TORONTO - It's been called one of the worst public health crises in Canadian history — the contaminated blood scandal that left more than 1,000 Canadians infected with HIV and another 30,000 with hepatitis C. Some contracted both.
The majority were hemophiliacs who had been given blood products meant to save their lives, but the treatment turned out to be a death warrant not only for many of them, but also for loved ones whom they unwittingly infected.
"Tainted," a play debuting Wednesday in Toronto, recalls the tragic events through the eyes of a family with three hemophiliac sons who discover they have contracted both deadly diseases from the clotting factor made from contaminated blood.
Written by Kat Lanteigne, "Tainted" is a labour of love for the Toronto-based actor/producer, who was inspired by an extended family member who was infected prior to the overhaul of Canada's blood system and mandatory screening and treatment of blood donations in 1985.
"It had always really haunted me that there was nothing out there in an artistic model to tell the story," says Lanteigne, 38, who began researching the subject 10 years ago, initially with the idea of producing a film, which she was unable to get off the ground.
"And so I realized that if I didn't do something that it was going to be forgotten because it was highly unlikely that people would click onto Health Canada's website and download the Krever inquiry."
That inquiry, led by Justice Horace Krever, began in October 1993 and heard two years of testimony about how the federal and provincial governments, the Canadian Red Cross and others had failed to protect the blood supply.
