FYI Forwarded message regarding upcoming apology from Canadian Blood Services

Subject: Apology from CBS to 2SLGBTQIA communities
Greetings,

Canadian Blood Services is grateful to the many 2SLGBTQIA+ organizations, communities and individuals who have worked alongside us for years to drive and influence change within Canada’s blood supply system, and who continue to work with us today.

We have made strong commitments to increase inclusion for diverse 2SLGBTQIA+ communities, and we are continuing to work to make donation criteria, processes, and interactions with Canadian Blood Services as inclusive as possible.

In 2022, we implemented sexual behaviour-based screening in the donation process, which represented an important step towards greater inclusion within Canada’s blood system. However, it did not erase the harms experienced by gay, bi, queer, Two-Spirit, and trans people and the broader 2SLGBQTIA+ community because of the former donor eligibility policy.

As part of our ongoing and necessary repair efforts, Canadian Blood Services will deliver a public apology to 2SLGBTQIA+ communities in Canada this week.

We invite you to join us to hear this message during a livestream event on Friday, May 10, beginning at 10a.m. ET. Canadian Blood Services CEO Dr. Graham Sher will speak at this event, along with 2SLGBTQIA+ community members.

You can tune in live in English at blood.ca/May10 or in French at [sang.ca/10mai]sang.ca/10mai on Friday morning. We also invite you to share these links with others in your community.

If you have any questions about this please reach out to me, Terrie Foster, Stakeholder Engagement Manager at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Alternatively, you can contact Fae Johnstone, Executive Director of Wisdom2Action, to learn more at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. We are working with Fae and her team on 2SLGBTQIA+ community engagement.

We hope you are able to join us on Friday!!


Terrie Foster RN, MScN
Pronouns: (She/They)

Manager Stakeholder Engagement
T 519-690-3926 C 226-268-8509
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
blood.ca

Together, we are Canada’s Lifeline.