CBC’s reporting of two deaths following paid-plasma donations in blood collection centres owned and operated by Spanish multinational Grifols demands a full judicial inquiry and should prompt a return to a voluntary blood collection system in Canada.
Canadian Blood Services (CBS) is a non-profit organization tasked with collecting plasma—the protein-rich liquid in blood—to meet the national demand for blood plasma.
In 2022, CBS signed a 15-year agreement with Grifols as a commercial partner to establish paid-plasma collection centres across the country. At the time, CBS argued that they were unable to meet Canada’s plasma needs through its voluntary collection system.
Public health care and blood safety advocates warned that a move to a for-profit, paid-plasma collection model—like that in the U.S.—would put patients and the national blood supply at risk.
In the 1980s, thousands of Canadians were exposed to hepatitis C and HIV through contaminated blood products. Over 30,000 Canadians were infected with hepatitis C and about 2,000 were infected with HIV between 1980 and 1985. The contaminated blood entered the national blood supply through transfusions as a result of inadequate blood screening from high-risk populations.
It has been recognized as the largest preventable public health crisis in Canada’s history, although the preventable toxic drug poisoning crisis now likely takes its place.
Following Canada’s tainted blood scandal, the Krever Commission led to the creation of Canadian Blood Services as the non-profit organization to oversee Canada’s system of voluntary blood collection. The commission also established five principles for Canada’s blood system:
- Blood is a public resource;
- Blood and blood product collection should be voluntary and not-for-profit;
- Canada should be self-sufficient in collection of blood and blood products;
- Citizens should have free and universal access to blood products; and,
- The safety of the blood supply is paramount.
In 2022, blood supply advocates warned that the CBS’s deal with Grifols violated the key principles established by the Krever Commission, violated the mandate of CBS itself (to steward the voluntary blood donation system), and violated the global consensus established by the European Union, WHO, and Red Cross that blood and blood products should be collected on an unpaid, voluntary basis.
Following news of the undisclosed agreement between CBS and Grifols, advocates called on the agreement between CBS and Grifols to be revoked, for a commitment by Health Canada and CBS to invest in public infrastructure by updating blood donation centres to include plasma collection, and for the resignation of CBS’s CEO and board chair. Concerns had been raised for a number of years that CBS was not fulfilling its mandate of expanding its voluntary blood collection system in order to meet the country’s needs.
For-profit collection centres have expanded nationwide
Before the Grifols deal, there were a few for-profit paid plasma centres in Canada that were not part of Canada’s national blood supply.
Today there are 17 for-profit Grifols paid-plasma collection centres across the country, established through the deal with CBS. Like in the U.S., these for-profit centres tend to locate in lower-income neighbourhoods, where they have easy access to people who are most likely to need income from selling plasma.
As CBC first reported, two people—including a 22-year-old international student—died after giving paid plasma at Grifols collection centres in Winnipeg. Grifols operates two locations in Winnipeg.
As of March 13, four of the eight blood collection facilities in Canada—deemed by the Government of Canada to be non-compliant with the Blood Regulations of the Food and Drugs Act—are Grifols centres. Based on the Health Canada reporting website, non-compliance issues ranged from not accurately assessing the donor’s suitability to not thoroughly investigating errors and accidents and determining corrective and preventive actions. These non-compliant Grifols centres are in Calgary, Regina, Saskatoon, and Saint John.
A full judicial inquiry is needed—and a ban on paid plasma
Health Canada is currently investigating the two deaths, which occurred in October 2025 and on January 30, 2026. This investigation is important, but will not address the circumstances surrounding the deaths, which will require a full judicial inquiry under Manitoba’s Fatality Inquiries Act.
Due to the precarious economic and immigration status in Canada of one of the deceased—an international student—it will be important for a judicial inquiry to probe the social and economic circumstances as to why the individuals were selling plasma. For example, Manitoba has committed in 2023 to providing public health insurance to Manitoba international students, but has not yet done so. Was the student selling plasma in order to pay for basic health care services or rent?
An inquiry would help us understand whether the paid-plasma model puts those who are socio-economically precarious at potentially greater risk of injury or death. These questions will only be answered through a juridical inquiry that has the full weight of the law behind it.
Manitoba also has the power, through legislation, to ban the practice of selling plasma, as British Columbia and Quebec have done. There is every reason to follow their lead.
In addition, Health Canada and CBS also need to be held accountable for these deaths. This is an urgent call for Health Canada to work with CBS and build an entirely voluntary blood donation system. Even as the investigation and potential future inquiry are underway, we know from the abundance of evidence that a voluntary system is best. Efforts should be undertaken by Health Canada to begin this work, including re-thinking the CBS-Grifols contract.
