Ribbon Community is thrilled to host this year’s 40th anniversary AIDS Walk on Friday, September 18. It’s a free community event about the past, present, and future of the HIV response, and everyone is welcome. Thanks to generous sponsorship from ViiV Healthcare, this event is free!
Rethink, Rebuild, Rise
This year, the AIDS Walk will focus on honouring and celebrating the past, present, and future of the HIV response, and the ways our communities continue to connect amid HIV, HIV stigma, and the underlying and reinforcing inequities. Pulling from the 2026 World AIDS Day theme of Rethink, Rebuild, Rise, this community celebration will be an opportunity to continue the important work of HIV activists globally throughout 40+ years.
40 years of the AIDS Walk
This year marks 40 years of the AIDS Walk in Canada and here in Vancouver. The first one took place in 1986 in Stanley Park, organized by BC Persons With AIDS Society, and hosted annually until the organization closed in March 2020. Since then, this event has been kept alive by an unstoppable community member and past Board member at Positive Living BC – Empress 52 of Vancouver Heels On Wheels Miss Chantelle Lee. Over the years, it has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the HIV response while connecting people living with HIV, community members, health care providers, and allies.
Join us Friday, September 18
This year, everyone is welcome to join us at this free community event. Join us to connect, walk, remember, and bring people together as we consider the past, present, and future of the HIV response.
- 3:00 PM – Gather to walk in the parking lot behind the Sunset Beach concession stand
- 4:00 PM – Reflection at the AIDS Memorial
- 5:30 PM – Show and Community Panel at The Junction (1138 Davie St.)
Register for tickets and/or to donate here 2026 AIDS Walk Vancouver: Rethink, Rebuild, Rise.
Raising money for the Financial Assistance Fund
All donations will go to provide direct financial assistance to people in our communities through the Financial Assistance Fund. This program contributes to the cost of public transit, gender-affirming care, and culturally-specific items and community, as well as urgent financial needs related to housing, medical needs not otherwise covered, and ID.
Anyone interested in volunteering for event set up and take down, and/or to join the show and community panel, is encouraged to contact Sarah at SarahC@RibbonCommunity.org.
See you on Friday, September 18!
This Event is supported in part by ViiV Healthcare. The views expressed herein by Ribbon Community Society are solely those of the author[s] and do not necessarily reflect the policies or opinions of ViiV Healthcare ULC.
