Health Committee on Feb. 26th, 2026

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Welcome to meeting number 23 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health.

We acknowledge that we are meeting on the unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe peoples.

Today's meeting is taking place in a hybrid format according to the Standing Orders.

I want to remind everyone about the usual housekeeping things, one of which is to wait until I recognize you by name before speaking. For those participating by video conference, click on the microphone icon to activate your mic, and please press mute when you are not speaking. At the bottom of the screen, you will select the appropriate channel for interpretation: floor, English or French. I will remind you that all comments should be addressed through the chair. For members in the room, obviously, if you wish to speak, raise your hand. It's first come, first served if both the clerk and I recognize you first.

We are ready to move into the orders of the day, which are that pursuant to the order of reference by the House on Thursday, December 11, 2025, the committee shall commence the clause-by-clause consideration of Bill C-234, an act respecting the establishment and award of a living donor recognition medal.

I would like to welcome our witnesses. I'd love to welcome the sponsor of the bill, Mr. Ziad Aboultaif.

It's a great bill, Ziad.

We also have, as an individual and online, Mr. Christopher McCreery, author and historian.

Mr. Aboultaif, you have five minutes to explain your bill and then, of course, we'll be subject to a question and answer period after that.

Mr. McCreery, you also have five minutes to present. I will give you a literal shout-out when there is one minute left, so you can wrap up and finish and I don't have to cut you off in mid-sentence.

Welcome, and please begin, Mr. Aboultaif.

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

Thank you, Chair and colleagues. Thank you for the opportunity to appear today to discuss my private member's bill, Bill C-234.

I would first like to thank the members of this committee for their incredible support for this initiative and previous efforts to improve Canada's organ and tissue donation systems.

I would like to thank the five members of this committee, including the chair, who have taken the extra step and signed up as official seconders of Bill C-234. Your seconding of this bill has sent a strong message to our colleagues in the House and undoubtedly helped get unanimous approval from this committee. I will also note that this bill is seconded by members from all provinces across Canada.

Before continuing, I just want to make a few comments that I had intended to make at second reading but was not able to because the bill passed unanimously before I could rise. It was a situation I did not anticipate, but I'm thankful for it.

As you all know, I donated part of my liver to save the life of my son Tyler, but he also had another life-saving transplant. During debate in the House, a member of the Bloc Québécois expressed great pride in the organ donation system in Quebec. Not many people know that Tyler needed more than my transplant to survive to today, but he did. That life-saving donation came from Quebec. My family will be forever grateful to the anonymous Quebecker who selflessly gave my son Tyler another chance at life.

I look forward to the day when Canada will have a living donor recognition medal. As so many have pointed out, the medal would be an opportunity to increase education and awareness of the power of living donation. It would save lives.

This is why we think it is absolutely critical that the medal come with its own post-nominals. The post-nominals would be a lasting, visible reminder to all Canadians, long after the medal award ceremonies were over. Post-nominals offer the opportunity to reopen the discussion about living donation over and over and will help achieve our goal of education and awareness.

Again, I thank members from all parties for their incredible support and encouragement. Their ability to put partisan politics aside and do the right thing for Canadians helped restore my faith in this place.

I also want to especially thank Minister Dominic LeBlanc. It is well known that he is with us today because of another type of living donation. He received a stem cell transplant from a young German, Jonathan Kehl. This selfless donation saved the minister from certain death. The minister, also the President of the King’s Privy Council for Canada, has made it very clear that he strongly supports this initiative, and I'm truly thankful for his personal support.

Since second reading, we have worked closely together on amendments to my bill in a full, open and transparent way. The amendments take input from those who would be responsible for its implementation and have been brought forward to ensure that the bill achieves its goal as smoothly as possible. In particular, I would like to thank Joel Girouard, senior Privy Council officer, and all the officials of the Privy Council Office, the Office of the Governor General and the Department of Justice for their work on the amendments proposed today.

In addition, through this process, it's become abundantly clear that this was a unique opportunity to recognize the blood donors who give the gift of life. Throughout the discussions over these amendments, there was a clear understanding that we want a threshold that is attainable but at the same time available only to those with a very significant and sustained donation history. We're talking about those who made a huge, generational commitment to saving others. Let's understand that the number of blood donors at this level is extremely worthy of recognition.

As we know, a donor is someone who donates without compensation for that donation. They give of their own free will. Anyone who receives compensation for donation should not be eligible for recognition.

Without going into each amendment, I can assure you that I have carefully reviewed them and welcomed them all as friendly amendments. While I understand the responsibility of this committee and the purpose of this review process, as a fellow member of Parliament, I'm also satisfied that certain scrutiny is not warranted and would welcome any effort to expedite the clause-by-clause process to accept these amendments as proposed.

I can honestly say that the minister, ably assisted by his director of parliamentary affairs and issues management, Émilie Simard, has provided answers to any questions I have had, has made thoughtful and constructive suggestions and has demonstrated a passion and excitement for this legislation at every step of the way.

It has been a wonderful experience, and I look forward to working with them as the bill progresses. Again, I'm truly thankful for the support of my colleagues. I can't wait for this bill to return to the House for third reading as quickly as possible.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you, Mr. Aboultaif.

Now I want to go to Mr. McCreery for five minutes, please.

[Christopher McCreery, Author and Historian, As an Individual]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I appreciate this opportunity to speak today.

I'm here as an individual, not in my role as private secretary to the Honourable Mike Savage, Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia, or as a Nova Scotian public servant.

My doctorate focused on the development of the Canadian honours system, and I've spent the last 30 years researching and writing about the origins, history and development of our honours policy and the system overall.

I've published 10 books related to Canadian honours and served as adviser to the Privy Council Office, the Office of the Secretary to the Governor General, Britain's Cabinet Office and numerous provinces.

Understandably, I have followed the progress of your bill with great interest, not just as it relates to the honours system but because a very dear friend of mine, Laurie Anderson, was the recipient of a heart transplant a number of years ago. Through her experience, I've gained at least a peripheral understanding of the importance of organ and tissue donation to the well-being of our fellow Canadians. I've seen it first-hand.

The goal of encouraging greater public knowledge of the importance of donation and the desire to increase such gifts is laudable. No one can argue with the encouragement of exemplary citizenship through blood and tissue donation. That said, the concept of creating a national honour to recognize blood and tissue donation does not fit into any part of the existing Canadian honours system.

At present, there are only a handful of countries with a specific honour that recognizes blood or tissue donations, notably the Russian Federation, the People's Republic of China, Saudi Arabia, Monaco and Luxembourg. Héma-Québec and Canadian Blood Services each have extensive donor reward programs, while St. John Ambulance in Canada has a national organ donor recognition award that is given to both living and deceased donors. None of our Commonwealth cousins, with whom we share so much of our honours traditions, nor France, another country from which we inherit significant elements of our honours system, has blood or tissue donor medals.

Nevertheless, reading your deliberations and sensing the unanimity among honourable members, it seems inevitable that this bill will pass and will be sent off to the Senate in short order, so I will limit my remaining comments to how you can improve the bill.

I will start with what I think is the most difficult and objectionable aspect of the bill. The inclusion of post-nominals with the proposed medal is highly problematic. Post-nominals have hitherto been reserved for orders and decorations, such honours as the Order of Canada, the Star of Courage and the Order of Military Merit, to name but a few. They have never been associated with a medal for service or volunteerism.

The inclusion of post-nominals for this medal will be highly offensive to some veterans and current members of the Canadian Armed Forces, notably those members of the CAF who were awarded the Sacrifice Medal. The Sacrifice Medal is awarded to CAF members who have served in war or combat-like situations, such as Afghanistan, where Canadians were killed or physically maimed, lost limbs or were mentally affected with PTSD. In recognition of their service, sacrifice and suffering, they were awarded the Sacrifice Medal, which is a medal with no post-nominals. These are people who answered what I would say is the highest call the country can ask of its citizens. You cannot compare voluntary blood donation or tissue donation with the loss of life or limb or permanent mental health issues caused by military service, so the provision to include post-nominals should be stripped.

There are also other elements of the bill that are incongruous with our existing honours system. With reference to clause 3, Canadian honours are normally established by letters patent under the Great Seal of Canada and approved by the Sovereign, as the Crown has been the font of all honours since the time of New France and Acadia.

The administration of honours is usually done by the Office of the Secretary to the Governor General, with no minister responsible for individual programs. The Prime Minister has responsibility for overall honours policy at the highest level but does not select recipients or become involved in the administration of honours. It should be left to the Governor in Council to set the criteria for the medal, and it should not be embedded in this act.

It is highly unusual for ministers of the Crown to be involved in the setting of criteria for national honours. Indeed, when our entire honours system was set in place in 1967, it was set up to be placed at arm's length from such involvement.

With reference to subclause 6(1), the medal should not be awarded by the Governor in Council—that is, it should not be awarded on the advice of ministers of the Crown. It should be conferred by an instrument signed by the Governor General, as is the case for all other honours. This was the precedent set by Lester Pearson when he was prime minister. He wanted to insulate the nomination and honours process from partisan involvement or the perception of it.

Subclause 6(3) excludes MPs and senators from receiving the medal. Again, the only honour we have that excludes such people is the Order of Canada. You are eligible for every other honour in the system. There is no reason to exclude you from being eligible for this if you're a donor.

Clause 7, which mandates public ceremonies, should be removed. No national honour in Canada mandates public ceremonies. Many people wish to receive their honours privately. Having the medal presented by MPs and senators could also be problematic, in the sense that it could be seen as a partisan gift. I know many of you recently presented the coronation medal, but that's a medal for which you had direct nominations.

Clauses 10 and 11, where you're mandating reports, is again already covered off by the Office of the Secretary to the Governor General through its Treasury Board-mandated annual reports.

To me, the simplest way forward would be to change the regulations related to the Sovereign's Medal for Volunteers, create a separate ribbon and have that awarded for voluntary blood and tissue donation.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you, Mr. McCreery. You've gone over time. You can speak up if someone asks you a question. Thank you.

[Christopher McCreery]

Certainly. You're welcome, and thank you for your indulgence.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Before I go to the question and answer section, I want to provide members of the committee with a few comments on how committees proceed with clause-by-clause consideration of a bill.

As the term indicates, this is an examination of all the clauses in a bill in the order in which they appear in the bill. We go in order; we don't jump. We go clause by clause, starting with the first clause and moving onward.

I will call each clause successively, and each clause is subject to debate, a vote and/or an amendment. If there is an amendment to the clause in question, I will recognize the member proposing it, who may explain it. The amendment will then be open for debate. When there are no further members who wish to intervene, as in all debates, the amendment will be voted on.

Amendments will be considered in the order in which they appear in the package each member received from the clerk. Each amendment has been given a number in the top right-hand corner, if you look at your amendments package, to indicate which party submitted it.

During debate on an amendment, members are permitted to move subamendments. Only one subamendment may be considered at a time.

All of you have your papers in front of you so you can follow along through this, so I'm going to begin now.

Let's go to questions and answers before we go to clause-by-clause. I just wanted to let you prep all your papers in front of you for when we get to that point, so you're ready to go.

We're going to do one round of questioning with six minutes for each party, and I will begin with Mr. Mazier for the Conservatives.

You have six minutes, please.

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Riding Mountain, MB]

Thank you, Chair.

Welcome, Ziad.

This is a great bill. I still remember the day you sat down with me and went through your paces and told me your very personal story, as you indicated in your opening remarks. Thank you for bringing this legislation forward. I know we definitely went to bat for you, and it was fully supported throughout the whole House, so good for you.

Your courage as a living donor is truly inspirational, so thank you for that.

Your bill would create a living donor recognition medal to honour the Canadians who have donated an organ to save another person's life, and that is quite profound, as you've shared. Right now, there are over 4,000 Canadians on waiting lists to receive an organ transplant.

This medal is about recognition, but I think it will also inspire more Canadians to donate an organ and, therefore, reduce waiting lists for transplants.

Would you agree with that?

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

Absolutely. Thank you for the question, and thanks for your support.

Yes, the intent behind the bill is to encourage more Canadians to come forward and donate to save more lives, and not just to make the life of an individual better but to make the community better as well.

There's also a sense of unity across Canada. When my son received a life-saving organ from Quebec at the last minute, it was on Christmas Eve, and there was a snowstorm. You can only imagine the feeling of that gift coming to the province of Alberta and all the way to Edmonton.

That's the intent of the bill, and that's why I came up with it.

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Riding Mountain, MB]

Thank you.

I'll cede my time to Ms. Konanz.

[Helena Konanz, Conservative, Similkameen—South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Mazier.

Thank you, Ziad, for bringing this forward. I was proud to second it, and I want to thank you for telling your story, which I think really affected everyone in the House who heard it.

What you did encourages others to become living donors and also teaches all of us about the process. I know I learned a lot from seconding this bill, listening to your story and listening to the others who spoke to it.

Also, as a new member, I want to say that it was really nice to see all parties come together and agree on something so wholeheartedly. It was really encouraging for me as a new member.

Since you're the expert on this now, I wanted to ask you this: How does our country compare with other countries in the donation of organs? This seems like a necessary thing to do. Why is it necessary? I think I heard there are 4,000 on the waiting list. How do we compare to other countries per capita?

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

The number of people waiting is not coming down, especially in the kidney area. I introduced another bill in 2016, Bill C-223, to establish a national registry for organ and tissue donations. The bill did not make it through second reading to committee. It was more complicated than this one, and the urgency was on the lack of donations.

When the organ is coming from a living donor, that is a much easier process, because you know what you're dealing with. It gives the health care system enough opportunities and time to examine the body and to understand. The likelihood of the organs surviving and living in recipients' bodies is much higher, as is the safety of both sides through the whole process of preparation.

That's why, as the population in Canada grows, the numbers are not really improving. We need to do more, because that helps everything—all the steps, in all the ways and in all directions—and makes a huge difference in the lives of all Canadians.

[Helena Konanz, Conservative, Similkameen—South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC]

That sounds great. We are setting up a reward system here, which is great—anything to get this moving and happening.

It's not necessarily a Canadian thing and just Canadians who are resisting it. Around the world, it's difficult to get organ donors, I imagine.

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

Yes, it's an international problem. Every country has its own challenges when it comes to that.

We do have pride in our health care system. I believe that we could do better if we had more awareness. Our situation as a family has taught a huge community around us about the importance of this. A lot of people were not aware that you can donate part of your liver to a relative, to a friend or even to someone you don't know.

[Helena Konanz, Conservative, Similkameen—South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC]

Thank you. I'm going to cede my remaining time to MP Bailey.

[Burton Bailey, Conservative, Red Deer, AB]

Thank you to my honourable colleague.

I want to thank you for your—

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Riding Mountain, MB]

I have a point of order.

I apologize. I did not answer my phone, but I was under the impression that we would at least go through the first round for six minutes and then—

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

We are doing that, Mr. Mazier.

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Riding Mountain, MB]

Okay. Are we going to get a second round to do some cleanup?

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

I'll have to ask.

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Riding Mountain, MB]

I'll ask the committee right now.

Can we make sure that after the next round there is time if we have any more questions?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Riding Mountain, MB]

Okay, thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

You have 30 seconds. Go ahead, Mr. Bailey.

[Burton Bailey, Conservative, Red Deer, AB]

Again, I wanted to thank my honourable colleague. I really believe that what you have proposed is going to create awareness and help people understand the importance of signing the backs of their driver's licences or whatever each province requires to become an organ donor.

In my life as a funeral director, I worked very closely with the cornea donation program at the funeral home, so I'm very familiar with organ donation, and I think recognition for living donors is very important.

Thank you for your work.