Plasma donation centre returning to Thunder Bay
CBC
A new plasma donor centre is opening in Thunder Bay, Ont., in early 2025, according to Canadian Blood Services (CBS).
Construction is starting this week on the new donor centre, which will be operating out of a leased property in the Thunder Centre.
"In 2012, we closed our local centre in response to a significant decline in the use of plasma for transfusion at hospitals across the country," said CBS in an emailed statement. "However, more than a decade later, the landscape has shifted. Today, health systems in Canada and abroad continue to see a steady rise in the need for plasma to make a different kind of lifesaving product: immunoglobulins."
CBS told CBC News it was unable to provide an interview at time of publication.
Plasma is a protein-dense liquid component in blood, which can be used for transfusion and to make medications like immunoglobulins. Many of the medications produced are the only treatment option for thousands of Canadians with life-threatening conditions, including immunodeficiency, autoimmune and neurological disorders, said the statement.
CBS previously opened a plasma centre in Thunder Bay in 1996, but shut it down in 2012 due to an excess in plasma supply. All 28 employees lost their jobs. The union representing the employees voiced concern about CBS's plans to buy plasma from sources in the United States the same year it shut down the Thunder Bay donor centre.
CBS also stopped holding mobile blood donor clinics in Thunder Bay in 2012. CBS officials have previously told CBC that the clinics were too expensive to run in Thunder Bay. With the nearest permanent blood collection and processing facility in Winnipeg, it was also challenging to get the blood from Thunder Bay to Winnipeg soon enough.
CBS stopped holding clinics in Fort Frances in October 2014 and in Dryden in May 2015. Kenora, which was the last clinic in northwestern Ontario accepting blood donations, also closed in December 2017.
In 2022, CBS said it was taking efforts to secure access to immunoglobulins "in response to an ongoing global shortage of immunoglobulins and risks to cross-border supply chains made further evident by the pandemic."
This includes paying for plasma — CBS has partnered with a private Spanish company to operate clinics that pay people to donate plasma. Three Ontario clinics are being opened in the next year in Cambridge, Whitby and Hamilton.
CBS operates eight plasma donor centres in Kelowna and Abbotsford, B.C., Lethbridge, Brampton, Ottawa, St. Catharines, Sudbury and Vaughan. It plans to open three more in 2024 including in Windsor.
The family of an Edmonton woman who died in Honolulu last year is pushing for Hawaiian authorities to re-open the case.
It was around this time in 2020 that everything changed.
With its emergency shelter beds frequently running at 50 per cent over capacity and demand so great that it's forced to refer some women escaping domestic violence elsewhere, Gillian's Place in St. Catharines will soon be able to offer a broader range of services to more victims of gender-based violence.
The ceiling of the CAW Student Centre at the University of Windsor is decorated by flags of numerous nations — among them, Iran.
Turmoil in Iran, a major disruption in world oil markets, and stratospheric gasoline prices in Canada and beyond. What's racking motorists and governments in 2026 also faced them in 1979, sparked by the Iranian Revolution.
Five decades later, and Thunder Bay's Music World Academy remains a family-run business.
Dalton Dubois of Guelph, Ont., made history at the recent Paris Fashion Week when she became the first transgender model to walk the runway for Chanel Exclusive.
Work is scheduled to begin over the summer at the site of the former Clinton Creek asbestos mine, about 65 kilometres northwest of Dawson City, Yukon.
They may be bitter rivals in the House of Commons, but outside the chamber, recent events may have led to Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and Prime Minister Mark Carney forging a bond.
Local fans and industry insiders say the province’s move to ban the reselling of event tickets for more than their original value is a step in the right direction, but some say there are still larger issues that need to be addressed.
This First Person column is the experience of Mehdi M. Kashani, who lives in Toronto. For more information about CBC's First Person stories, please see the FAQ.
A very quiet queue has formed in Europe where some of Canada's long-standing, closest allies are seeking shelter under France's small but robust nuclear umbrella.
Friday morning's dusting of snow was no match for the large crowd visiting the Suleman Dawood Masjid in St. John’s for Eid-al-Fitr. A busy service marked the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month.