Organ Donor Registry Act

An Act to establish the National Organ Donor Registry and to coordinate and promote organ donation throughout Canada

This bill was last introduced in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session, which ended in March 2011.

This bill was previously introduced in the 40th Parliament, 2nd Session.

Sponsor

Malcolm Allen  NDP

Introduced as a private member’s bill. (These don’t often become law.)

Status

Outside the Order of Precedence (a private member's bill that hasn't yet won the draw that determines which private member's bills can be debated), as of April 23, 2009
(This bill did not become law.)

Summary

This is from the published bill. The Library of Parliament often publishes better independent summaries.

The purpose of this enactment is to establish the National Organ Donor Registry. The Registry may consist of a system that links existing data and may be partly or entirely in electronic form. The Registry is to be administered by a chief executive officer known as the Registrar of Organ Donors.
The enactment requires the Registrar to consult with the provinces in order to bring about sufficient conformity in provincial human organ donation legislation to allow the Registry to operate.
The Minister may enter into agreements with the provinces to allow them to participate in the program being established by this enactment if they have sufficiently conforming legislation. The enactment provides for confidentiality and mandates an annual report.
The enactment will facilitate the establishment of a national information exchange on organ donation between provinces.

Elsewhere

All sorts of information on this bill is available at LEGISinfo, an excellent resource from the Library of Parliament. You can also read the full text of the bill.

Organ Donor Registry ActRoutine Proceedings

April 23rd, 2009 / 10:10 a.m.
See context

NDP

Malcolm Allen NDP Welland, ON

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)