Collectivité

Saskatchewan Aids Network (SAN)

1994-2003

The Saskatchewan AIDS Network (SAN) was a coalition of community-based organizations dedicated to responding to HIV/AIDS at the provincial level through the development and maintenance of community partnerships. At the time of its formation in 1994, the founders believed that an organization was needed to facilitate co-operation and communication on a province-wide basis to deal with the HIV/AIDS crisis.

SAN was designed as a province-wide coalition in order to ensure that the voices of rural communities would be included and that the independent efforts of member organizations would contribute to collective goals. SAN had numerous objectives including: to support other service organizations and communities in their efforts to advocate for social change; to make HIV/AIDS a higher health priority for the general public in Saskatchewan; to develop more effective relationships with all levels of government and with other health and social justice coalitions; to provide opportunities for members to network, share information, build skills, and develop partnerships with one another; and to act as a resource centre for its members by providing access to up-to-date information, hard-to-find documents, and other HIV/AIDS-related resources.

The Board of Directors of SAN consisted of one representative from each member group of SAN. The SAN Steering Committee was responsible for the day to day operations of the coalition, for tasks on a provincial level (such as lobbying Ministers or building coalitions with other provincial groups), and for developing resource materials that would be helpful for member organizations. SAN membership was open to any Saskatchewan non-governmental organization that was dedicated to addressing HIV/AIDS in its organizational mandate. By the early 2000s, SAN was having difficulty meeting its mandate so it was dissolved in February 2003.