April 8, 2024
April is “Be A Donor” Month
QUEEN’S PARK – France Gélinas, MPP for Nickel Belt rose in the legislature to make a statement recognizing the arrival of April as ‘’BeADonor’’ month.
“April is “BeADonor” month a month dedicated to raising awareness about organ and tissue donation. The Trillium Gift of Life Network states 90% of Ontarians want to be a donor but only 35% have registered. Right now, about 1,400 Ontarians are waiting for a life-saving organ and sadly every 3 days someone dies waiting for an organ.
Three years ago, Nova Scotia implemented an organ donation system where all Nova Scotians are considered donors, unless they opt out. The first year saw an increase of 40% in tissue donations and numbers continue to increase. Ontario is ready for this speaker. I have tabled the ‘’Savings Organs to Save Lives bill’’ in memory of Peter Kormos, 6 times. There is no opposition to it, let’s get it done!
But until it happens, I want to thank every Ontarian who has registered to be a donor and saved lives. I want to thank my constituent Richard St-Amour, his work helped Nickel Belt achieve 57% registration to Be A Donor.
Yesterday, April 7th, was green shirt day. Logan Boulet’s organs donation inspired 100,000 Canadians to register as donors. Logan died in the tragic Humboldt Brocos junior hockey team bus crash, in Saskatchewan. We wear green to recognize Logan and all the donors who have given and saved lives.
Last year in Ontario 365 deceased donors gave the gift of life, leading to 1,152 organ transplants. The lives of thousands were improved thanks to 1,853 tissue donors.”