What to know
- The Friends for Life Bike Rally is a six-day, 600-kilometre cycling event from Toronto to Montreal, running from Aug. 2-7.
- The rally aims to raise $1.9 million for HIV/AIDS organizations, supporting essential services like food banks, health care, and education.
- HIV infections in Canada have risen 23% since 2022, even as global rates decline.
- For many participants, the ride is about more than fundraising, it’s a chance to honour loved ones, fight stigma and remind people living with HIV that they are not alone.
As HIV cases surge across the country, cyclists, including some living with the virus, are embarking on a six-day, 600-kilometre journey from Toronto to Montreal to raise $1.9 million and shine a light on what the journey means for those affected by HIV/AIDS.
From Aug. 2-7, hundreds of cyclists are embarking on a six-day cycling journey with Friends for Life Bike Rally to raise $1.9M for HIV/AIDS services.
New data from the Public Health Agency of Canada shows HIV infections rose 23 per cent between 2022 and 2024, despite UNAIDS reports a global decline.
“It’s no coincidence that Canada’s HIV epidemic has shown no signs of improvement when Canada’s HIV funding has remained stagnant,” Jody Jollimore, executive director of CATIE, said in a press release.
Meanwhile, the Government of Canada’s HIV and Hepatitis C Community Action Fund has remained unchanged, as costs and infections have gone up. The Government of Canada has also not committed to renewing the fund after it expires in 2027.
“Each new case of HIV costs $1.44 million over a lifetime,” said Mr. Jollimore. “Investing in prevention – including testing and linkage to care – is not only life-saving, but cost-saving.”
An HIV+ rider’s experience cycling for the cause
Former service user of the Toronto People with AIDS Foundation (PWA) and beneficiary of the Friends for Life Bike Rally, Mark Keller, is now a rider and shares his journey from receiving help from the service to cycling for the cause.
“In August of 2014, I was 29, and I got an HIV diagnosis. I was not expecting it at all. I had been pretty safe. I chose one time not to use a condom, and unfortunately, that was it,” he told Now Toronto. “It only takes one time.”
Keller wasn’t aware of the available resources and didn’t have a family doctor. So, he went to a hassle-free drop-in clinic. Later, he researched spots for help and found the PWA.
“From the moment I stepped in, it was such an emotional time in my life and a time filled with a lot of fear, and they were incredible,” Keller shared. “I didn’t feel like just a number. They knew my name, and they were just so kind and personable.”
The team helped connect Keller with a doctor, provided financial aid and made the diagnosis feel a little lighter than it initially did.
So, five years after his diagnosis, Keller decided to sign up for the bike rally as a way to pay back the community that had supported him during his hardship.
That same February, Keller started training once or twice a week at the YMCA’s free indoor training rides, and later bought a bike to keep practicing.
Once the journey began, Keller encountered many challenges, including not realizing he needed to put air in his tires. So, he was cycling with nearly-empty tires, making it really challenging until another rider helped him out.
He also had to get up at 6:30 a.m. to bike for 110 kilometres. But crossing the line made it all worth it.
“The bike rally changed my life. The PWA changed my life first; they basically saved my life… And then the bike rally changed my life,” Keller told Now Toronto.
But Keller’s also touched by seeing non-HIV-positive cyclists participate in the ride.
“Being HIV-positive can be a very isolating experience. I feel like before the rally, I had amazing, incredible friends who also saved my life, but I felt very alone,” he said. “Then I came to the bike rally, and I saw this community of people working to help people like me, and suddenly, I didn’t feel so alone anymore.”
Now, this weekend will be Keller’s eighth year cycling for the cause.
As someone who’s HIV-positive, Keller advocates for everyone to be on PREP.
“There’s this stigma. People think that people who take PREP are sluts or they’re promiscuous, and it’s not. It’s about protection,” he said. “Getting more people access to PREP so that they can’t get HIV.”
Keller also believes it’s important to educate people on HIV starting in the high school curriculum.
From getting HIV and seeking help to now riding in the bike rally, Keller hopes to reassure newly diagnosed HIV-positive people to understand that it’ll be okay.
“It feels like the end of the world, and it’s not. Weirdly enough, it was kind of the start of my world because it led me to the PWA, it led me to friends, it led me to theatre,” Keller said.
“As long as you get on medication and you become undetectable, nothing has to change. That’s basically what I want to say,” he added.
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Volunteer for the cause, and cyclist Michael Blackburn shared that he’s been with the Friends for Life Bike Rally for the last eight years.
“HIV is still a thing, and it’s something that impacts many people I know. It’s something that has widely impacted the Queer community since the 90s, and it’s been such an inspiration to watch people do the [race] year after year,” he told Now Toronto.
Blackburn keeps returning year after year to feel community and connection through a halfway-mark candlelight celebration on the beach at one of their camps.
“It’s an opportunity for people with lived experience, people who are riding for somebody who has passed, or any other ride to also come up and share their story, and it really centers you and grounds you that like HIV is still a thing, the face of HIV might have changed, but people are still facing stigma and trauma,” he said.
Through the $1.9M funding, the Toronto People with AIDS Foundation (PWA),AIDS Community Care Montreal (ACCM), Trellis HIV & Community Care in Kingston and Bruce House in Ottawa will have more funds to help more people affected by HIV.
From food banks to clothing, therapeutic care, financial aid, and more, these services will help provide dignity and care for those in need.
Through the bike rally, Blackburn hopes to spark more conversations about HIV.
“This disease is laced with stigma from others in the community and trauma from those living with it, intergenerational trauma. If we don’t speak about it intentionally, people aren’t gonna realize that it’s not gone away,” he said.
“As long as there’s a reason, there’s a ride. That’s kind of our motto. We want people to know that, like the new fraction is now, and that every dollar donated to the cause goes such a long way to provide dignity and care to those in our community who are living with HIV/AIDS,” Blackburn told Now Toronto.
