Diversity and inclusion

Employment diversity

A Diversified Team

Héma-Québec offers equal opportunities to everyone who applies for a position, in keeping with discrimination-free practices.

Héma-Québec is committed to the equal access employment program and invites women, First Nations, members of visible and ethnic minorities and persons with disabilities to apply.

Our Equal Access Employment Program

This program complies with Quebec’s Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms and was implemented in keeping with the Act respecting equal access to employment in public bodies. This law requires public bodies to determine if individuals in the target groups are represented sufficiently among their employees and to implement an equal access employment program in order to increase their representation and ensure that rules and practices do not compromise the right to equality.

When you apply, you will be asked to complete a short questionnaire on equality of access. Thank you for taking the time to complete it.

Donation and sexual & gender diversity

People hailing from LGBTQ+ communities donate and save lives all the time. We understand, however, that any blood, platelet or plasma donation ban, albeit temporary, can be frustrating. When wanting to save lives, a donation ban is all the more disappointing.

Héma-Québec works with experts in epidemiology and virology, based on scientific evidence and with the authorization from Health Canada, to make blood donation more inclusive.

Since December 4, 2022, we assess blood donation eligibility on individual basis in line with personal behaviours. Changes made by implementing a gender-neutral questionnaire make it easier for more people hailing from LGBTQ+ communities to donate their blood, platelets and plasma.

What Héma-Québec has done to make donations more inclusive

Héma-Québec has increased its efforts to obtain evidence data and ease qualification criteria for men having sex with men since 2013 without affecting the safety of recipients.

Until now, the data collected have made it possible for Héma-Québec to submit five requests for easing qualification criteria that affected men who had sex with men. Health Canada has accepted these requests upon proving they did not affect the safety of blood products.

Since October 2, 2022: Donation eligibility based on an individual at-risk behaviour evaluation has been implemented (rather than a population-based evaluation). Each person who is sexually active may donate plasma if there has been no anal intercourse with a new partner or multiple partners in the last three months.

Since December 4, 2022: Like plasma donation, eligibility for blood and platelet donations is based on an individualized assessment of risk behaviors rather than on an assessment of targeted groups.

What has been done to make blood product donation more inclusive and accessible to men having sex with men as well as sexual and gender diversity communities was based on evidence data without compromising the safety of blood products.

Héma-Québec has implemented a more inclusive qualification approach and is keen to better understand and improve the donor experience provided to LGBTQ+ communities. Since 2020, it has in part been working with a research team at UQÀM to pinpoint areas of improvement and implement them gradually.

Action plan for integrating people with disabilities

Under the Act to secure handicapped persons in the exercise of their rights with a view to achieving social, school and workplace integration, Héma-Québec is required to produce an annual action plan summarizing the current situation, actions taken and future projects aimed at achieving the day-to-day integration of handicapped persons. Consult the most recent edition of this document (in French only):