Whether to be an organ donor or not, is a very personal decision.
For those comfortable with being a donor, there is an online organ donor registry available to let medical officials know you have given permission.
However, a new bill proposed by a northern Ontario MPP wants to presume you are willing to have your organs harvested, unless you indicate otherwise.
This change would see people having to opt-out of organ donation, rather than the current opt-in system.
NDP MPP France Gelinas says although the north has many organ donors registered, the proposed bill is just another step in the right direction.
"The places in Ontario that has the highest rate are all in my riding. Number one: Coniston, number two: Garson, number three: right here in Walden. I am really proud of this, but we still do very poorly overall. Only about one in four sign the form. Many people never talk about organ donation, in part because they don't like talking about death." said Gelinas.
So how do locals feel about the possible changes?
Linda Montsion is against proposed changes.
"I think people should have the choice if they want to do it or not. I don't really want to do it, so I wouldn't want it to automatically be done. Because when that happens, people don't know it's automatically happened, and then they have no idea they’re signed up for it." said Montsion.
Allison Louiseize supports the proposed changes.
"There are a lot of people who require organs to be donated and at the end, if you don't want to donate, you have a choice to fill out a form and that will give you the opportunity to make that choice, but it also gives the family the choice after the fact, as well." said Louiseize.
Bob Johnston received a kidney transplant in 2015. He says he knows first-hand just how important organ donation is.
"I received mine in a year and a half, when I was supposed to wait five to seven years. Some people wait ten, twelve years. Some people don't people don't even get it and with this being proposed, everybody would have a fair chance at the second chance of life." said Johnston.
Gelinas calls her proposed bill the “Peter Kormos Memorial Act” in honour of her longtime fellow NDP member at Queen's Park, Peter Kormos, who passed away in 2013. He made many speeches and introduced numerous pieces of legislation to try to expand organ collection in Ontario.
