With the closure of the AIDS Committee of Toronto, public health experts are wondering if this is the beginning of the end for HIV service organizations in Canada<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After 42 years of operation, Canada\u2019s oldest HIV service organization has announced<\/a> that it will shutter its doors in the next six months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The AIDS Committee of Toronto (ACT) was founded in 1983 and helped countless patients during the height of the AIDS epidemic, but now its executive director, Ryan Lisk, says the organization has made the \u201cbittersweet\u201d decision to wind down operations by March 31, 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cACT began with the hope that at some point in the future it wouldn\u2019t be needed anymore, which is why it\u2019s bittersweet,\u201d Lisk explains. \u201cFor more than four decades, we have been honoured to stand alongside thousands of people living with and affected by HIV, providing support, education, advocacy and care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lisk cites years of financial challenges as one reason behind the decision, as well as significant changes<\/a> to the HIV landscape, which he says has led to a decline in the overall demand for ACT\u2019s services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis decision was not made lightly, but it is the best course forward to ensure that our staff are supported, and our service users continue to receive the resources they need through other organizations,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When ACT was founded by a small group of activists\u2014one summer more than 40 years ago\u2014AIDS was an unknown illness considered to be a rare cancer that was rapidly killing thousands of gay men. The limited information available prompted mass hysteria and fear, and politicians, who were ignorant about the disease, remained largely silent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During those initial years, the work of groups like ACT and many others became a pivotal response to the emerging public health crisis, and it later grew to become one of Canada\u2019s largest HIV service organizations. Meanwhile, in the U.S., groups like Gay Men\u2019s Health Crisis were pushing the queer community to get angry at the government for a lack of support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOur time of greatest innovation and impact was the \u201980s, \u201990s and early 2000s when we had more donor dollars and more flexibility in our funding,\u201d Lisk says. \u201cWith that donor support, we were able to innovate programming and create a thing that\u2019s responsive to the needs of the community in real time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The organization previously offered HIV and sexual health education, preventative programs and community outreach. They also held annual fundraisers, including its Walk for AIDS event, which ended in 2021 due to a lack of funds<\/a> after more than 30 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With the height of the epidemic in the rear-view mirror, Lisk says the organization has faced a steady decline in donations as well as in government support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019ve relied heavily on government support and government funding gives what they can, but there\u2019s a competitive element to that,\u201d Lisk explains. \u201cThere are many HIV organizations and services across the province competing for a fixed amount of money.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lisk says ACT faced nearly seven years of repeated deficits that made future operations untenable when combined with high administrative costs. The organization also rents office space near the Church-Wellesley Village with a hefty lease priced at nearly $650,000 each year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Funding isn\u2019t the only thing that has changed over the last four decades. Since the early \u201980s, researchers have made massive advancements in the way HIV is prevented and treated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI think that undetectable viral load and access to testing, uptake around PrEP, has changed a lot of the conversation around HIV in 2025,\u201d Lisk explains. \u201cAnd so, there was a question about how we remain relevant and innovative?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Throughout the \u201990s, the disease progressed from an unknown terminal illness to a treatable condition that can be managed with anti-retroviral therapy. This allows people living with HIV to maintain an undetectable viral load that cannot sexually transmit the virus. This scientifically-proved concept is also known as \u201cUndetectable = Untransmittable<\/a>,\u201d or \u201cU=U.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n