PM unveils new aid for tainted blood victims

Thousands of Canadians who contracted hepatitis C from tainted blood but were excluded from earlier compensation will now be covered under a new $1.1-billion plan, Prime Minister Harper announced Tuesday.

"These men and women have waited long enough," Harper said as he made the announcement in Cambridge, Ont.

Harper andHealth Minister Tony Clementoutlined details of the new package, which willcover 5,500 Canadians who developed hepatitis C from tainted blood transfusions before 1986 or after 1990, but who were not eligible for a package offered by the federal and provincial governments in 1998.

The amount of money paid out to each will depend on the severity of their illness and how much income they've lost tothe health problems. Payments will range from $30,000 to $250,000.

As well, Harper said, "compensation will be provided to the estates of those who have already died."

The self-described "forgotten victims" have been lobbying for compensation for more than a decade, launching class-action suits in British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec.

Under the 1998 package, only Canadians who contracted hepatitis C from tainted blood between 1986and 1990 were eligible for compensation. During that period, the federal government knew there was a test that would have screened donated blood for diseases, but it did not adopt it.

The screening test was adopted after 1990.

'No amount of money can bring back your health. No amount of money will bring those lost years back.' —Renée Daurio

In a report from a public inquiry into the tainted blood scandal, Justice Horace Krever said all the victims of bad blood should be treated equally.

Renée Daurio, a resident of St. Nicholas, a suburb of Quebec City, said earlier on Tuesday that the money will be welcome but it cannot erase years of suffering.

Daurio contracted hepatitis C from a blood transfusion at a Toronto hospital in 1979, when she was 15. Since then, she has had numerous operations and takes handfuls of pills daily to help her cope with the disease.

"No amount of money can bring back your health. No amount of money will bring those lost years back," she said.

"Let's hope we can put this behind us. Bills and bills and bills, they don't stop coming in."

John Plater of the Canadian Hemophilia Society told CBC News his group supported the Conservative government's plan, although it felt the compensation had been long overdue.

"Finally, a federal government has stood up and said, 'We are going to do something,'" Plater said.