The Canadian Red Cross set the standards for health and safety in the collection, testing, storage, and distribution of blood and its components until 1989.
[7] In November 1992, a parliamentary committee called the Commons Sub-Committee on Health Issues began to examine the tainted blood scandal.
"[11][12] The Commission would end up fighting various pitched legal battles with federal government, mainly over its right to name publicly those who had failed in their duties.
In addition to infected persons or members of their families, those who testified in this phase included employees of local Red Cross blood centres, provincial government officials, and representatives of community and AIDS-related organizations; in total, 315 witnesses testified during the first phase of public hearings.
[12]: 7 The second phase of public hearings addressed broader national concerns regarding the historical actions and relationships of the participants in the Canadian blood system.
In this phase, which took place in Toronto during November and December 1995, round-table discussions were held on issues affecting the blood system; case studies were conducted with the cooperation of the major organizations in the system (the Canadian Red Cross Society, the Canadian Blood Agency, the Government of Canada, the Canadian Hemophilia Society, and the Association of Hemophilia Clinic Directors of Canada) to examine what changes had been made to their decision-making processes since the 1980s; and presentations were made by the major organizations regarding the current blood system.
[12]: 7 In 1989, the Government of Canada provided CA$120,000 in "humanitarian assistance" to victims of tainted blood in exchange for a guarantee that they would not sue.
[6] Krever concluded that the Canadian government failed to take precautionary screening and testing measures to protect Canada's blood supply.
The inquiry also uncovered cost-cutting attempts, which favoured for-profit paid-plasma schemes; cover-ups; and widespread political interference; as well as negligent importation of blood collected from high-risk American donors.
[6] The fallout from the scandal also led to the restructuring of the Bureau of Biologics, the division of Health Canada that was responsible for monitoring blood safety.
[7] In April 2001, the Supreme Court of Canada found the Canadian Red Cross guilty of negligence for failing to screen blood donors effectively for HIV infection.
In 2002, the RCMP laid 32 charges in total against two senior bureaucrats at Health Canada, the head of the Red Cross' blood program, and a vice-president of Armour Pharmaceutical, a New Jersey company that manufactures Factor VIII concentrate for use by hemophiliacs.