Canadian Blood Services reaches agreement to settle Human Rights Tribunal complaint

Wednesday, July 17, 2024

An agreement has been reached between Canadian Blood Services and Christopher Karas, to settle a complaint before the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal made by Mr. Karas, about the former donation policy that prevented all sexually active men who have sex with men, and some trans people from donating blood and plasma.

Mr. Karas initiated the human rights complaint against Canadian Blood Services on August 15, 2016, alleging he was discriminated against on the basis of sexual orientation.

The settlement reached between Canadian Blood Services and Mr. Karas is confidential and was signed and approved by the Canadian Human Rights Commission on January 3, 2024.

Canadian Blood Services acknowledges Mr. Karas’ contribution to raising awareness of this issue and his commitment to advocating for screening policies that apply to all donors, regardless of gender or sexual orientation.

Since September 2022, sexual behaviour-based screening has been in place. All donors are now asked the same questions about sexual behaviour.

Our journey to implement sexual behaviour-based screening

Canadian Blood Services has been on a dedicated journey since 2011 to increase inclusion in Canada’s blood supply system for 2SLGBTQIA+ communities, in all their diversity.

This has involved collecting the evidence needed to apply to our regulator, Health Canada, to make changes to the former criteria.

In 2013, Health Canada approved the change from a lifetime deferral for gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men, to a time-based deferral of five years.
In 2016, Health Canada approved the change from a five-year deferral to a one-year deferral.
In 2018, following extensive evidence-based research and consultations with 2SLGBTQIA+ communities and other stakeholder groups, Canadian Blood Services filed a submission to Health Canada seeking approval for a change from the one-year deferral to a three-month deferral.
In 2021, Canadian Blood Services filed a submission to Health Canada seeking approval to remove the three-month deferral period in favour of a behaviour-based model that asks all prospective donors the same questions, regardless of sexual orientation or gender.
In 2022, Canadian Blood Services implemented sexual behaviour-based screening in our donation process. This shift effectively removed questions about sexual orientation that prevented many sexually active gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men and some trans people from donating blood. We recognize, however, that barriers to donation still exist for some.

Today’s more inclusive approach to donor screening is the result of continued advocacy from 2SLGBTQIA+ organizations, consultations with patient groups and Canadian and international research that demonstrated to Health Canada that this change was necessary and safe.

Ongoing commitments and actions to advance 2SLGBTQIA+ inclusion

The implementation of sexual behaviour-based screening marked an important milestone in our journey to foster greater inclusion within Canada’s Lifeline. However, it did not erase the former donor deferral policy’s contributions to discrimination, homophobia, transphobia, and HIV stigma within society.

We have made strong commitments to increase 2SLGBTQIA+ inclusion at Canadian Blood Services and have undertaken several actions to date. These actions have included delivering 2SLGBTQIA+ inclusion training and education to employees; establishing a dedicated and well-resourced diversity, equity, and inclusion team; and actively working on short- and long-term changes to our registration and screening practices, to improve the donation experience for trans, non-binary, Two-Spirit and gender diverse donors.

In 2022, we established an external 2SLGBTQIA+ advisory committee, with representatives from diverse 2SLGBTQIA+ civil society organizations. We have been working closely with this committee to understand how to inclusively recruit and build relationships with 2SLGBTQIA+ donors and promote broader engagement of 2SLGBTQIA+ communities within Canadian Blood Services’ work. This has included reviewing Canadian Blood Services’ donor screening criteria and undertaking consultations to inform the committee’s mandate and process.

We are committed to consulting with stakeholder groups, including 2SLGBTQIA+ groups and those in public health (including in HIV/AIDS health and research) to gather and review the latest evidence-based research. We are currently working, for example, with external experts in HIV testing to further understand the impact of antiretroviral medications on screening tests and determine how to minimize the duration of deferral for donors using PrEP.

In May 2024, Canadian Blood Services issued an apology to 2SLGBTQIA+ communities for the harm experienced by gay, bisexual, and queer men, and some trans people, because of the former policy. This apology was a necessary step in our ongoing journey to build trust, repair relationships, and make all policies, processes, and interactions with Canadian Blood Services more inclusive for diverse 2SLGBTQIA+ communities.

We still have work to do to advance 2SLGBTQIA+ inclusion, repair relationships and address the harm experienced by those impacted directly by the former deferral policy. We are dedicated to continued dialogue, engagement, and collaboration with diverse 2SLGBTQIA+ communities across Canada.

We are also grateful to all new and returning donors from 2SLGBTQIA+ communities, and their allies, who have chosen to donate and/or engage with us since the 2022 policy change.

For more information, visit blood.ca/apology or blood.ca/SBBS.