Behind Canada’s complex blood and plasma system are individual donors like Jean Bernier, 72, who has given blood 1,706 times.
In addition to depending on the U.S. market for its goods, Canada depends on its American neighbour for its blood supply.
Can U.S. President Donald Trump threaten our blood supply? The short answer to that sensational question is yes, but don’t worry. While Canada largely self-supplies its whole blood and platelet needs through Canadians voluntarily donating, blood products made from plasma are manufactured in and purchased from the United States. The Canadian government would never tariff this vital U.S. product, and the Americans have no desire to hurt domestic manufacturing by limiting an export that saves lives. Canada isn’t selling the Americans anything, just paying them to help.
The job of managing Canada’s blood supply is performed by two bodies: Héma-Quebec, which operates in that province; and Canadian Blood Services, which operates everywhere else. Both bodies supply hospitals with blood products — whole blood, plasma and platelets — they collect from unpaid volunteers. Whole blood and platelets, after they are tested and the blood type determined, can go directly to other Canadians in need.
Plasma, that light beer-coloured liquid that makes up 55 per cent of blood volume, is made into products such as immunoglobulins, albumin and coagulation factors. These products are life savers for people with immunodeficiency disorders, hemophilia, chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIPD), Guillain-Barré syndrome, Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, people who have compromised immune systems because of conditions, cancer treatments, or other medical procedures, burn victims, and many more.
“The need to secure Canada’s supply of plasma for immunoglobulins has been a top blood system priority for several years,” says Graham D. Sher, CEO at Canadian Blood Services. “Globally, many countries are increasing sufficiency levels in response to alarming supply constraints. In Canada, federal, provincial and territorial governments are supporting Canadian Blood Services in reaching approximately 25 per cent domestic immunoglobulin sufficiency [by building] a total of 11 dedicated plasma donor centres over the next few years.
While we are moving in the right direction, there remains a significant gap to meet a minimum 50 per cent domestic sufficiency target needed to secure supply for patients who use immunoglobulins on a lifesaving basis.” Health Canada sets the rules for the industry and contracts Grifols, the world leader in immunoglobulins, to collect plasma in Canada and supply the system with finished immunoglobulin. Grifols runs 16 collection centres in Canada and is allowed to pay its donors, but the plasma collected here may only be used for blood products for Canadians.
To fulfil the rest of Canada’s immunoglobulin needs, Grifols uses American-sourced plasma. Canada ships the Grifols plants in the United States its raw materials for manufacture, and Grifols sells Canada back the immunoglobulins. The U.S. is the only country that can sell plasma, primarily because of its history of paid donation.
André Gagnon, a media relations adviser for Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada, wrote in response to a query on the safety of paid donations that “Current evidence shows no difference in safety between plasma collected from paid versus voluntary donors. Regulation of payment for plasma falls under the mandate of the provinces and territories — they decide whether and how plasma is collected in their jurisdictions.”
“While we are moving in the right direction, there remains a significant gap to meet a minimum 50 per cent domestic sufficiency target needed to secure supply for patients who use immunoglobulins on a lifesaving basis.”
Canadian Blood Services currently has nine plasma donation centres across the country, while Héma-Quebec is opening its 13th in February. During the pandemic, a worldwide shortage of immunoglobulin emerged, and countries around the world began working to secure their own supply. “Plasma usage continues to rise in Canada because more people are being diagnosed and accessing the care they need to live well,” says Jennifer van Gennip, executive director of the Network of Rare Blood Disorder Organizations, noting the advances that new plasma-derived therapies are bringing to people’s health. “Plasmareliant patients are also now living longer healthier lives, whereas entire patient communities once never expected to live beyond childhood.“
It can take up to 1,200 individual plasma donations to treat a single person with hemophilia for one year,” she adds. Patrice Lavoie, director of public relations and outreach for Héma Québec, says Québec currently has 35 per cent self-sufficiency in plasma and by 2027, it wants to reach 42 per cent. He notes that Québec sends most of its plasma for separation to Europe. “Only three per cent of the Quebec population gives any type of blood products,” Lavoie says.
“We can increase that number because three per cent is really, really low. “In Quebec, there is a patient in the hospital who needs a blood transfusion every 80 seconds,” Lavoie says. “Anyone who is over 18 and is in good health can donate and is qualified to be screened by a nurse to participate.”
Canadian Blood Services says that the national donation rate is four per cent. van Gennip notes that the federal blood safety contribution program, which has supported this blood network since the Krever Inquiry report was released in 1997 (in response to the tainted blood scandal) is scheduled to end on March 31, 2026. “There is broad concern about how this will affect Canada’s ability to maintain the strong blood safety system Krever envisioned, and discussions are underway with the federal government about solutions,” she says.
Meet our super donors
Federal Retirees are good blood donors. We meet three of them, along with North America’s most committed donor, who is also Canadian.
To paraphrase former U.S. president John F. Kennedy, ask not what your health-care system can do for you, ask what you can do for your healthcare system. The answer is to donate blood — and get a free snack or juice while saving lives. To show you how it’s done, Sage interviewed four generous Canadians who do just that.
Canadian Blood Services runs 36 permanent collection sites and more than 14,000 donor clinics every year outside of Quebec. Héma-Quebec has 12 permanent collections sites and operates thousands of temporary ones in malls and public places. Both bodies’ websites list locations where Canadians can donate whole blood, platelets or plasma.
Pierre Beaudry, a member of Federal Retirees from the Quebec Branch, says he has made seven plasma donations since last July. “When I was younger, I was a regular blood donor,” Beaudry writes in French. “Then, a diagnosis of heart disease forced me to stop doing something that was very important to me. I thought that chapter was closed... until the day I discovered that I could still donate plasma. This rekindled my desire to give back.”
Beaudry says he’s about to become a grandparent for the fifth time and every time he rolls up his sleeve, he thinks of his grandchildren. He’s also very proud to have been part of concluding an agreement between the Quebec Branch and Héma-Quebec. Diane Boudreault, a member of Federal Retirees and an administrator of the board of directors for the Outaouais branch, started donating at mobile clinics at work.
“It made me feel good to know that someone — and perhaps one day me or my loved ones — could benefit from this gift of life,” she wrote to Sage. “Especially since this action was painless for me and had no impact on my health.” Since retiring, Boudreault has become a regular donor and has now donated 41 times. One thing that keeps her going back is that she thinks the centre staff members are welcoming, caring and grateful.
Association member and Halifax resident Ona West figures she’s donated 82 times and wants to break 100 if she can. She was inspired to donate as a 12-year-old, when she saw a certificate of blood donation on the wall of an older cousin’s bedroom. She started donating in the 1970s and only paused when her own health wouldn’t allow it, but she’s back at it again now. There was a time when you had to be cancer-free for five years before CBS would take a donation again, so she lost five years that way.
“The rules have changed again and now it’s one year after treatment. So I could have had four extra years.” Jean Bernier, 72, may be the most prolific blood donor ever, but he certainly is in North America. He has donated 1,706 times. The former CÉGEP instructor and volunteer firefighter was to be honoured by his town of Shannon, Que., on Oct. 2, 2025.
He started giving blood soon after Quebec’s October Crisis in 1970, once he hit 18 and was allowed. Being a firefighter meant he met lots of people over the years who desperately needed blood. “Apparently when you [donate] blood, you can save up to three or four [people],” Bernier says. “I didn’t do the [math], but I’ve thought about just the principle. Wow. “The only advice is start out with a good meal,” Bernier says. “You need a certain amount of iron.”