The federal authorities says it’s now prioritizing momentary journey visas for folks looking for to attend the Worldwide AIDS Convention in Montreal on the finish of July.
The transfer comes as the top of the African Alliance well being rights group slams Canada for bidding to host the convention and spending tens of millions of {dollars} on it with out ensuring all attend could be given a visa to attend.
Founder Tian Johnson says it’s “actually vile” that 1000’s of individuals from the World South are nonetheless ready to seek out out if they’re going to get a visa, leaving the convention to be solely “white, privileged and tutorial.”
The African Alliance is one in all 250 Canadian and worldwide humanitarian teams that signed a letter to Immigration Minister Sean Fraser in June asking him to intervene.
The letter warns there’s a actual danger the voices of individuals residing in international locations most affected by AIDS shall be lacking from the dialog.
A spokesman for Fraser says visa places of work have now been despatched lists of convention invitees and are being advised to prioritize their momentary journey visa purposes.
— This report by The Canadian Press was first printed on July 12, 2022.