Logan Boulet was just 21 years old when tragedy struck on April 6, 2018. His bus crashed off a Saskatchewan highway, claiming his life far too soon. He had registered as an organ donor only months before having been inspired by his hockey mentor, Ric Suggitt. After Logan died, his organs saved six lives. Within weeks, nearly 150,000 Canadians had registered as donors. Logan’s life was brief, but his legacy endures.
That’s what organ donation can do. It can extend life and reshape how an entire country thinks about death, generosity, and what we leave behind.
However, checking that box when renewing your driver’s license or filing your taxes isn’t always enough.
The Registration Gap Nobody Talks About
Almost 90% of Canadians say they support organ donation. Only about 32% have actually registered. That gap alone costs roughly 250 Canadians lives each year. In 2024, over 3,200 organ transplants were performed nationwide. At year’s end, more than 4,000 people were still waiting. And 691 were removed from those lists; most because an organ didn’t come in time.
Even among people who do register, 20–25% ultimately don’t become donors. Often, it’s because their family overrules the decision in the moments after death, when grief is fresh and certainty feels impossible.
“Having conversations ahead of time can make all the difference. It allows families to act with confidence, and helps healthcare teams support everyone’s wishes with respect and empathy,” says Vancouver (Burrard)’s Family Physician, Dr. Alison MacMillan, who is also the sister of an organ donor. Her brother not only registered but also told his family of his wishes. So, when he sadly passed in 2015, there was no debate or anguish over what he would have wanted. His family knew, and she says that clarity became an unexpected form of comfort.
“Loss is never easy. But honouring my brother’s desire made his passing meaningful. We knew exactly what to do because he’d talked with us. Our decision was guided by love and certainty.”
The Conversation That Actually Saves Lives
Most people avoid talking about death, especially their own. It’s the kind of conversation we keep postponing until it doesn’t feel so morbid, or until something forces the issue.
But the data is clear: the families who’ve had that conversation are the ones who can follow through.
Dr. MacMillan describes what happens in hospitals when families haven’t talked: a room full of people who love the same person, each carrying their own grief, trying to guess what that person would have wanted. “Having that conversation in advance gives your family the clarity they need,” she says, “and gives you the peace of mind that your legacy will be honoured.”
Green Shirt Day, observed every April 7 in Logan Boulet’s memory, is designed specifically to start those conversations. In 2019, the day inspired another 100,000 registrations. Researchers estimate that every new registrant talks to around four other people about donation. The ripple effect is real and measurable.
You can register and learn more at GreenShirtDay.ca.
Who’s Waiting
Knowing who is waiting for an organ donation, and why, transforms a theoretical good deed into a tangible, urgent need. It’s about real people whose lives hang in the balance.
People with kidney failure, often caused by diabetes or high blood pressure, need transplants because dialysis, while life-sustaining, isn’t a permanent solution. Children with congenital heart defects may have waited their entire short lives for a size-appropriate organ. Adults with cystic fibrosis or polycystic kidney disease face a slow, progressive decline that a transplant could interrupt. Patients with sudden liver failure from infection sometimes have days, not months.
Rare blood types and unusual medical profiles can stretch waiting times even further. For patients awaiting hearts, livers, or lungs, there is often no machine to keep them alive while they wait.
The Five Most Common Transplants in Canada (2024)
| Transplant Type | Share of All Transplants |
|---|---|
| Kidney | 58% |
| Liver | 20% |
| Lung | 13% |
| Heart | 5% |
| Pancreas / Combination | 4% |
Source: CIHI, 2024 Summary Statistics
Kidney transplants from living donors have a five-year survival rate above 88%. Heart, liver, and pancreas transplants all exceed 80% at five years. Even lung transplants, among the most complex, now approach a 67% five-year survival rate, a number that has climbed steadily as surgical techniques improve.
A newer development worth noting: 5% of all 2024 transplants followed medical assistance in dying (MAID). Evolving guidelines now allow more donors than before, including those who might once have been considered ineligible due to age or complex medical history.
Three Myths Worth Retiring
Myth 1: My age or health condition rules me out.
There’s no strict age limit, and most health conditions don’t automatically disqualify anyone. Suitability is assessed at the time of death, based on the actual condition of each organ, not assumptions made years earlier. In fact, Canada’s oldest organ donor was over 90.
Myth 2: Doctors won’t try as hard to save me if I’m registered.
Medical teams are legally and ethically obligated to do everything possible to save your life. Organ donation only comes into consideration after death has been declared and all interventions have been exhausted.
Myth 3: Only hearts and kidneys count.
Organs get the headlines, but tissue donation including corneas, skin, bone, heart valves, quietly transforms lives too. A single donor can help more than 75 people.
What You Leave Behind
The MacMillan family learned something in the months after losing their loved one: grief doesn’t disappear when organ donation follows death, but it can take on a different shape. The knowledge that his organs were helping others, that something of him continued, didn’t erase their loss. It gave it a kind of meaning that purely private grief rarely offers.
“Learning that my brother’s donation helped others turned an impossibly painful moment into a source of hope for us. It reminded us that even in loss, kindness lives on.”
Organ donation is anonymous in Canada, but donor families receive updates about the impact of their loved one’s gift. That information, that a stranger’s eyesight was restored, that a child received a heart, has carried families through some of their hardest days. Registration is simple: you can do it online through your provincial registry or at GreenShirtDay.ca in minutes. The harder, and more important, step is telling the people you love. Not the checkbox. The conversation.
On April 7, wear green, and help move the conversation.
