2024 Green Shirt Day campaign hoping to inspire 100K people to become organ donors

The 2024 Green Shirt Day campaign hopes to encourage 100,000 people to register to become organ donors.

LETHBRIDGE, ALTA. — With more than 4,000 Canadians currently waiting for an organ transplant, the Green Shirt Day campaign is hoping to lower those numbers and inspire more people to sign their organ donor cards.

This year marks the sixth annual Green Shirt Day in honour of Logan Boulet, one of 16 people killed in the Humboldt Broncos bus crash on April 6, 2018.

His parents, Bernie and Toby Boulet, are happy Logan’s legacy has made such an impact.

“It was our story and then we realized how much it has impacted so many people and how it has impacted across Canada and across the world just to know that people are getting closer to a donation because of other people registering,” said Bernie.

Shortly before the crash, on his 21st birthday, Logan signed his organ donor card to honour his mentor and University of Lethbridge rugby coach Ric Suggitt, who died in 2017.

It would be a decision that helped save the lives of six people and ignite the Logan Boulet effect.

The movement inspired nearly 150,000 people across Canada to register as organ donors in the two months following the crash. This year’s campaign hopes to encourage another 100,000 people to register.

“We know that in a time of tragedy, a time in when you're having to make that decision you may not want to make that decision because you don't know what your angel person has wanted to do so it’s the fact that you've had that conversation with family that they know what your wishes are,” Bernie said.

Jan Clemis knows the importance of organ donations first-hand.

In 2014, her late husband had a double lung transplant and in 2018 her son, Blair, donated his kidney to her.

“Organ donation is very generational in that respect that we save lives that go on for decades and decades to influence other family members and live their best life and contribute,” Clemis said.

This year's campaign launch features a new logo and Blackfoot name designed by artist Dr. Hali Heavy Shield.

Following the crash, members of the Waywayseecappo First Nation in Manitoba gifted star blankets to the 16 families impacted by the crash as a way to show comfort and healing.

“The stars have great meaning for us,” Heavy Shield said. “There's lots of stories that go behind the stars - the seven brothers - and so for me, it's a symbol of hope.”

Buildings and structures across Canada, including Lethbridge City Hall, will light up green on April 7.

“The Logan Boulet effect has really told us that Logan’s story continues on and the impact of his story and what happened has made a difference,” Bernie said.

You can visit the Green Shirt Day website for more details or to learn how to register.