08/11/2026
Monday marked the 51st annual .
The communities we serve include incarcerated people and individuals who are disproportionately criminalized. Laws have historically and continued to target HIV, homelessness, substance use, and poverty. Colonialism and structural racism also contribute to people of colour and members of Indigenous and Black communities being disproportionately profiled, policed, and incarcerated. In over 60 countries, gender and/or sexual diversity is considered a criminal offence. Meanwhile, crackdowns on public drug use or homelessness coinciding with cutbacks to housing and harm reduction programs have left unhoused people who use substances with nowhere else to exist “lawfully.” Many of the people RHAC supports are at risk of being punished simply for existing in public. Laws aren’t always applied to everyone equally, which is why rights and protections should be.
In honour of Prisoners’ Justice Day, we join the global community in calling for solidarity, justice, and human rights for all persons—prisoners, included.
