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ARTICLE ONE
INTERPRETATION

1.01 Definitions (top)

In this Agreement, in addition to the terms defined in the description of the Parties and in the recitals set out above:

"Administrator" means the administrator appointed by the Courts and its successors appointed from time to time pursuant to the provisions of Articles Five and Ten.

"Agreement" means this agreement, including its recitals and Schedules, as amended, supplemented or restated from time to time.

"Approval Date" means the date when the last Approval Order becomes final, provided there are no material differences in the Approval Orders.

"Approval Orders" means the judgments or orders of the Courts to be granted approving this Agreement as being a good faith, fair, reasonable and adequate settlement of the Class Actions pursuant to the class proceedings legislation in British Columbia, Ontario and Québec.

"Arbitrator" means a person appointed as an arbitrator by the Courts pursuant to the provisions of Article Ten hereof and Article Ten of a Plan.

"Auditors" means the auditors appointed by the Courts and their successors appointed from time to time pursuant to the provisions of Articles Eight and Ten.

"Blood" means Blood as defined in the Transfused HCV Plan or, in relation to hemophiliacs, as defined in the Hemophiliac HCV Plan.

"Business Day" means a day other than a Saturday or a Sunday or a day observed as a holiday under the laws of the Province or Territory in which the person to whom notice is given is situated or the federal laws of Canada applicable in the said Province or Territory.

"Claim" means a claim made and a claim that may be made in the future pursuant to the provisions of a Plan.

"Class Action Counsel" means the respective counsel for each of the Class Action Plaintiffs.

"Class Actions" means, collectively, the British Columbia Transfused Class Action, the Ontario Transfused Class Action (which includes all Class Members as defined in the Transfused HCV Plan who are not included in the British Columbia Transfused Class Action or the Québec Transfused Class Action), the Québec Transfused Class Action, the British Columbia Hemophiliac Class Action, the Ontario Hemophiliac Class Action (which includes all Class Members as defined in the Hemophiliac HCV Plan who are not included in the British Columbia Hemophiliac Class Action or the Québec Hemophiliac Class Action) and the Québec Hemophiliac Class Action.

"Class Members" means, collectively, the Transfused Class Members and the Hemophiliac Class Members.

"Class Period" means the period from and including 1 January 1986 to and including 1 July 1990.

"Contribution Amount" has the meaning set out in Section 1.01 of the Funding Agreement.

"Courts" means, collectively, the Supreme Court of British Columbia, the Superior Court of Justice for Ontario and the Superior Court of Québec.

"CRCS" means The Canadian Red Cross Society and its successors.

"Disbursements" has the meaning set out in Section 1.01 of the Funding Agreement.

"Family Members" means the Family Members as defined in both of the Plans.

"Federal Government" means the government of Canada.

"Fund Counsel" means the counsel appointed by the Courts and its successors appointed from time to time pursuant to the provisions of Articles Seven and Ten.

"Funding Agreement" means an agreement in the form attached hereto as Schedule D.

"HCV" means the Hepatitis C virus.

"Hemophiliac Class Members" means Class Members as defined in the Hemophiliac HCV Plan.

"Hemophiliac HCV Plan" has the meaning set out in Section 3.02.

"HIV" means the human immunodeficiency virus.

"HIV Secondarily-Infected Persons" means persons who are entitled to receive compensation under the Program.

"Investment Advisors" means the investment advisors appointed by the Courts and their successors appointed from time to time pursuant to the provisions of Article Ten.

"Joint Committee" means a committee of four persons comprised of one Class Action Counsel from each of the Transfused Class Actions and one Class Action Counsel from the Hemophiliac Class Actions.

"Parties" means each of the FPT Governments, the British Columbia Transfused Plaintiff, the Ontario Transfused Plaintiffs, the Québec Transfused Plaintiff, the British Columbia Hemophilia Plaintiff, the Ontario Hemophilia Plaintiffs and the Québec Hemophilia Plaintiff.

"Plans" means, collectively, the Hemophiliac HCV Plan and the Transfused HCV Plan.

"Primarily-Infected Person" has the meaning set out in Section 1.01 of the Transfused HCV Plan.

"Primarily-Infected Hemophiliac" has the meaning set out in Section 1.01 of the Hemophiliac HCV Plan.

"Program" means the program described in Schedule C hereto which devolved from the Federal/Provincial/Territorial Assistance Program for HIV Secondarily-Infected Persons announced by the FPT Governments on 15 December 1998.

"Provinces" means, collectively, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Québec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, PEI and Newfoundland.

"Referee" means a person appointed as a referee by the Courts pursuant to the provisions of Article Ten hereof and Article Ten of a Plan.

"Releasees" means, individually and collectively,

each of the FPT Governments,

each of the past, present, and future ministers and employees of each FPT Government,

each of the past and present agents of each FPT Government,

the Canadian Blood Agency,

the Canadian Blood Committee or its members,

each operator of a hospital or health care facility at which a Primarily-Infected Person or Primarily-Infected Hemophiliac received or took Blood, or a HCV Infected Person received treatment, care or advice in any way relating to or arising from the infection of the HCV Infected Person with HCV,

each health caregiver who treated or provided care or advice to a HCV Infected Person in any way relating to or arising from the infection of the HCV Infected Person with HCV, and

any person engaged in the business of collecting, manufacturing, purchasing, processing, supplying or distributing Blood,

including their respective past, present, and future parent, subsidiary and affiliated corporations, employees, agents, officers, directors, shareholders, volunteers, representatives, executors, administrators, successors and assigns. Each of the FPT Governments is a trustee for the purpose of asserting the benefit of the covenants set forth in Section 11.01 for those persons listed in (b) to (h) inclusive and holds the benefit of those covenants on their behalf as well as on its own behalf. For greater certainty, the CRCS is not a Releasee.

"Secondarily-Infected Person" has the meaning set out in Section 1.01 of the Transfused HCV Plan or the Hemophiliac HCV Plan, as applicable.

"Settlement Amount" has the meaning set out in Section 1.01 of the Funding Agreement.

"Term" means the period from and including the Approval Date to the date when this Agreement is terminated pursuant to the provisions of Section 12.03.

"Territories" means, collectively, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and the Yukon Territory.

"Transfused Class Members" means Class Members as defined in the Transfused HCV Plan.

"Transfused HCV Plan" has the meaning set out in Section 3.01.

"Trust" has the meaning set out in Section 1.01 of the Funding Agreement.

"Trust Fund" means the trust fund to be established pursuant to the Funding Agreement.

"Trustee" means the trustee appointed by the Courts and its successors appointed from time to time pursuant to the provisions of Articles Six and Ten.

1.02 Headings (top)

The division of this Agreement into Articles and Sections and the insertion of a table of contents and headings are for convenience of reference only and do not affect the construction or interpretation of this Agreement. The terms "herein", "hereof", "hereunder" and similar expressions refer to this Agreement and not to any particular Article, Section or other portion hereof. Unless something in the subject matter or context is inconsistent therewith, references herein to Articles, Sections and Schedules are to Articles, Sections and Schedules of this Agreement.

1.03 Extended Meanings (top)

In this Agreement words importing the singular number include the plural and vice versa, words importing any gender include all genders and words importing persons include individuals, partnerships, associations, trusts, unincorporated organizations, corporations and governmental authorities. The term "including" means "including without limiting the generality of the foregoing".

1.04 No Contra Proferentem (top)

The Parties acknowledge that their respective legal counsel have reviewed and participated in settling the terms of this Agreement and they agree that any rule of construction to the effect that any ambiguity is to be resolved against the drafting party is not applicable in interpreting this Agreement.

1.05 Statutory References (top)

In this Agreement, unless something in the subject matter or context is inconsistent therewith or unless otherwise herein provided, a reference to any statute is to that statute as enacted on the date hereof or as the same may from time to time be amended, re-enacted or replaced and includes any regulations made thereunder.

1.06 Day for any Action (top)

If any day on or by which any action required to be taken hereunder is not a Business Day, such action must be taken on or by the next succeeding day which is a Business Day.

1.07 Final Order (top)

For the purposes of this Agreement a judgment or order becomes final when the time for appealing or seeking leave to appeal the judgment or order has expired without an appeal being taken or leave to appeal being sought or, in the event that an appeal is taken or leave to appeal is sought, when such appeal or leave to appeal and such further appeals as may be taken have been disposed of and the time for further appeal, if any, has expired.

1.08 Currency (top)

All references to currency herein are to lawful money of Canada.

1.09 Schedules (top)

The following are the Schedules to this Agreement:

Schedule A - Transfused HCV Plan;

Schedule B - Hemophiliac HCV Plan;

Schedule C - Program;

Schedule D - Funding Agreement; and

Schedule E - Social Benefits Legislation.

1.10 Obligations of the FPT Governments (top)

It is understood that the FPT Governments will not have any obligations relating to the ongoing operations of the Plans except for their obligations as set out in Article Four of this Agreement and in the Funding Agreement.

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