Mr. Speaker, this week has been declared National Organ and Tissue Awareness Week. We are told that more than 4,000 Canadians are currently awaiting transplants hoping for a call that a match has been made for their medical need.
In January George Marcello, whose own life was spared with a liver transplant, visited the Miramichi area on a 769 day walk across Canada to acknowledge his gift and raise awareness of the need for all of us to consider the importance of signing a donor card.
Last December two young Miramichi men, Jeff Matchett and Yannick DeGrace, were involved in an auto accident on the highway between Edmunston and Rivière-du-Loup. Mr. Matchett died at the scene and Mr. DeGrace the following day of his serious head injuries.
Yannick's family made the courageous decision to donate his organs, and to date six people have benefited. The DeGrace family who lost their son, a competitive athlete who played in the professional hockey league of the Philadelphia Flyers organization, can take solace in the fact that six Canadians have received a new lease on life because they signed an organ donor card.
Canada has highly skilled surgeons and some of the finest transplant technology in the world. Yet we have one of the lowest donation rates in the western world.
I urge all Canadians to consider the significance of signing an organ donor card.