The battle (to call the perveyors of Hep C and AIDS tainted blood to task) has been going on in Canada, for 18 years now.

This has been MY PERSONAL BATTLE for only half of those years.

Please be aware that EACH POINT in this timeline has involved ALL Hep C families, as we made CONSISTANT and LOUD noise, even as we were burying our loved ones!

I buried my previous husband on September 23, 1999!

THERE WILL BE MORE ARRESTS, as long as I have some say in JUSTICE in this world!

To everyone of you with an inmate in your family and circle of loved ones, THIS IS MY BATTLE CRY.

And Mr. Connor, THIS IS OURS!

With all my DEEPEST love,
Menolly

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Canada's tainted blood scandal: A timeline
Justin Thompson, CBC News Online | Nov. 20, 2002


Nov. 20, 2002
After concluding a five-year investigation into the findings of the Krever Commission report, the RCMP lays charges against the Canadian Red Cross, a U.S.-based pharmaceutical company and four physicians.

Apr. 19, 2001
Supreme Court of Canada rules the Canadian Red Cross was negligent in managing the blood system in the early years of the AIDS crisis.

September 1999
Quebec and Ontario courts approve $1.2-billion federal-provincial compensation plan for victims of tainted blood.

Mar. 26, 1999
Canadian Red Cross unveils $60 million in compensation for people infected by tainted blood before 1986 and after 1990.

Jan. 28, 1999
A group of more than 1,000 hemophiliacs launches a $1-billion lawsuit against the government of Canada for using tainted blood obtained from U.S. jails.


Sept. 28, 1998
Based on recommendations made in the Krever Commission report, the Canadian Blood Services is established to assume control of the blood system in Canada. The new body replaces the Canadian Red Cross in every region except Quebec. Hema-Quebec begins operations the same day to administer the blood system in that province.

As part of the switch-over, the Red Cross receives $133 million in exchange for its assets — money to be used to pay off debts and set up a fund for victims of the tainted blood scandal. Buildings, vehicles, donor lists and the Red Cross’s 3,100 employees are transferred to the two new non-profit organizations.

Sept. 17, 1998
Health Minister Allan Rock reaffirms there will be no federal compensation for victims who received tainted blood before 1986 and after 1990.

April 1998
Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia ask Ottawa to provide compensation for victims who received tainted blood before 1986 and after 1990.

Mar. 27, 1998
Provincial and federal health ministers announce $1.2 billion in compensation for victims who received tainted blood between 1986 and 1990.

Feb. 12, 1998
RCMP concludes review process and launches criminal investigation into Canada's blood distribution system.

Dec. 22, 1997
The RCMP announces it will conduct a review of the findings of the Krever Commission to determine whether or not there are grounds to launch a criminal investigation.


November 1997
Shortly after the release of the Krever Commission report, the RCMP receives complaints from individuals and organizations alleging criminal wrongdoing within the blood distribution system in Canada.

November 1997
Krever Commission report is released.

June 1996
Federal court rules the commission can only make findings of misconduct against 14 Red Cross officials and three federal officials.

January 1996
Nearly all parties named launch a court challenge, saying the Krever Commission does not have the authority to assign blame.

Dec. 21, 1995
Krever Commission warns the Canadian Red Cross, federal and provincial governments, pharmaceutical companies and individuals, that they may be named for wrongdoing in the tainted blood inquiry.


Horace Krever
Nov. 22, 1993
Krever Commission public hearings begin.

Oct. 4, 1993
Order in Council authorizes the Commission of Inquiry on the Blood System in Canada. Ontario Court of Appeal Justice Horace Krever appointed as commissioner.

Dec. 14, 1989
Ottawa announces $150 million in compensation for 1,250 Canadians who contracted HIV from blood transfusions and tainted blood products.

November 1985
Canadian Red Cross starts testing blood products for the AIDS virus.

YOU THINK I AM KIDDING????

My husband and I were one of those 480 families, who pushed and pushed for this criminal investigation!

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RCMP Blood Task Force lays Criminal Charges

Toronto, Ontario - Wednesday, November 20, 2002 - After a five-year criminal investigation into the blood distribution system in Canada, the RCMP Blood Task Force has laid charges of criminal negligence causing bodily harm under Section 221 of the Criminal Code of Canada, and charges of common nuisance by endangering the public under Section 180 of the Criminal Code of Canada, as well as a charge of failure to notify under the Food and Drugs Act Regulations.

These charges relate to decision-making within the structures and systems of the blood distribution system in Canada between the years 1980 and 1990. The charges were laid using the laws in effect at the time.

Charged are:

Doctor John Furesz, age 75, Ottawa, Ontario - charged with three counts of criminal negligence causing bodily harm and one count of common nuisance by endangering the public. Dr. Furesz was the former Director of the Bureau of Biologics at the federal government’s Health Protection Branch.

Doctor Wark Boucher, age 62, Nepean, Ontario - charged with three counts of criminal negligence causing bodily harm and one count of common nuisance by endangering the public. Dr. Boucher was the former Chief of the Blood Products Division of the Bureau of Biologics at the federal government’s Health Protection Branch.

The Canadian Red Cross Society, through its former Blood Transfusion and Blood Donor Recruitment Services, Ottawa, Ontario - charged with six counts of common nuisance by endangering the public.
Doctor Roger Perrault, age 66, Ottawa, Ontario - charged with three counts of criminal negligence causing bodily harm and seven counts of common nuisance by endangering the public. Dr. Perrault was the former Director of the Canadian Red Cross Society’s Blood Transfusion Service.

The Armour Pharmaceutical Company, a Delaware Corporation, based in Bridgewater, New Jersey (USA) - charged with three counts of criminal negligence causing bodily harm and one count of common nuisance by endangering the public under the Criminal Code of Canada, as well as one count of failure to notify under the Food and Drugs Act Regulations.

Doctor Michael Rodell, age 70, Bala Cynwid, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. - charged with three counts of criminal negligence causing bodily harm and one count of common nuisance by endangering the public. Dr. Rodell is the former Vice President of Scientific and Regulatory Affairs at the Armour Pharmaceutical Company.

“The responsibility of the RCMP as Canada’s national police service is to ensure safe homes and safe communities,” stated Superintendent Rod Knecht, Officer in Charge of the Toronto-based RCMP Blood Task Force. “In fulfilling this mandate, the primary responsibility of the RCMP Blood Task Force was to gather the facts on behalf of the Canadian public, and to lay criminal charges if the evidence supported reasonable grounds that a criminal offence had occurred.”

“The charges we have announced today reflect the fact that our investigation has met the requirements to lay these particular charges, ” added Superintendent Knecht. “It is important to note that there are specific aspects of this investigation that we continue to pursue. The possibility exists that we will be laying further charges.”

“The Canadian public needs to have confidence in their public institutions,” added Superintendent Knecht. “The Canadian public has the right to expect the safest blood and the safest blood products possible. This is fundamental to the health, safety and lives of everyone living in Canada.”

“This major criminal investigation was both massive and complex, involving many jurisdictions, hundreds of witnesses and over a million of pages of documents,” said Inspector Gilles Michaud, Officer in Charge of the Ottawa-based portion of the RCMP Blood Task Force.

“One of the major challenges was that the alleged offences occurred fifteen to twenty years prior to the start of the investigation; so, locating witnesses and documents for the time period under investigation was a lengthy and exacting task,” added Inspector Michaud. “Investigators took a deliberate, thorough and systematic approach.”

During the course of the investigation, the RCMP received, reviewed and investigated more than 480 complaints from people who were allegedly infected and/or affected by contaminated blood in Canada. Blood Task Force investigators interviewed in excess of 700 people throughout the world including witnesses as well as experts in the fields of medicine, law, academics and science. They took more than 320 witness statements and collected and analyzed over 1.2 million pages of documents. Investigators traveled to nine countries to gather evidence relating to the investigation.
State-of-the-art information management systems were used to manage and present the staggering amount of information in a way that was understandable to everyone involved in every stage of the justice process.

The RCMP Blood Task Force maintained a full-time highly trained core investigative team of between 15 and 20 investigators. As the investigation grew in magnitude and complexity, the task force was assisted by experienced RCMP major case investigators from every province and territory as well as investigators from the majority of police services across Canada. RCMP Liaison Officers in other countries and police services around the world assisted in the investigation.

The RCMP dedicated a full-time co-ordinator to develop ongoing communications with those impacted by tainted blood. This was a first for an RCMP file of this magnitude and national scope. It was intended to provide a clear understanding of the criminal justice system without compromising the integrity of the investigation.

He worked for the firm supplying blood products

Peter Zimonjic
The Ottawa Citizen


Thursday, November 21, 2002

Michael Rodell was vice-president for scientific affairs for Armour Pharmaceutical Co.

Dr. Michael Rodell, 70, a former vice-president of Armour Pharmaceutical Co., who lives in Pennsylvania, was charged with three counts of criminal negligence causing bodily harm and one count of common nuisance for endangering the public.

Armour Pharmaceutical Co., a unit of Rhone-Poulenc Rorer, supplies plasma-derived and synthetic products used in the treatment of hemophilia.

In the fall of 1985, one of Armour's researchers, Dr. Alfred M. Prince, told the company that the heating process they were using to create their blood product was not killing all of the AIDS virus.

At a Armour management meeting, after this report was filed, Mr. Rodell, then vice-president for scientific affairs for Armour, was quoted in the minutes as saying that "it would be unwise to go to the FDA," without completing two follow up studies.

Armour did not allow Dr. Prince to publish his report, nor did the company tell the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

During this time, the Canadian Red Cross was buying products from Armour.

In 1994, in a U.S. case not related to the Canadian charges, Armour and Baxter Healthcare settled out of court with about 6,000 people who alleged they were infected with the AIDS virus as a result of the use of products derived from AIDS infected blood products. The settlement was for $160 million U.S.

He monitored studies on risks to blood supply

Randy Boswell
The Ottawa Citizen


Thursday, November 21, 2002

Dr. Wark Boucher, 62, of Ottawa, is a medical virologist who began working with the federal Bureau of Biologics in 1974. He was appointed acting chief of its blood products division in 1982 and chief in 1983. He succeeded John Furesz as director of the Bureau of Biologics in 1992, and later served as senior director of regulatory affairs with the Red Cross. He currently works for Health Canada, but is on leave.

The blood products division of the Bureau of Biologics was responsible for issuing licences to companies seeking approval to manufacture drugs derived from blood. The bureau was also responsible for inspecting plants where blood products were manufactured. During the 1980s, the division headed by Dr. Boucher was also responsible for monitoring international scientific publications and other reports shedding light on the risks being posed to Canada's blood supply by the HIV crisis.

During the Krever inquiry, Dr. Boucher testified that "we were watching the literature, but we were not doing an active post-market surveillance on these products.''

Dr. Boucher was among several blood regulation officials and Red Cross representatives at a crucial meeting in 1981 at which it was decided not to purchase a new test to detect blood donations infected with a strain of the hepatitis virus that would later be identified as hepatitis C.

He directed the nation's response to the HIV crisis

Randy Boswell
The Ottawa Citizen


Thursday, November 21, 2002

John Furesz was the director of the Bureau of Biologics at Health Canada from 1974 to 1992.

Dr. John Furesz, 75, of Ottawa, was the director of the Bureau of Biologics at Health Canada from 1974 until his retirement in 1992. A medical virologist, he had been with the federal Health Protection Branch since 1956 when he assumed his new post at the bureau in 1974.

The bureau was responsible for regulating the safety of blood products used for transfusions in the Canadian medical system, and Dr. Furesz played a major role in directing the country's response to the HIV crisis as it emerged in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Dr. Furesz was also a member of the Canadian Blood Committee that oversaw the country's blood-supply system. He was involved in decisions about how the Red Cross should respond in the mid-1980s to emerging research concerning risks to hemophiliacs and others of becoming infected with HIV.

During the Krever inquiry, Dr. Furesz testified he had done the best he could at guiding the bureau through a difficult period.

"With hindsight," he said at the time, "everything is 20/20."

In 1996, in the midst of controversy over whether the Krever inquiry should be allowed to assign blame to individuals, Dr. Furesz wrote to the Citizen: "I feel compelled to defend my reputation. It has been severely tarnished by the conduct of the blood inquiry. My name was included in the list of 17 federal government and Red Cross officials made public May 30, 'who may be named in adverse findings of fact.' Substantial doubts have been cast on my professional competence and my international reputation has been greatly damaged."

He insisted the Red Cross 'did the best we could'

Melanie Brooks
The Ottawa Citizen


Thursday, November 21, 2002

Roger Perrault was the national director of the Canadian Red Cross from 1974 to 1986.


Dr. Roger Perrault came to the Canadian Red Cross with a dream of a national blood agency that would meet all the country's growing needs. Almost 30 years later, he stands charged with three counts of criminal negligence and seven counts of nuisance by endangering the public.

The 66-year-old doctor, born in Amos, Que., graduated from the University of Ottawa's medical school in 1963. He became a surgeon for the Canadian navy the next year, before heading to Sweden in 1969 to complete his doctorate in medical sciences.

The Canadian Red Cross hired the promising young doctor when he returned to Ottawa in 1972. After two years running the Ottawa blood centre, he was promoted to the director of the blood transfusion service in 1974 with the mandate of bringing the Red Cross into the 21st century.

It was under Dr. Perrault's watch as national director from 1974 to 1986 that the blood supply became contaminated and thousands of people were infected with HIV and Hepatitis C. He stayed at the Red Cross another five years, as deputy secretary general from 1986 to 1991.

In the Krever inquiry in 1995, Dr. Perrault said: "My feeling was we did the best we could."

After the Red Cross, Dr. Perrault served briefly as president of the Industrial Biotechnology Association of Canada, and has been a senior scientist and a director of the board at ProMetic Life Sciences in Montreal since 1996.

HA!!! Even MORE CHARGES LAID!!! YES!!!

(from an email I've received...)

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G/DJay <gjones@i...> wrote:

> Feb 25/03
> By SAM PAZZANO, COURTS BUREAU
>
> An additional charge was laid yesterday against four doctors and a U.S. company accused of infecting Canadians with tainted blood in the 1980s.
>
> The RCMP allege the accused permitted HIV-infected blood to be given to hemophiliacs, failed to inform the public about the risk of HIV and hepatitis infection from unscreened blood, and failed to test blood for hepatitis C.
>
> COMMON NUISANCE
>
> The Canadian Red Cross is already facing six counts of common nuisance by endangering the public relating to the tainted blood scandal.
>
> Roger Perrault, 66, its former director, Dr. John Furesz, 75, of Ottawa, a former director of biologics at Ottawa's health protection branch, Dr. Donald Wark Boucher, 62, of Nepean, Ont., a former chief of blood products and Dr. Michael Rodell, 70, of Bala Cynwid, Penn., a former vice-president of Armour Pharmaceuticals of New Jersey, were charged with criminal negligence causing bodily harm against M.M., an unnamed victim.