On July 26, 2025, CBRC convened community leaders, health system stakeholders, researchers and public health professionals in Montreal to address inequities in HIV PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) access in 2S/GBTQ+ communities across Canada. Over the course of a full day, we heard from leading organizations working to end HIV transmission in our communities and explored innovative strategies, including the promotion of long-acting injectable PrEP (cabotegravir). We also shared insights from our own community-based research, including findings from Sex Now 2024 and The Future of PrEP is Now projects.
“The goal of the convening was to explore what exactly we know about HIV-PrEP awareness and use among 2S/GBTQ+ people across Canada,” said Ben Klassen, Associate Director of Research at CBRC. “By discussing what we and our colleagues have been seeing in our communities and clinics, we are able to better understand PrEP barriers, and identify some promising practices and novel approaches to addressing inequities in access.”
Participants came from across Canada and represented a broad range of lived and professional experiences. While CBRC develops new PrEP mobilization resources for community members and healthcare providers based on the findings, we asked some of the participants to share what they took away.
“With long-acting injectable PrEP becoming available, we have the responsibility to ensure this tool—and education around it—reaches the communities for whom daily oral pills aren't the right fit, like guys who want to keep their PrEP use discreet. We need to utilize targeted health promotion campaigns, as well as peers of guys who may be less ‘out.’ This also means that we have to work harder to ensure that all primary care providers, not just ones who work with GBQ populations, receive training on all forms of PrEP.”
Darren Ho
Health Services Director
Health Initiative for Men (HIM)
“This event was a ‘lightbulb moment’ for me to connect research and programming in a way that I may not have otherwise seen. A big example was the parallel between HIV PrEP readiness and the lessons learned from smoking cessation, which is often considered a public health success.”
Sugandhi del Canto
Associate Director of HIV and Sexual Health Knowledge Mobilization
Canadian AIDS Treatment Information Exchange (CATIE)
“The convening reinforced how much wisdom exists in our communities about improving PrEP access. There are tons of creative approaches to increasing awareness and access to PrEP happening across the country already, which is great, but PrEP access is still uneven, with some communities facing more barriers than others. The convening reinforced that we don’t need to reinvent the wheel. What we need to do is connect these ideas, adapt them to local realities, and ensure that everyone who can benefit from PrEP has access to it.”
Caen Squires, Sexual Health Specialist
Community-Based Research Centre (CBRC)
“The CBRC convening on PrEP was an incredible professional opportunity. My key take-aways from the day concerned our collective analysis of structural and community barriers including inconsistent PrEP access and coverage across the country; discomfort and bias among healthcare providers in assessing for and prescribing PrEP; and shortfalls in culturally safe and affirming sexual health care for underrepresented and equity-denied populations. I also appreciated the opportunity to hear about flexible and creative initiatives to improve PrEP access in other jurisdictions—for example, ‘one-stop shops’ for sexual health that support testing, prescribing, and treating STIs, as well as virtual initiatives that allow for at-home assessment and prescribing of PrEP. I plan to use insights from the day towards supporting advocacy and program development to improve PrEP access in Nova Scotia.”
Jordan Zarvie, Interprofessional Educator
prideHealth
“Attending the convening provided an opportunity to receive candid and real-time updates on the many successes and ongoing barriers across a variety of disciplines, sectors, and specialties regarding HIV prevention, including the continued lack of culturally safe and affirming care for Indigenous, Two Spirit, and Indigiqueer Peoples. The relationships made and nurtured during the convening will improve our collective work as we work on each of the priorities discussed.”
Jaris Swidrovich
Assistant Professor, Indigenous Engagement Lead
Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto
“It was interesting to hear about factors that make the community feel uncertain about the acceptability of PrEP. In our work, we often focus on barriers to access, such as geography, stigma, and discrimination, but it's equally important to consider how factors such as medical mistrust and concerns around efficacy and side effects create uncertainties around the acceptability of PrEP. I'm excited to apply these learnings to health promotion campaigns to ease some of these concerns and to hopefully make folks feel more comfortable with the idea of PrEP.”
Lucas Gergyek, Research Projects and Grants Specialist
Community-Based Research Centre (CBRC)
A big thank-you to our partners CATIE and ViiV Healthcare for their support in helping to put this event together.
