Email fixed!

The email address listed in the survey for Roy Elliott Kim O'Connor LLP, hepc@reko.ca, was not set up properly, so some of you may have had email messages bounce back. That's been fixed.

Surveys coming in quickly

We are receiving hundreds of surveys every day. Thank you to all those who have returned them so promptly. The surveys are providing us with valuable information to use in our ongoing negotiations with the Federal Government. These surveys, along with information and advice from doctors and financial experts, will allow us to determine how much money is needed to provide compensation. We want to be sure that there is enough money to provide fair compensation to everyone who became infected with Hepatitis C through the blood system in Canada before 1986 or after 1990.

We'll be meeting with the government negotiators again next week. Please be assured that there is a team of people working on this everyday, and that we all want to complete the negotiations as soon as possible.

Election Called - Now what?

A lot of people have been asking what will happen to the pre-86/post-90 compensation now that an election has been called. The short answer is it should not have any significant effect. The Liberal Government signed a memorandum of understanding prior to the election which committed them to providing compensation. The Conservative Party, the New Democratic Party and the Bloc Quebecois have all supported compensation in the past, and voted in favour of compensation several times, including April 2005.

We are continuing to negotiate with the Department of Justice, and are continuing to gather the information we need to conclude those negotiations. Our work will continue throughout the election campaign, as we are dealing with government lawyers, not politicians.

The only effect the election will likely have is that we will not be able to get any final agreement signed until after the election when a new cabinet is sworn in. However, given the amount of work left to do in the negotiations, it is not likely that an agreement could be reached before a new cabinet is in place anyway.

So, don't worry. We are confident that compensation will be provided regardless of what happens in the election.

Agreement announced in House of Commons

Here is the text of the announcement in the House of Commons:

Mr. Michael Savage (Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, on November 22, 2004, the Minister of Health announced the launch of discussions to explore options for financial compensation to Canadians infected with hepatitis C through the Canadian blood system in the class before 1986 and after July 1990.
Could the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health update the House on the status of these important discussions?

Hon. Robert Thibault (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to inform the hon. members of the House that the Minister of Health and legal representatives for individuals affected with the hepatitis C virus through the blood system before 1986 and after July 1, 1990, today announced that they have signed a memorandum of understanding committing the federal government to provide compensation to those individuals.
Discussions will continue on both sides, as both sides negotiate the amounts and categories of compensation. By entering into this MOU both sides have made a clear commitment to the ongoing negotiation process.
The federal government will compensate the pre-1986, post-1990 class because it is the right and responsible thing to do.

Federal Government Commits to Compensation

The Federal Government and the lawyers for the Pre-86/Post-90 hepatitis C victims have entered into a memorandum of understanding in which the government commits to providing compensation. Last November, the government stated that they were willing to discuss the issue, and discussions have been ongoing ever since. Today, for the first time, the government has stated publicly that there will be a compensation program for people infected before 1986 or after July, 1990.

The details of the compensation program are still being negotiated. Claimants do not have to do anything at the moment to apply for the compensation. There will be further announcements once the program is finalized.

You can see the government's press release here, and the text of the memorandum of understanding here.

This is an important step. This is the first time the Federal Government has ever stated that there will be compensation for pre-86/post-90 victims.

We will continue to negotiate to finalize the settlement as quickly as possible.

Survey available online

The survey form is now available online for you to download, print, fill out and return to us. You can download it here. KPMG will be sending the survey form out in the mail, but by downloading it now and sending it in rather than waiting for the copy in the mail, you will be helping us to get our work done more quickly.

Survey coming soon

We are continuing to negotiate a settlement with the federal government. One of the things that has been holding us up is trying to get a good estimate of exactly how many people there are, and what their current state of health is. We'll be sending a survey form out to people over the next few weeks to get some of this information. When you receive it, please fill it in and return it as quickly as possible so that we can finalize our negotiations.

Welcome

I've set up this Weblog to provide more frequent updates on the status of compensation for people infected with hepatitis C through the blood system in Canada before 1986 or after 1990.

Check back here from time to time to see what's new.