Canada’s largest youth-HIV leadership event is back…
NoTimeToWait by LetsStopAIDS is back for a 4th year with a hybrid event on Friday October 20th and Saturday October 21st at the TMU Student Centre in Toronto! Tickets are free for ages 21 and under and available for youth across the world. It’s set to be an inspiring and invigorating event, bringing together a community of passionate youth.
Along with the event, LetsStopAIDS is releasing the illuminating results of this year’s Sex Lives report that focuses on the state of sex education in Canada.
“Flip the Switch“
NoTimeToWait was born out of a desire to take action about the rising Youth-HIV rates in Canada and is the nation’s largest Youth-HIV leadership event. This year’s theme is “Flip the Switch.” It’s all about inspiring change by shedding light on HIV-related issues and changing the narrative around HIV and AIDS.
This year’s event will be jam-packed with inspiring speakers, storytellers, performers, artists, workshops, networking, and social events! You’ll hear from like-minded people on topics related to health equity, dating, sex, and relationships. The event will feature even more youth this year who have never had the opportunity to take up space at an event of this scale before.
Meet A Few Of This Year’s Speakers
This year NoTimeToWait by LetsStopAIDS has so many passionate and brilliant speakers… but here’s just a few. Head to the NoTimeToWait’s website for the full lineup.
Arihant Boli (he/him)
Arihant Boli is an optimistic leader, who believes in the power of youth involvement & technology to help end the HIV/AIDS epidemic, depicted in his HIV advocacy ventures, such as the co-founder of SexWell & the Community Outreach team-lead at LetsStopAIDS.
Risa Naytowhow (she/her)
ICARE Coordinator (Intercultural Connections and Anti-racism engagement)
Risa Naytowhow is a Cree woman from Sturgeon Lake First Nations Saskatchewan. She is an anti-racism educator and the coordinator for a program called “ICARE” which educates about decolonization and anti-racism.
Juliet Joslyn Amoli (she/her)
Social Scientist
Juliet Joslyn Amoli is a social scientist from Makerere University in Uganda. Juliet is passionate about leadership, skilling and HIV prevention advocacy among young people. She has vast experience as a sexual reproductive health advocate, researcher, gender and development practitioner.
Eva Bloom (they/she)
Sex Educator & Speaker
Eva Bloom is an award-winning non-binary, queer sex educator and speaker. They have spoken at institutions including Cornell University and the University of Toronto and educated over 3 million people across the globe via their digital platform.
Tim Lagman (he/they)
Tim Lagman is a board certified sexology educator with the American Board of Sexology and a pleasure advocate based in Toronto, Canada. He began his sexual journey through escorting where he worked with a number of clients from different backgrounds and all walks of life ranging from couples, individuals, poly relationships, and everything in between. It is his mission in life to make sex fun and funny as he loves to make people laugh and believes in the curative powers of hilarity.
Sex Lives Report
Last year, LetsStopAIDS inaugural Sex Lives Report took the temperature on the state of sex among youth, with a focus on understanding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the sexual behaviour of young Canadians. The main findings showed that the pandemic had a significant impact on their sex lives. We also found that knowledge of HIV prevention methods is very low – only 26% of youth know about PrEP, 20% know about PEP, and only 11% know what U=U is.
LetsStopAIDS is excited to share the results of this year’s Sex Lives Report that focuses on the state of sex education in Canada. This enlightening report found that Canadian Youth felt that Sex-Ed classes provided them with an abundance of scientific information on anatomy, pregnancy and STIs, but it severely lacks practical knowledge or skills that may be used in real life. For example, 2 out of 3 young Canadians surveyed felt that Sex-Ed did not make them feel prepared for sex, and less than 5% remember being taught about other main HIV prevention methods such as PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) and PEP (post-exposure prophylaxis).
The results of both of these reports highlight the importance of empowering youth to “Flip the Switch.”
Get Involved
There are so many ways to get involved with NoTimeToWait: you can volunteer, be an ambassador, a sponsor, or partner. It’s a great opportunity to be a changemaker in your community, build your leadership skills, and earn certificates to add to your resume!
Take a deep dive with us into how HIV affects young Canadians and help LetsStopAIDS achieve their goal of zero new infections by 2030. There is no time to wait. Visit letsstopaids.org for more information.
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