Virus goes native

>> Kecia Larkin's seropositive life on the reserve

by MATTHEW HAYS

Old stereotypes die hard. Despite 15 years of activism and testimonials from all kinds of sufferers, the old impression lingers: AIDS continues to evoke the idea of an urban-dwelling gay man.

For native HIV activist Kecia Larkin, who has been speaking out on issues surrounding HIV and AIDS for close to a decade, one unavoidable part of her mission has been to break down those enduring stereotypes. After finding out that she was HIV-positive in 1989, the 28-year-old Larkin endured prejudice and alienation from her native family and community. "It became extremely important for me to alter perceptions of HIV. Being a part of a community, of a family, is extremely important to anyone." Larkin set about healing the alienation from her biological family, something she needed to do after a "very rebellious adolescence."

Then Larkin sought a wider audience. Though the HIV/AIDS cause suffered from a virtual glut of spokespeople by the early '90s, there were few from the North American native community. Larkin and fellow Canadian Ken Ward became pioneers within native communities, some of which were among the hardest hit by the AIDS epidemic. Spreading the word about HIV meant being the subject of an instructional video, Kecia: Words to Live by, which was screened at virtually every native reserve in Canada.

Larkin, who recently resettled in rural Alberta after living most of her life in Vancouver, is working towards coordinating a major gathering of First Nations people dealing with HIV from across Canada, to be held early in 2000. She is also a single mother, giving birth to an HIV-negative daughter seven years ago.

"It hasn't always been easy," Larkin says of her public profile as an HIV-positive activist. "I have been stalked, threatened, had repeated phone calls to my home. People who had their own issues with HIV turned on me and made my life hell."

Unfortunately, she says, many of those prejudices live on. "Sufferers are much more capable of taking responsibility now," she says, but adds, "People still lack the mental and spiritual capacity to respect the difficulties HIV-positive people face."

Kecia Larkin's lecture, "Country Living With HIV: Interventions in Non-Urban Native Communities," is on Oct. 7, 5:30pm Concordia's Hall Building (H-110), with Sweetgrass Singers, free