In 2021, Nova Scotia became the first jurisdiction in North America to introduce a policy automatically designating all adults as organ donors upon death, unless they had opted out of the program when they were alive. The idea is called presumed consent, and four years after its implementation in Nova Scotia, the law has led to a significant surge in organ donations . "It's been incredibly successful," said Dr.
Stephen Beed, medical director of Nova Scotia's organ and tissue donation program, in an interview with CBC News. "We have just about doubled our donation rate and we expect to have somewhere in the 35, maybe even approaching 40 donors per million rate at a time when most of Canada would be in the high teens or the low 20s." New Brunswick also moved to adopt a presumed consent policy in 2023, known as Avery's Law , which is expected to be implemented in 2025.
Despite other provinces moving forward with this policy that has proven successful, Quebec has repeatedly been told it isn't ready to take that step . Less than 3% of Nova Scotians have opted out of being organ donors This week, an all-party committee at the National Assembly recommended that Quebec shelve the idea as the province prepares to table a new bill to facilitate the organ donation process. "There are really base elements that we need to improve [before having] that discussion about presumed consent," said Catherine Blouin, a committee member and the parliamentary assistant to the health minister.
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