Chris in the Commons: Fighting for fairness for victims of Hep C

Ms. Chris Charlton (Hamilton Mountain, NDP): Mr. Speaker, victims and families of the hepatitis C tainted blood catastrophe are being told that their approved compensation claims cannot be paid because the settlement pool of funds has run dry. These people have been through enough, but the minister is just throwing up her hands and saying it is not her problem. She is trying to shift the blame to the fund's administrator, but she knows that they cannot do anything until the government either allows the transfer of funds or ponies up more cash.

Will the minister accept responsibility for this file and finally stand up for the victims of hepatitis C?

Hon. Leona Aglukkaq (Minister of Health, CPC): Mr. Speaker, in 2006 our government did stand up for the victims of hepatitis C and announced a $1 billion trust fund to compensate those individuals.

The way I understand the program is that this is a court-ordered organization, established through the courts, and there are two sets of funds. If the victims of hep C want to pursue the compensation for lost wages, their lawyers are to contact Crawford Class Actions Services to make the changes through the courts, because this is independent. It is a court-ordered change and the individuals then should be contacting their lawyers and Crawford & Company.