communities, Alliances and Networks. Experiences such as his, he said, are common for Indigenous people who face increased scrutiny in\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/12\/racism-misunderstanding-block-indigenous-access-to-hiv-care-in-canada\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-12T13:44:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/12\\\/racism-misunderstanding-block-indigenous-access-to-hiv-care-in-canada\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/12\\\/racism-misunderstanding-block-indigenous-access-to-hiv-care-in-canada\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Racism, misunderstanding block Indigenous access to HIV care in Canada\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-12T13:44:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/12\\\/racism-misunderstanding-block-indigenous-access-to-hiv-care-in-canada\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":892,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/12\\\/racism-misunderstanding-block-indigenous-access-to-hiv-care-in-canada\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/12\\\/racism-misunderstanding-block-indigenous-access-to-hiv-care-in-canada\\\/\",\"name\":\"Racism, misunderstanding block Indigenous access to HIV care in Canada - 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