Publication Date: 02/19/2003

Description: The former leader of the Ontario NDP was the keynote speaker at the Ottawa-Carleton Elementary Teachers Federation professional development day, held at the Congress Centre. Paul Doucet, vice-president of the federation, said that one goal of the meeting was to highlight wider issues, such as the AIDS pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa. "AIDS has a woman's face," said Mr. Lewis. "It's the most frightening part of the pandemic, and it makes me angry." He said that in the 15-to-49 age bracket, 29 million Africans have AIDS, and 57 per cent of them are women. Of Africans aged 15 to 24, nine million have AIDS, two-thirds of them women. "There has never been such an assault on gender historically. AIDS is depopulating the continent of women."