REGINA -- Saskatchewan's health minister says he will be closely watching Nova Scotia as the province moves forward with a plan to introduce automatic consent for organ donation.
Nova Scotia announced legislation on Tuesday that would have all residents be potential organ donors unless they opted out.
It's believed Nova Scotia will be the first jurisdiction in North America to adopt the measure.
Saskatchewan Health Minister Jim Reiter said his office has requested to speak with his counterpart in Nova Scotia.
"The intent all along is to move in that direction," he said Wednesday.
Brad Wall expressed support for introducing presumed consent while he was still Saskatchewan premier.
The province's 2019 budget includes money to create an organ donor registry in the hopes of increasing Saskatchewan's donor rates.
Reiter said the province has not closed the door on an opt-out system, but added a legislative committee earlier flagged potential legal issues with the idea.
He said the province needed to take other steps first, such as a registry and getting more doctors to encourage organ donation.
"We've been too slow on this all along."
Saskatchewan declared on Wednesday that April 7 will be Green Shirt Day in honour of Logan Boulet, a player on the Humboldt Broncos junior hockey team who chose to become an organ donor before his death in a bus crash last spring.
