Can You Get Paid for Plasma in Canada? The Rules by Province

You can get paid for plasma in Canada if you live near one of Grifols’ plasma centres, which run from Calgary to Halifax. Ontario has five of them even though it bans paying for blood, because its law exempts Canadian Blood Services and Grifols collects there as CBS’s agent. In British Columbia and Quebec the law rules it out, and Newfoundland and Labrador, PEI and the territories have no paid centre.

Timing matters this fall too. Grifols paused every Canadian centre in mid-August 2026, and started reopening them in phases on October 20, so the centre nearest you may not be taking appointments yet.

Which provinces let you get paid for plasma?

Six provinces have a paid plasma centre: Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. British Columbia and Quebec ban payment. Newfoundland and Labrador and the three territories allow it but have no centre, and PEI’s law is unclear. Health Canada leaves the decision to each province (opens in a new tab).

Where the 17 paid centres are

Grifols’ centre list (opens in a new tab) puts them here:

• Alberta: Calgary, Edmonton (two centres) and Red Deer
• Saskatchewan: Regina and Saskatoon
• Manitoba: Winnipeg (two centres)
• Ontario: Cambridge, Etobicoke, Hamilton, North York and Whitby
• New Brunswick: Fredericton, Moncton and Saint John
• Nova Scotia: Halifax

So Toronto has two paid centres, in Etobicoke and North York, while Vancouver, Montreal and Ottawa have none.

Ontario bans payment, but exempts Canadian Blood Services

Ontario’s Voluntary Blood Donations Act (opens in a new tab) makes it an offence to pay someone for giving blood, plasma included, and bars the donor from accepting the money. Section 3 exempts Canadian Blood Services and the people who give blood to it. CBS reads that exemption as covering (opens in a new tab) “any agent working on our behalf”, and Grifols runs its five Ontario centres as that agent, under a 2022 agreement with CBS.

British Columbia and Quebec don’t allow it

BC’s Voluntary Blood Donations Act (opens in a new tab) has banned paying for blood or plasma since August 1, 2018, and the ban covers even a refund for your time or travel. It exempts Canadian Blood Services and its agents, but CBS said in 2023 (opens in a new tab) that Grifols had no plans in BC.

Quebec’s rule is in the Civil Code (opens in a new tab). Article 25 says that parting with “a part or product” of your body “shall be gratuitous”, which means unpaid, with no exception for any organization. You can still give plasma in both provinces, unpaid, at a Canadian Blood Services centre (opens in a new tab) in BC or at one of Héma-Québec’s 13 centres (opens in a new tab), which all take plasma.

Alberta made it legal again in 2020

Alberta banned paying for plasma in 2017, then repealed the ban in December 2020 (opens in a new tab) through a private member’s bill. Its tissue donation law doesn’t cover blood, and Grifols now runs four centres there.

Everywhere else, blood is left out of the tissue laws

Saskatchewan, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador and the territories have no law about paying blood donors. Their tissue donation laws ban buying and selling organs and tissue, and they name blood as an exception. Manitoba’s (opens in a new tab), for example, bans dealing in “any body or parts of it other than blood or a blood constituent”. Nunavut’s has no sale rule at all.

PEI is the one province where the answer isn’t clear. Its Human Tissue Donation Act (opens in a new tab) bans selling “any tissue, body or body part”. It excludes blood from “tissue” but never says whether blood counts as a body part. There’s no centre on the Island either way.

Are Grifols’ plasma centres open again?

Some are. Grifols paused all of its Canadian centres in mid-August 2026, and began a phased reopening on October 20, starting with a reduced number of appointments. Grifols asks donors (opens in a new tab) to check that their local centre is open and taking appointments before they go.

The pause followed two deaths and a Health Canada review. Two Grifols donors in Winnipeg died within 72 hours of donating, one in October 2025 and one in January 2026 (CP24 (opens in a new tab)). In April 2026, Health Canada concluded that no link had been established between the donations and the deaths, and it put conditions on Grifols’ sites after inspecting them. It didn’t classify its findings as critical (Canadian Blood Services (opens in a new tab)).

In August, Grifols paused every centre (opens in a new tab) to retrain staff on the issues Health Canada had raised. In September, Health Canada confirmed it had suspended collection at the Taylor Avenue centre in Winnipeg, saying Grifols had failed to show the site had an effective quality management system. When the reopening began, Canadian Blood Services said (opens in a new tab) Health Canada was satisfied with the steps taken and would keep monitoring.

How much does Grifols pay for plasma?

New donors at most Grifols centres get up to $100 over their first three donations. After that, Grifols shows its rate only in its donor app (opens in a new tab), and says it can vary by centre and change without notice. The most recent schedule we found, reported by The Globe and Mail in June 2024 (opens in a new tab), paid $30 to $70 a donation.

Under that schedule, the amount depended on how much plasma you gave and how often:

The $70 rate applied only if you donated twice a week for at least five weeks, and the schedule added a $100 bonus for 20 donations within 12 weeks. Grifols still runs a loyalty program and a referral bonus. Twice a week works out to about nine visits a month, and at roughly an hour and a half each, that’s around 13 hours at the centre before travel.

That makes plasma a steady top-up rather than a way to cover a big bill. If you need a larger amount this week, the free emergency programs are worth trying before a cash advance app.

Who can donate plasma for money?

At Grifols, you need to be 17 to 68 (18 or older at the University of Manitoba centre), weigh 50 to 180 kg and live within 100 km of the centre. Bring photo ID, proof of address and your SIN card. You can donate up to twice in seven days, with at least 48 hours in between, according to Grifols’ eligibility rules (opens in a new tab).

The first visit takes the longest, about 2 hours 20 minutes to 3 hours by Grifols’ estimate (opens in a new tab). Later visits take about an hour and a half. The donation itself is called plasmapheresis: your blood is drawn, the plasma is separated out, and the blood cells go back to you, which Health Canada says (opens in a new tab) takes 1 to 2 hours.

If some of this money is going into savings

Plasma money comes in small amounts, up to twice a week, and money that arrives that way is easy to spend without noticing. If you’d like part of it to add up, Lodavo is a free Canadian app that makes saving more rewarding. You connect the savings or chequing account you already use, and your balance earns tickets in a weekly cash draw. Someone wins at least $100 every week, and the top prize is $10,000.

Your money stays in your own account the whole time, so whatever you set aside is still there for rent.

Before you book

Grifols’ centre pages (opens in a new tab) show each location’s hours and whether it’s taking appointments, and while the reopening is still under way, that’s the page to check first.

If you’d like the money you set aside to come with a chance at a prize, download Lodavo free on the Apple App Store (opens in a new tab) or Google Play Store (opens in a new tab) and start earning tickets for the weekly draw.

This article is general information, not legal advice. Provincial laws and Grifols’ rates both change, so check the centre’s own page before you book.

Terms and conditions apply. No purchase necessary (alternate method of entry available). Skill-testing question required. Open to legal residents of Canada who are the age of majority. Odds depend on the number of eligible entries received. Full rules and odds at our contest rules.