What: AIDSbeat 2014
Where: Liberty Grand, Exhibition Place
When: Friday, October 24, 2014
When it comes to the lawyer-party circuit, AIDSbeat may well be the biggest of them all.
This year’s bash, held on Friday at the Liberty Grand ballroom, attracted more than 1,000 lawyers and professionals. And plenty of them embraced the spirit of the event: they donned costumes that reflected the evening’s Studio 54 theme and danced to the law firm bands that graced the stage (and went head-to head in a battle-of-the-bands contest).
In the end, the event raised more than $200,000 for the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research (CANFAR). In the fundraiser’s 19-year lifespan, AIDSBeat has brought in more than $3 million — a major part of CANFAR’s annual budget, says Christopher Bunting, the organization’s president and CEO.
In fact, he adds, big-ticket events are especially important because Canadians, by and large, see AIDS as a disease that only afflicted an earlier generation. Since patients with HIV and AIDS can now live “longer, healthier lives,” Bunting explains, most people “have ticked the box on this issue.”
But he says the job is not done: “We still don’t have a cure. We don’t have a vaccine. And the incidents of new infection in this country continue to rise every year.” Specifically, he says, the number of new HIV and AIDS cases is rising among aboriginals, gay men and intravenous drug users.
Which is why Canada needs to support more research into finding a cure and preventing the spread of the illness, says Bunting. “To get a professional population, like lawyers in this city, to care enough and understand enough about these issues to create something on the scale of AIDSbeat — that’s pretty damn good.”