[3] The federal, provincial and territorial governments created the Canadian Blood Services through a memorandum of understanding.

[4] All provinces and territories are able to access the national transplant registry for inter-provincial organ sharing and related programs.

[4] It has a unique relationship with Héma-Québec, the provincial blood system operator that provides products to patients and manages Quebec's stem cell donor registry.

[6][7] There are several reasons why individuals can be deferred from donating blood, including intravenous drug use, living in the UK for certain periods of time, coming from an HIV-endemic country, and engaging in activities that confer a high risk of HIV.

[14] In June 1982, an increase in the cases of immune deficiency was reported among several groups of gay men in Southern California.

[17] In 2010, the Ontario Superior Court—in response to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms challenge which was launched in 2002—ruled that the deferral criteria for MSM were not discriminatory as they were based on health and safety considerations.

[20] In 2019, Canadian Blood Services amended their policy again, after Health Canada had approved their request to reduce the waiting period for MSM donors from one year to three months.

[17] Canadian Blood Services stated that the 3-month waiting period existed because HIV is not detectable shortly after infection with their current testing technologies.

[17] Many critics say that Canadian Blood Services should be using a screening model that evaluates risky behaviour that may result in HIV, not based on an individual's sexuality.

Canadian Blood Services stated that the long period for the implementation of the new sexual behaviour-based screening was due to a strict evidence-gathering process that was later delivered to Health Canada for approval.

[24] The Canadian Blood Services, in partnership with Héma-Québec, manages the MSM Research Grant Program.

[29] The objective of the MSM Research Grant Program is to generate a body of evidence-based research to help develop and inform alternative screening approaches for blood or plasma donors, thereby helping to ensure a more inclusive donor screening process for the Canadian blood system.

[35] Canadian Blood Services' two main risk factors for trans donors include: In an effort to receive input from the LGBTQ community regarding the policies put in place for both MSM and trans donors, several consultations with this community have occurred.

[3] These blood products are distributed to the hospitals which the organization serves in order to meet the clinical needs of individual patients.

[43] Canadian Blood Services also work in conjunction with provincial and territorial governments throughout Canada to meet the needs of patients throughout the country.

[3][38] In addition to these activities, one of the responsibilities of the organization is to monitor the amount of human plasma available to meet the needs of patients across Canada.

[45] The amount of plasma that the Canadian Blood Services collects only meets 13-14% of the demand for immune globulin.

Human leukocyte antigen typing is also a service provided to assure that the matches between donors and receivers of stem cells are the best as possible.

[47] The inception of the Cord Blood Bank came about after provincial and territorial ministries of health across Canada (with the exception of Quebec) committed to the establishment of an ethnically diverse, national, and publicly funded stem cell bank obtained from umbilical cord blood.

[50] In order to fulfill this commitment, a $48-million investment was made, of which the Canadian Blood Services pledged to raising $12.5-million in public funding.

[55] This is done via the provision of professional education resources, the development and sharing of leading practices, increasing public awareness, and through data analysis and reporting.

[3][55][56][57] Since 2008, the federal, provincial, and territorial governments have invested more than $70-million to support the Canadian Blood Services and their work with the organ and tissue donation and transplantation system.

[57] In April, 2019, it was announced by Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Minister of Health, that an additional $3.4-million in funding was to be delegated towards the Canadian Blood Services over the span of two years to help improve the organ and tissue donation and transplantation system in Canada.