Couple randomly attacked, 1 stabbed, by group of teens in Toronto, police say
A man has been transported to hospital after police say he was stabbed in a random attack carried out by a group of teens in Toronto on Friday night.
Canadians support organ donation after death but fewer are registering for the practice, leaving hundreds of people dying while on waitlists each year.
To combat the trend, the federal government passed Bill C-210 in 2021, allowing provinces and territories to add the option of signing up for organ donation when filing taxes.
Ontario and Nunavut recently opted into the legislation.
"What it does is it makes people aware, and it allows the government to contact them with more information about organ donation in their province," Dr. Lori West, scientific director of the Canadian Donation and Transplantation Research Program, told CTV's Your Morning on Monday. "Part of the reason we think that organ donation is not as optimal as it could be is that people don't learn about it, they don't hear about it, they don't think about it or talk about it."
Specific organs, like the heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, pancreas, small bowel and stomach can be donated after death in Canada, both for research and to people needing a transplant.
The Canadian Institute for Health Information says organ transplants decreased 14 per cent between 2019 and 2020, with the highest decrease in pancreases and lungs. Those needing liver transplants had the highest fatality rate on the waitlist, as of December 2020.
By allowing the government to add organ donation information and sign-up in tax filings, more people will be exposed to the need for donations.
And the numbers might surprise some.
"We see the increasing number of people who have end-stage kidney disease, lung disease, heart disease, who aren't able to find a donor because there just aren't enough around," she said.
About 84 per cent of Canadians support the donation of organs and tissue after death, the poll by Research Co. reads, but only 68 per cent say they would become a donor themselves.
The Canadian Blood Services says, every year, 4,100 Canadians wait for an organ transplant, with hundreds dying without ever receiving one. The organization says about 1 to 2 per cent of people who die can be considered for organ donation.
In 2021, for each organ-specific transplant that happened, 2.3 patients were waiting for a pancreas, followed by 1.8 people waiting for a kidney, reads the Canadian Institute for Health Information website.
West says advances in technology and medicine are allowing more people to live while waiting for transplants.
"There are now techniques to sustain those individuals on various types of support for longer," West said. "That adds them to the waiting list of those who are needing transplants to ultimately save lives."
In 2021, only 652 Canadians were removed from the organ transplant waitlist, of these 38 per cent died while waiting.
Nova Scotia took organ donation a step further by requiring people to opt out of organ donation. The legislation, which came into effect January 2021, asks people to register their decision to donate all or specific organs after death, or to opt out. If no action is taken the organs and tissue will de be donated under "deemed consent" of the Human Organ and Tissue Donation Act.
"Nova Scotia is the only jurisdiction in North America to have enacted that kind of consent program," West said. "It's a bit too early to see yet what the impact is going to have."
A man has been transported to hospital after police say he was stabbed in a random attack carried out by a group of teens in Toronto on Friday night.
Ron Ellis, who played over 1,000 games with the Toronto Maple Leafs and was a member of Canada's team at the 1972 Summit Series, has died at age 79.
The wildfire that sparked Friday and caused evacuation orders for more than 3,000 people in Fort Nelson, B.C., and the nearby Fort Nelson First Nation, has grown to nearly 1,700 hectares in size, according to a Saturday morning update from the BC Wildfire Service.
Hours before the final, Dutch contestant Joost Klein was dramatically booted out by organizers over a backstage incident. He had failed to perform at two dress rehearsals on Friday, and contest organizer the European Broadcasting Union said it was investigating an "incident."
From London, to Grand Bend, Collingwood and Guelph, here are some highlights of Friday night and Saturday morning's northern lights display.
A growing number of civilians and police officers are demanding the dismissal and arrest of Haiti's police chief as heavily armed gangs launched a new attack in the capital of Port-au-Prince, seizing control of yet another police station early Saturday.
Irresponsibly using a credit card can land you in financial trouble, but personal finance columnist Christopher Liew says when used properly, it can be a powerful wealth-building tool that can help grow your credit profile and create new opportunities.
Where you live plays a big factor in what you pay at the grocery store. And while it's no secret the same item may have a different price depending on the store, city or province, we wanted to see just how big the differences are, and why.
The rolling hills leading to the hamlet of Rosebud are dotted with sprawling farms and cattle pastures -- and a sign sporting a simple message: No Race Track.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'
The Regina Police Service says it is the first in Saskatchewan and possibly Canada to implement new technology in its detention facility that will offer real-time monitoring of detainees’ vital health metrics.
Just as she had feared, a restaurant owner from eastern Quebec who visited Montreal had her SUV stolen, but says it was all thanks to the kindness of strangers on the internet — not the police — that she got it back.
The stakes have been set for a bet between Vancouver and Edmonton's mayors on who will win Round 2 of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
A grieving mother is hosting a helmet drive in the hopes of protecting children on Manitoba First Nations from a similar tragedy that killed her daughter.