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Topic: Paul Martin's legacy of dead Canadians |
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Entropy Squared
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Member # 5
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 posted 07-14-2002 10:41 PM      
This guy wants to be Prime Minister
Files missing, victims charge
Mark Kennedy, for the Calgary Herald
July 28, 1999
Canada's hemophiliacs are alleging that the federal government may have destroyed documents linking Finance Minister Paul Martin to the tainted- blood scandal.
The politically explosive new charge comes amid efforts by tainted-blood victims to unearth government records that could show the extent of Martin's knowledge and involvement in relation to the blood system when it went awry.
In May, the Ottawa Citizen revealed that Martin was a board member of the corporation that owned Connaught Laboratories when it distributed tainted blood products in the 1980s.
Martin was a director of the federally controlled Canada Development Corp. (CDC) from 1981 to 1986 -- the key years of the tainted-blood scandal. At the time, as president of Canada Steamship Lines, he was a leading Montreal businessman who had not yet entered politics.
During the 1970s and early '80s, the Finance Department was represented on the CDC board by its deputy minister. Victims believe those bureaucrats would have been routinely sent minutes of board meetings. The Canadian Hemophilia Society filed an access-to-information request to the Finance Department in May, seeking minutes of all CDC board meetings from 1972 to 1990.
The department recently responded that after ''a thorough search,'' no such records were found in its files.
But the hemophiliacs, whose ranks were devastated by AIDS and hepatitis C from contaminated blood, aren't accepting the answer. On Tuesday, they filed a letter of complaint to Information Commissioner John Reid.
''I find it very disturbing that they can't find any of these significant records,'' said the society's vice- president, Mike McCarthy. ''It leads me to believe that these records have been destroyed purposely to deny us the truth here.''
McCarthy said it's ''inconceivable'' that the Finance Department doesn't have the CDC board minutes, since the department's deputy minister also sat on the CDC's executive committee.
''If Paul Martin wants to be the next prime minister of this country, he's got to come forward and provide us with these minutes. You cannot deny victims the answer to what happened to them.''
But Scott Reid, Martin's communications director, categorically rejected the allegations of document destruction.
''That's a tremendously serious charge. It's incorrect. It's wrong.''
When Martin's connection with the CDC was revealed two months ago, opposition parties pounced. They said Martin may have been in a conflict when he participated in cabinet decisions such as the 1996 lawsuit to prevent Justice Horace Krever from laying blame against the Red Cross, governments and companies such as Connaught.
Federal Ethics Counsellor Howard Wilson agreed to conduct an internal inquiry into the allegations of conflict. He said in an interview on Tuesday that government officials working at his behest have obtained most of the CDC minutes for the years that Martin was on the board.
Wilson said he hopes to deliver his report by the end of the summer to Prime Minister Jean Chretien, who has promised to publicly release it.
Posts: 3829 | From: Edmonton, AB | Registered: Jan 2001 | IP: Private |  |
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Entropy Squared
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posted 07-14-2002 10:53 PM
Tainted-blood sleuth firebombed
Intimidation campaign suspected as Arkansas clinic razed, Montreal office ransacked
Mark Kennedy
The Ottawa Citizen
Saturday May 22, 1999
The controversial story involving tainted plasma from Arkansas prisoners that was shipped to Canada in the 1980s while Bill Clinton was state governor has taken a mysterious and chilling new turn.
Two crimes that occurred within hours of each other Tuesday night, hundreds of kilometres apart, have raised questions about whether someone is trying to intimidate or silence those who are asking questions about the prison-blood fiasco.
In Pine Bluff, Arkansas, someone firebombed a prosthetics clinic owned by Michael Galster, who has been pushing hard for a U.S. government investigation. The clinic was burned to its shell and fire officials, who found a gas container in Mr. Galster's attic -- where he kept his documents -- say they're "90-per-cent sure" the fire was arson.
In Montreal, someone broke into the offices of the Quebec chapter of the Canadian Hemophilia Society, which recently unearthed documents that showed Finance Minister Paul Martin was a board member of the corporation that owned Connaught Laboratories, the company that fractionated and distributed the Arkansas prison plasma in Canada.
Hemophilia Society officials say thieves stole a computer and three telephones. They also stole documents from a box labeled "Hepatitis C, Krever Commission, Reform of the blood system, HIV-AIDS."
Police are investigating both incidents. Mike McCarthy, a Canadian hemophiliac at the forefront of pushing for answers into the prison plasma scandal, says he's convinced the two crimes are connected.
"It's too much of a coincidence," he said, adding that someone is worried Mr. Galster and the victims are probing too close to the truth.
"They're trying to find out what we know and erase the trail if they can." "I think they're also sending a message. They're trying to scare us into backing off. They're trying to put the fear of God into us, that if we pursue the truth it can get worse. That the next action might not just be buildings and records."
The RCMP are examining the prison-blood scheme as part of their criminal investigation into the tainted-blood scandal. RCMP Cpl. Gilles Moreau said yesterday that the Mounties are willing to review any evidence local police in Montreal and Arkansas uncover.
"We do not work in a vacuum," said Cpl. Moreau. "If there's information that is linked to the blood distribution system for the period that we're investigating, we're certainly not going to close our eyes to that information. We welcome any information that comes our way."
The story of how prison plasma was collected and found its way into the bloodstreams of unsuspecting Canadians stands as one of the most shocking aspects of the tainted-blood tragedy.
It's not known how many Canadians contracted HIV and hepatitis C from the plasma of Arkansas prisoners, who were paid $7 a unit, although it's likely that several hundred people were infected by the tainted products.
At the time, U.S. companies that fractionate blood products had stopped buying prison blood because it was widely understood that, since many inmates practised unsafe sex or were intravenous drug addicts, their blood posed a high risk of carrying the AIDS virus.
In Arkansas, a private firm, Health Management Associates, was given a contract by the state government to collect the prisoners' plasma. The firm had difficulty locating a U.S. customer but found a willing buyer in a Montreal blood broker, Continental Pharma Cryosan, which then sold the plasma to Toronto-based Connaught Laboratories. Connaught apparently didn't realize the plasma had come from prisoners.
Canadians learned of the prison plasma scheme in 1995, when Justice Horace Krever's inquiry unearthed some aspects of the story. Last September, the Citizen revealed further details.
Also last fall, Mr. Galster went public with his accusations about the Arkansas prison system, where he conducted orthopedic clinics during the 1980s. Mr. Galster published a book, Blood Trail, which is a fictionalized account of how the prison-plasma program worked.
He wrote under a pseudonym because he feared reprisals. Soon after media stories began appearing, he revealed his true identity. In February, he organized and participated in a news conference in Washington where Canadian victims called for a probe by the U.S. Justice Department and announced plans to depose Mr. Clinton.
Mr. Galster said yesterday he is reeling with shock from the firebombing of his clinic, which he has owned for 21 years. He said he worked until about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday and was later called at home about the fire. "I'm trying not to get too paranoid about it. I pray to God that it was just a coincidence." Mr. Galster said that if someone is trying to silence him, it won't work. "They're barking up the wrong tree. They can't erase the victims who are seeking the truth."
Pine Bluff's fire marshal, Capt. Randy Rushing, said the state crime lab has been called in to help with the arson investigation. Capt. Rushing said fire officials have a "couple of leads," but have no evidence on a motive.
In Montreal, hemophilia society officials are puzzled. In recent days, the group learned that Mr. Martin was a director of the Canada Development Corporation (CDC) from 1981 to 1986 -- the key years of the tainted blood scandal. The CDC was created with federal seed money to promote the country's leading industries and owned a variety of firms, including Connaught.
The Citizen published details of the story on Saturday, and indicated that Mr. Martin has no recollection of any discussions about tainted blood while a CDC board member. The article stated that Mr. Martin's connection to the CDC had been "unearthed" by the hemophilia society.
Just three days later, the break-in occurred. Thieves entered the office of executive director Pierre Desmarais and were selective in what they took. Mr. Desmarais said that because the thieves stole documents -- not just computer equipment -- it appears they were looking for information, not goods.
"It's really frightening. This is the kind of thing you see in movies."
Posts: 3829 | From: Edmonton, AB | Registered: Jan 2001 | IP: Private | |
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