Dean’s international AIDS advocacy recognized by Ontario Network

Photo by Bruno Bini

Dean Bill Flanagan delivers his acceptance speech for the Community Partners Award from the Ontario AIDS Network in Toronto on November 12.

Law Dean Bill Flanagan is “very, very honoured” by his recent Community Partners Award from the Ontario AIDS Network, presented at its annual gala in Toronto in November.

The Honour Roll Awards Banquet, which celebrates outstanding leadership and achievement within the HIV/AIDS movement in Ontario, was “a great evening with friends and people I’ve worked with over the years,” Flanagan says. “We reflected on how far we’ve come together, and the difficult challenges.”

The Community Partners Award recognizes those who, through resources, research or treatment, improve quality of life and dignity for people living with HIV/AIDS. Award presenter Dr. Sean Rourke, Scientific and Executive Director of the Ontario HIV Treatment Network, described Flanagan as a tireless advocate.

“As a law professor, AIDS activist, and now, as Dean of Queen’s Faculty of Law, Bill has had a significant impact in Ontario, across Canada and internationally,” Rourke said. “His work relates to promoting human rights for people living with HIV, examining such legal issues as corporate responsibility and access to medications, and developing and building the capacity of organizations working within the HIV sector.”

Asked about the accomplishment most significant to him, Flanagan replies: “It may have been the work I did as President of the Board at the Ontario HIV Treatment Network from 2003 to 2008.” When he arrived, he recalls, there was “a sense the organization was a bit adrift, and needed a new direction.” Strategic planning resulted in profound positive change to “what is now regarded as one of Canada’s leading HIV-related research organizations.”

Another personal highlight was when he served from 2001 to 2004 as Executive Director and co-founder of the Canada AIDS Russia Project—an HIV/AIDS training and research project sponsored by the Canadian International Development Agency.

Currently, Flanagan’s focus is on China. “We’ve been working with vulnerable populations in Shanghai, particularly with sex workers and migrant workers. I’ve been taking the lead on the legal and policy research: for example, challenges around living with HIV in China, such as stigma, and the role of NGOs, which are not well developed there.”