A Green Shirt Day parade inspired by the legacy of Humboldt Broncos defenceman Logan Boulet is set for Sunday in Calgary, the southern Alberta branch of The Kidney Foundation of Canada says.
Since 2019, April 7 has come to be known in Canada as Green Shirt Day to support organ donor registration. Led by Boulet’s parents and the Canadian Transplant Association, the campaign urges registrants to discuss their decision with family.
Boulet, who was among 16 people killed when a truck struck his junior hockey team’s bus on a highway north of Tisdale, Sask, decided to donate five weeks earlier. His organs were donated when he died in hospital on April 7, 2018.
Since news spread of his donations, the Logan Boulet Effect has inspired thousands of Canadians to become organ donors.
Joyce Van Deurzen, the executive director of The Kidney Foundation of Canada for southern Alberta and Saskatchewan, says the parade is to honour organ donors and to get people talking about organ donation as a community.
“We’re going to have a little foot parade downtown, on Memorial Drive, and bring together everybody who cares about this cause to just spend an hour or two together honouring organ donors, giving hope to the people who are on the transplant, waiting list, and encouragement that though those organs will come for them in time,” she told CityNews.
“We want to remember [Boulet]. We want to celebrate all organ donors, and really give hope to people by coming together for this cause.”
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The Canadian Transplant Association (CTA) says around 4,500 people are on a transplant waitlist, and that there are not enough organs.
Van Deurzen says around 250 people die waiting for life-saving organs every year on average.
Of those waiting for a transplant, 73 per cent are waiting for a kidney, and wait times can range from a few months to several years.
“Every year, a couple of 100 people die waiting. They didn’t get that transplant in time. So we want to change that,” she said.
The foundation says 90 per cent of Canadians would be willing to be an organ donor, but less than half have taken action, which includes registering and talking with family.
It states one organ donor can save upwards of eight lives and tissues can save or improve up to 75 lives.
Van Deurzen says people can become eligible donors by going through testing.
“We just want people to think about it. Take Action, cheer everybody on who has made the decision and share that decision with their families,” she said.
Residents of all provinces can now register online to become organ donors through their transplant association.
The two-kilometre walk happens at 10 a.m. at Memorial Drive NW Calgary Parking Lot 59 on the north side of the Bow River Pathway Bridge near Prince’s Island Park.
More information can be found online.
With files from Lisa Grant and The Canadian Press