Happy HALCO
First, we would like to express our gratitude to you for including HALCO, the HIV & AIDS Legal Clinic (Ontario) in your editorial [“Package prescription,” fab #404, Aug 4]. Your support for HALCO and your wonderful words encouraging donations to HALCO at the Church Street Fetish Fair are very much appreciated.

However, we would like to clarify some of the information about our current situation. Over the last few years, HALCO has experienced a 100 percent increase in requests for direct legal services. By June 30 this year, we had already received more requests in 2010 than in all of 2006. Our public legal education and law reform activities have also increased dramatically.

We are very grateful for the stable core funding that we receive from Legal Aid Ontario and the AIDS Bureau of the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. In fact, we have received some recent funding increases to support our full-time permanent staff of seven. In addition, we rely on support from individuals, corporations and foundations.

Yet the reality is that we cannot adequately meet the everincreasing demand for service without the support of the community. Every loonie or toonie that we receive is important and assists us to continue to provide vital legal services to people living with HIV across Ontario. Again, we thank you for your support.

— Ryan Peck & Martha Mackinnon

Proud Canadian
Eduardo Desouza writes [“Beverly Hills bitches beaten?” fab #405, Aug 19], “When I moved to Canada from California, the first thing to strike me was the widespread racism that exists in every walk of life.” Like many Americans, Desouza knows dick about Canada. And perhaps he should do some more research. Michaëlle Jean is the first black woman to be appointed to the position of governor general of Canada. Lincoln Alexander (a black Canadian) served as the 24th lieutenant governor of Ontario from 1985 to 1991, and that happened 23 years before Obama took office in the United States. Ujjal Dosanjh (born in India) was the 33rd premier of British Columbia. While Kim Campbell is white, she did become Canada’s first female prime minister in 1993 — racism and misogyny often go hand in hand, so I think Campbell fits appropriately here. The US has yet to elect a female president. While I don’t disagree that we’ve got a long way to go and that racism exists in all sectors of Canadian society, to suggest that Canada is in any way behind the US where racism is concerned is simply laughable and preposterous.

— Michael Kealy