The Feast Centre for Indigenous STBBI Research

The Feast Centre for Indigenous STBBI Research will soon be launching a new funding opportunity:
🌱 SEEDS‑STBBI Awards
Starting Equitable, Embedded, Distinctions‑based STBBI Research

These awards will support Indigenous‑led STBBI and sexual health research development, grounded in community, land, and Indigenous governance.

This is a catalyst award, designed to support relationship‑building, community‑led planning, and early‑stage development—not just fully developed research projects.

At its core, this is an invitation to recognize and strengthen the work already happening across communities, organizations, and networks that supports Indigenous health and wellbeing.
More details coming soon.

Please read our powerful statement honouring and month.

Premier Wab Kinew we request your meaningful response to the Feast Centre for Indigenous STBBI Research's public statement on Manitoba's Public Health Emergency.

Today, we released a public statement in response to Manitoba’s declaration of an HIV public health emergency. The statement was shared with Indigenous leadership, community organizations, and federal and provincial decision-makers, including the Manitoba Métis Federation, Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, Manitoba Inuit Association, and government leaders.

In the statement, we acknowledge the urgency of the moment, while emphasizing that this is not only a public health emergency—it is also a colonial systems emergency. The sharp rise in HIV diagnoses reflects longstanding, interconnected inequities, including housing insecurity, systemic racism, gaps in care, and the ongoing impacts of colonial displacement. Indigenous peoples continue to be disproportionately affected.

We call for responses that go beyond short-term crisis measures. This moment demands sustained, Indigenous-led, community-governed, and properly resourced action. Solutions must be grounded in culturally safe care, Indigenous knowledge, and the leadership of those most affected.
Key priorities highlighted in the statement include:
* Low-barrier access to HIV testing, prevention, treatment, and care
* Indigenous-led harm reduction, housing, and mental health supports
* Community-based and land-based models of healing
* Ending stigma, shame, and criminalization for people living with HIV
* Long-term funding and Indigenous governance of responses
* Centering Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer communities

We underscore that HIV is preventable and treatable, and that responses must be rooted in dignity, evidence, and relational accountability—not fear.

We reaffirm our commitment to working alongside Indigenous communities, leadership, and people living with HIV to advance solutions that support survivance, wellness, and Indigenous futures.

International AIDS Conference program now available!

🙋🏾 Have you explored the programme yet?

From groundbreaking science and policy discussions to community-led sessions and global networking opportunities, the world’s largest conference on HIV and AIDS will bring together voices from across the HIV response to .

Explore more than 150 sessions featuring leading researchers, advocates, policy makers and community leaders in Rio and virtually from 26-31 July.

Start planning your AIDS 2026 experience now 👉 programme.aids2026.org

Need protection- always

Using protection like a dental dam or condom can help prevent STBBI’s and unwanted pregnancies.

Check out this incredible opportunity for Northern Youth from Indigenous Youth Roots - IYR

Make sure to listen to this powerful series exploring HIV Stigma with The Positive Effect

📣 The final post in our HIV Stigma Index series is now live.
We asked a small group of people living with HIV to finish one sentence:

💭 “Things will change when…”

What came back was honest, raw, thoughtful, angry, hopeful, practical, and deeply personal.
📸 Photography.
🎧 Audio.
🎥 Video.
✍️ Writing.

Different voices. Different perspectives.

One reality: HIV stigma is still shaping people’s lives in Canada.
These stories remind us that stigma is not abstract — it affects healthcare, relationships, employment, mental health, and everyday life.

But they also remind us that change is possible. 💙

Read the latest blog now at The Positive Effect: https://loom.ly/pVEcRaM

"What is an Indigenous Doula?" Read about this meaningful role from the Village Lab

The Kotawêw study explored how Indigenous HIV/STBBI doulas walked alongside people with HIV through diagnosis, stigma, parenting, substance use, grief, and healing. Rooted in kinship, culture, lived experience, and community, this model offered peer support, HIV education, cultural connection, and systems advocacy. The study was a collaboration between Ka Ni Kanichihk Inc. and the Village Lab.

To find out more about the Kotawêw study, visit our webpage at:https://www.villagelab.ca/kotawew-study