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Johanne and William Decarie with their daughter Billie-Jo at their Rockland, Ont., home. All three are HIV positive.John Kenney/CP file photo

Johanne Decarie was infected with HIV/AIDS in August of 1985, when she received tainted blood during minor surgery. Later, she would unwittingly infect her husband Bill and then her daughter Billie Jo, compounding the horror.

A test was available to screen out bad blood at the time of her surgery, but to save a few dollars it was not used. To make matters worse, Billie Jo has the dubious distinction of being Canada's youngest victim of tainted blood - yet, a quarter century later, Ms. Decarie is still fighting for compensation for her family.

"After all these years, there's a lot of frustration, but frustration isn't a big enough word to describe my feelings," she said in an interview. "I can't believe I'm still doing paperwork and dealing with lawyers, but I'm doing it for my kids. The children have never received a cent."

Ms. Decarie, a beneficiary of the multi-provincial-territorial assistance program for victims of tainted blood, receives $30,000 a year for life. Her youngest daughter, Billie Jo, and her husband, who were secondarily infected, each received nominal lump-sum payments.

But the couple's other five children have not received any compensation.

"All these kids lived through a lot. Imagine growing up with two parents and a sister with AIDS. They deserve compensation as much as anyone," Ms. Decarie said.

They have applied to another program, the HIV Fund, which was set up to compensate family members of tainted blood victims after the bankruptcy of the Canadian Red Cross Society.

But the claim was rejected because Ms. Decarie had previously sued the Red Cross to help speed up compensation. That lawsuit was dismissed because the statute of limitations had passed and, as a result, she was deemed to not be an eligible claimant and her family shut out.

Ms. Decarie is appealing the decision but remains miffed.

"I don't have a background in law so I don't understand all the loopholes," she said, "but I do know that this is fundamentally unfair."

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