Join us for Green Shirt Day and National Organ & Tissue Donation Awareness Week

Join us in celebrating the second annual Green Shirt Day on April 7. During these uncertain times, it's important to remember there are 4,400 Canadians still waiting for a life-saving transplant. We encourage everyone to register their wish to become an organ donor and to have the kitchen-table talk with your family about your decision, so they can help fulfill your wishes.  

This year, National Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Week takes place this year from April 19 to 25. NOTDAW, which takes place annually the third full week of April, celebrates living and deceased organ and tissue donors and strives to raise awareness about the critical need facing patients in need of transplant.  

Show your support for Green Shirt Day and National Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Week:   

• Wear green on April 7 in honour of Logan Boulet and the Logan Boulet Effect.  
• Register to become an organ donor. If you are already registered, share your decision with your family and encourage others to register as well.  
• Spread the word on social. Encourage others to become organ and tissue donors by spreading awareness online using the hashtags whenever possible: #GreenShirtDay #LoganBouletEffect #NOTDAW #OrgansTissuesForLife #CanadasLifeline   
• Visit blood.ca/organs-tissues to learn more about organ and tissue donation for transplantation and how you can a make difference.  
• Share messages on social media with resources from our handy toolkit.

Approximately 4,400 Canadians require a lifesaving organ or tissue transplant and each year an average of 250 patients die waiting. With your support, we hope to make a lifesaving difference by spreading awareness of organ and tissue donation.  

About Green Shirt Day

The Canada-wide Green Shirt Day honours the legacy of Logan Boulet following the tragic Humboldt Broncos bus crash in Saskatchewan. On April 6, 2018, the tragedy moved and united us as a nation. The details of this tragic event had an unprecedented impact.  

Logan’s decision to register as an organ donor, and his family honouring his wishes, saved lives. Logan was able to donate his heart, lungs, liver, both kidneys and both corneas, saving six lives with his organs, and helping two more with his corneas. His generous final act inspired nearly 150,000 donor registrations across Canada shortly thereafter, which became known as the Logan Boulet Effect.  

Show your support by wearing green on April 7 in honour of Logan’s legacy and register your decision to donate online at blood.ca/organs-tissues.  

About National Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Week

Bill C-202, enacting National Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Week (NOTDAW) in Canada was passed unanimously by the Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science, and Technology on Feb. 4, 1997. The bill was brought forward by former Liberal Member of Parliament Dan McTeague. The last full week of April was chosen to mark the occasion and to commemorate the death of Stuart Herriott, a toddler killed in a motor vehicle incident in McTeague’s riding of Pickering-Scarborough East. Parents of two-and-a-half-year-old Stuart donated his organs and, in turn, helped to save and improve the lives of four others.  

With your help, we hope to encourage Canadians across the country to register their decision to become organ and tissue donors and share that decision with their family.