To Be Announced

To Be Announced

Ka Ni Kanichihk’s Mino Pimatisiwin Sexual Wellness Lodge as an Indigenous-led STBBI testing and harm reduction focused clinic filled with big auntie energy. The Mino Pimatisiwin Sexual Wellness Lodge is low barrier, sex and drug positive, culturally safe and grounded in Indigenous teachings. Our knowledge keepers, language speakers, community hosts and nurses are ready to welcome our relatives in our community in to sit together to drink (or spill) the tea.

A discussion on the recent history of peer-led testing events in remote and northern Manitoba. An overview on the unique challenges faced in outreach in our communities and ways we have overcome these barriers together with the community to provide services. Ideas in how to advance the future of northern outreach as well as safe and accessible services will be discussed.

A discussion on the recent history of peer-led testing events in remote and northern Manitoba. An overview on the unique challenges faced in outreach in our communities and ways we have overcome these barriers together with the community to provide services. Ideas in how to advance the future of northern outreach as well as safe and accessible services will be discussed.

“… through the Covid-19 pandemic we had to get creative in how we delivered service that kept people home and safe." - B. Kuhl, IERHA

The Manitoba Community Event-based STBBI Testing Toolkit is an event planning guide for service providers and community members who want to incorporating STBBI testing into a community event. The Toolkit was tested through a Usability Study over the summer and fall of 2022. The presentation will explain the Toolkit, describe the community events that took place over the summer and fall, and highlight key takeaways from the evaluation of the Usability Study.

This presentation will explore the emerging research on prescribed safer supply programs in Canada. Prescribed safer supply - where individuals at high risk of overdose are prescribed pharmaceutical opioids as an alternative to an unregulated drug supply composed primarily of fentanyl - have been implemented in several Canadian jurisdictions in an attempt to address the drug poisoning overdose crisis. In 2020, Health Canada announced funding for several safer supply programs across the country, leading to implementation of a variety of program models. In this session, research on the scale-up of safer supply prescribing, implementation challenges and client outcomes will be examined, alongside a discussion on the potential for safer supply to expand the continuum of options available for people who use drugs. 

Kim will present the current epidemiological trends of clients of the Manitoba HIV Program between 2018 and 2021, as well as the Program’s response to the current crisis.

The MB HIV/STBBI Collective Impact Network is involved in two clinical trial studies to evaluate novel HIV self-testing technologies. This presentation will highlight Manitoba data from both the “I’m Ready” and the “Oraquick” studies. Challenges and opportunities that have arisen along the way will be discussed, particularly around barriers to access and operationalizing “big” research in community-based settings.

To Be Announced

We will be doing a two-part presentation, including the history of LIHC’s Safer Opioid Supply program, how we’ve grown and evolved and highlighting program success. Dr. Sereda to focus on the medical models, dosage and trauma informed care. Cassidy will go into an overview of program operations- from clinical flow, scheduling, to various administrative pieces to ensure program success. She will also be discussing working within a multidisciplinary model of care- from integrating the social determinants of health into the program, and the benefits of wrap around services in addition to providing safer supply.

I’ll be sharing my experiences both as a safer supply program community health worker and as a person who has benefited from safer supply prescribing. I’ll talk about the benefits, challenges and what we desperately need to move forward to transform social institutions, including the health and social service sectors into equitable, safer spaces that provide people who use drugs with the care, dignity, and resources that they deserve, want, and need. I will share my own reflections navigating these two spaces as “service provider” and “patient/client.” I will then offer my thoughts on a different approach to delivering “safer supply.”

Through concrete actions, SWWAC has been disrupting harms and strengthening the
human and labour rights of sex workers. These acts of love are all working towards the
decriminalization of sex work in Winnipeg and Canada.

In this session, we will share snapshots of our recent activities. These include: the production of a bi-annual zine showcasing contributions from sex workers, “Sex Workers Claiming Agency, Resilience & Safety”; letter chains of warmth, love, and solidarity between Winnipeg community organizations who are, include, serve, and care for sex workers; public education in the community around sex work; community consultations with sex workers to develop and host a Bad Date List; a DIY ‘defund the police’ action; research on John Schools; a virtual summit to “Disrupt the Harms”; an event marking International Sex Workers’ Rights Day; supporting the development of a weekly drop-in for sex workers; and advocacy at the municipal and federal level to demand laws promote the health and human rights of sex workers.

CanHepC and the Waniska Centre are hosting sharing circles across the prairies to gather teachings about the hepatitis C virus (HCV) from people with living & lived experiences, helping develop a plan or roadmap to eliminate HCV in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. To build a prairie community and advance the wisdom from the sharing circles, we are also gathering wisdom and knowledge from providers in and across the Prairies.

The objectives for this provider session include:

• Creating connections to the project, fostering a prairie community for HCV elimination

• Gathering advice on the development of a prairie roadmap

• Gaining insights regarding alignment or gaps with the national roadmap”