QUEEN'S PARK — Simcoe North MPP Garfield Dunlop and Public Safety and Security Minister Bob Runciman today announced that Bill 105, an amendment to the Health Protection and Promotion Act, comes into effect May 1, 2003.

The legislation was introduced by Dunlop as a Private Member's Bill. It allows the local medical officer of health to order a blood sample from someone who accidentally or deliberately exposes a front-line emergency service worker, victim of crime or Good Samaritan to his or her bodily fluids. The blood would be tested for diseases on the Ministry of Health's communicable disease list, including HIV, AIDS, Hepatitis C and Spinal Meningitis.

"This legislation — the first of its kind in Canada — passed Third Reading in the Ontario legislature by a vote of 80-2," said Dunlop. "Members on both sides of the House put aside partisanship to protect victims of crime, Good Samaritans, and those who serve us on the front lines every day."

"We need to do all we can to help protect police, firefighters, other front-line emergency workers and Good Samaritans," said Runciman. "Our emergency service workers protect our homes and save our lives every day. It's time that we as a society protect those who protect us. This legislation also further protects the innocent victims of crime, as well as the thousands of ordinary citizens who risk their lives to save another's."

Bob Baltin, President of the Police Association of Ontario, which represents more than 20,000 front-line police personnel said, "The officer who is bitten, the sexual assault victim and the Good Samaritan who helps an accident victim will now have the right to know whether their health has been put at risk. This legislation will help to protect police personnel and all Ontarians."

Natalie Hiltz, a Peel Regional Police Service officer, who was bitten while arresting a suspect said, "My family and I had to live through the uncertainty that I may have been infected with a deadly disease. This legislation will help to prevent others from going through the same nightmare."

Bill 105 provides a statutory right to certain applicants to ask a medical officer of health for an Order to take a blood sample from the subject of the Order, when he or she believes, on reasonable and probable grounds, that:

·the applicant came into contact with the bodily substance of another person as a victim of crime, while providing emergency health care, or while performing a function prescribed under the regulations;

·as a result of that contact, the person may have been infected with a virus that causes a prescribed communicable disease; and

·an analysis of the applicant's blood would not determine, in a timely way, whether the applicant may be infected because of the long incubation period for the prescribed communicable diseases; and

·taking a blood sample will not endanger the other person's life or health.

In July, Dunlop received the Police Association of Ontario award for his work on two Private Member's Bills, including Bill 105 and Bill 131 which provides for the implementation of an ignition interlock program for persons who violate drinking and driving laws. Bill 131 was proclaimed on December 23, 2001.