‘Legacy of kindness’: 2026 Green Shirt Day campaign launches in Lethbridge

More than 4,000 Canadians are waiting for organ transplants. About 250 people a year die waiting. Green Shirt Day aims to better the numbers.

The annual Green Shirt Day campaign, in honour of Lethbridge’s Logan Boulet, has kicked off with renewed calls for Canadians to register as organ donors.

On April 6, 2018, the Humboldt Broncos hockey team was on their way to a playoff game when a semi-truck drove through a stop sign in rural Saskatchewan and collided with the bus carrying the team.

Logan was one of 16 people who died in the crash.

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“People expect that after a certain period of time everything is better; it’s not,” said Toby Boulet, Logan’s father, at the campaign launch in Lethbridge Tuesday morning.

“It’s like Groundhog Day in the morning and Groundhog Day at the end of the night; everything in the middle of the day changes, but in the morning, you wake up the same way – Logan isn’t going to call me today – and then at nighttime, I haven’t called Logan today.”

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

It was a decision that saved the lives of six people and started the Logan Boulet Effect, which inspired more than 150,000 Canadians to become organ donors within two months.

“We’re always humbled by is that people want to continue to know his story and continue to want to know about him,” said Bernie Boulet, Logan’s mom.

This year’s campaign is themed, “One Decision Can Create a Lasting Ripple Effect.”

Over the past eight years, the Boulet family has travelled across the country sharing that story and trying to inspire people to register.

“This cause is so vital and so important in Canada,” said Joyce Van Deurzen, executive director of the Alberta branch of the Kidney Foundation.

Van Deurzen says 90 per cent of people say they would be an organ donor, but less than half have registered.

“There’s over 4,000 Canadians currently on the organ transplant waiting list. The clock is ticking every day until they get that transplant, and over 70 per cent of them are waiting for a kidney,” she said.

The 2026 campaign features the winning design from the Green Shirt Day National Logo Design Contest, created by Candace Sernowsky, from Lorette West, Man.

Sernowsky’s design incorporates several visual elements including a flying puck, crossed hockey sticks, a green organ donation ribbon and Logan Boulet’s number 27 – symbolizing movement, legacy and hope.

While the anniversary of the crash is difficult for the Boulet family, they say Logan’s story has continued to make the conversation around organ donation easier and more common.

“Everyone wants to have a legacy, well, Logan has left a legacy of kindness,” said Toby

To mark Green Shirt Day, Boulet family and the City of Lethbridge will host a free public skate on April 7 from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Logan Boulet Arena.