Notes on a Scandal

In December 2012, one day before the seventeenth anniversary of my father’s death, I opened an email from a solicitor at Nova Scotia’s Department of Justice. “Hi, Melanie. We’ve now calculated the amount and funding for this school year will be $17,551.60.”

A smile crept across my face. The sum was higher than I’d anticipated, and the money would cover tuition for the MFA in creative writing I was about to begin. I’ll get to write my book. The thought filtered into my head, and a tangle of conflicted emotions pressed back against my momentary enthusiasm. How could I celebrate what was, quite literally, blood money?

Between 1980 and 1985, an estimated 30,000 Canadians were infected with hepatitis C, when contaminated blood was knowingly distributed nationwide. At least 2,000 more were infected with HIV. The lives...