Blood, blame, and belonging: HIV, hepatitis C, and emergence of 'tainted -blood activism' in Canada, 1985--2000

This research addresses the emergence of "tainted-blood activism" in Canada using a social movement framework. Specifically, I examine the impact of the 'political opportunity structure' on: (a) the strategies adopted by tainted-blood activists; (b) the negotiation of the movement's collective identity; and (c) the outcomes of protest. One of the objectives of this research is to demonstrate that key "moments" can transform the political opportunity structure. One of these moments, the Krever Inquiry, not only legitimized tainted blood as a political issue worthy of the public's attention; it also gave shape to this fledgling movement.;The research identifies four major findings that have a bearing on public policy. First, this case demonstrates that public policy analysts need to pay closer attention to the influence of social movements on the policy process. While tainted-blood recipients were a difficult constituency to mobilize, this research demonstrates how they did so successfully and how, in a short time frame, they managed to secure both compensation and the overhaul of the country's blood system. Second, this research expands our understanding of public inquiries as sites for contestation over meaning. The Inquiry provides a forum for social movement participants to perform the types of rituals that help to move issues from the uncontested to the contested realm. The fact that movement actors use conventional tactics to do so, reinforces the idea that the line separating disruptive from non-disruptive protest is blurred at the best of times. Third, this research raises larger, troubling questions regarding the boundaries of state responsibility in matters involving citizens' exposure to risk. Increasingly, governments are being called upon to compensate individuals or groups for inflicted harms, and in such cases they must make these decisions in a climate of heightened anxiety among citizens. Fourth, this research underscores the need to expand our understanding of "policy outcomes", which is too instrumental a term to capture the nuanced effects of collective action. While blood activists were able to win compensation, they succeeded also in creating a collective identity for tainted-blood recipients, and they challenged notions of what "sick" people can and cannot do.