The haz-mat team investigated a report of a suspicious package in Winnipeg on Thursday.
The Canadian Blood Services building on William Avenue was evacuated after letters containing a suspicious substance were discovered shortly before noon Thursday.
"Someone opened the envelope and within that envelope there was a powder like substance so they immediately put it down and called 911 and had us mitigate the situation,” said Capt. Luc Caron of the Winnipeg fire department.
It took just a matter of minutes for the haz-mat team to assess the package and bring it out of the building.
A similar incident happened at the Canadian Blood Services in Edmonton Tuesday.
That package turned out to contain granulated sugar.
Canadian Blood Services issued a release Thursday afternoon about the incident in Winnipeg.
“Canadian Blood Services briefly closed its Winnipeg Centre this afternoon after packages containing mysterious substances were received by mail,” it said.
“Police were contacted and after further investigation, it was determined that the substances were not harmful and that it was safe to re-enter the building. The local centre was closed for approximately 15 minutes and then re-opened. The organization is contacting donors who were unable to give today due to this incident, so that they can reschedule their appointments,” it said.
“Canadian Blood Services takes the safety of patients, donors, volunteers and employees very seriously and is taking all necessary steps to monitor the situation. The incident is being further investigated by police.”
Another incident was also reported at their office in Calgary on Thursday.
The organization has posted a video about the three incidents on its website.
