moved for leave to introduce Bill C-369, An Act to establish the National Organ Donor Registry and to coordinate and promote organ donation throughout Canada.
Mr. Speaker, I think all members of the House understand the severe nature of the lack of organ donation in this country. We really need a national registry to ensure that folks who are waiting for an organ transplant will actually receive it and not lose that opportunity based on the fact that they did not know a donor was available for them because of the lack of a registry.
It is very difficult, obviously, for those families affected to make those decisions, especially the parents of young children. However, when they finally make the decision to do it, it is extremely troubling to know, at the end of all that process, that the transplant did not take place because no one knew the organ was available. That organ could have been used by another young person at that time, perhaps to continue living.
We need a national registry to ensure that all organs being willingly donated will actually find recipients and that both parties, the party that has made the sacrifice and the recipient, will be matched up and we will have a fruitful conclusion to a sad situation in one family's life and a positive one for the other.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)
