An era of defiance, victory and loss

1986 First Canadian AIDS demonstration to establish viral testing lab in BC

Vancouver Persons with AIDS Coalition established

Canada’s first AIDS Walk organized by Vancouver PWA Coalition

1987 Kevin Brown becomes first legal recipient of AZT in Canada

First AIDS memorial candlelight vigil

Vancouver PWA Coalition protests against proposed BC quarantine law

1989 Kevin Brown, founding chair of Vancouver PWA Coalition, dies

1990 Vancouver PWA Coalition boycotts International AIDS Conference in San Francisco, opposing discriminatory US legislation requiring HIV disclosure

Health and Welfare Canada presents National AIDS Strategy

1992 Coalition?s Prison Outreach Program initiated

Pacific AIDS Resource Centre formed

1993 Coalition broadens mandate and changes name to BC Persons with AIDS Society

National AIDS Strategy Phase II approved

1994 PARC Library established

1995 Pacific AIDS Network formed

1996 BCPWA organizes protest march at the International AIDS Conference in Vancouver to draw attention to the soon-to-expire National AIDS Strategy

HIV reclassified as a “chronic manageable illness” due to introduction of protease inhibitors

1997 Canadian AIDS Strategy approved as Phase III federal funding

2001 BC government introduces the Monthly Nutritional Supplement Benefit

2003 PWAs become eligible for liver transplants in BC but under restrictive guidelines

Glen Hillson, BCPWA chair, dies of end-stage AIDS caused by liver failure

2005 BCPWA stages protest outside Minister of Health Ujjal Dosanjh’s office to demand release of experimental drugs TMC 114 and 125

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