While critics blast the new national organ donation proposal as inadequate, a prominent organ donor activist says it may be far from perfect, but it's an important first step towards building a vital national agency.
Canadian Blood Services has been given $35 million over five years by federal, provincial and territorial governments to create a national system. Only Quebec is not participating.
Emile Therien, an organ donation advocate and former president of the Canada Safety Council, told CTV's Canada AM that at the very least it should expand the pool of donors.
"I think Canadian Blood Services is the right agency to really absorb this national thing, we do need a national agency one way or the other," Therien says. "It may not be perfect, but if you look at the face of it, it certainly expands your pools of potential donors and that's extremely important."
Therien and other critics had hoped that Canada would follow countries like the U.S., Britain and Australia in creating an independent agency.
Despite that fact that the non-profit organization has experience with the complexities of managing a national information system, there are strong concerns about co-operation from provincial organizations, how the new system will be administered and the level of funding.
In recent years, Australia committed $150 million to organ donation, while $200 million was announced in the U.K., according to reports.
The new arrangement merges the Canadian Council for Donation and Transplantation with Canadian Blood Services, and is expected to include the creation of three national registries, according to a press release.
The registries, a collaboration between the provinces and Canadian Blood Services, are expected to help more quickly match donors and patients across the country.
Therien says provinces have been calling for this kind of system for a long time, but its success will depend on what the provinces, and Canadians themselves, are willing to contribute.
"Talking beats not talking, lets put it this way, and we're looking at the integrity of these databases, and that's extremely important. We like to think people have a very common concern with lack of organ donation in this country, and we can do something about it if we put our minds and hearts into it."
Therien, whose daughter's organs were donated after she died of sudden cardiac arrest, has also been encouraging the acceptance of organs from patients who die of heart failure to further expand the number of available donations.
