Canada
In 2001, the Government of Canada announced the formation of the Canadian Council for Donation and Transplantation, whose purpose would be to advise the Conference of Deputy Ministers of Health on activities relating to organ donation and transplantation. The deputy ministers of health for all provinces and territories with the exception of Québec decided to transfer the responsibilities of the Canadian Council for Donation and Transplantation to Canadian Blood Services.In Québec, an organization called Transplant Québec is responsible for managing all organ donation; Héma-Québec is responsible for tissue donation. Consent for organ donation by an individual is given by either registering with the organ donation registry established by the Chambre des notaires du Québec, signing and affixing the sticker to the back of ones health insurance card, or registering with either Régie de lassurance maladie du Québec or Registre des consentements au don dorganes et de tissus. In 2017, the majority of transplants completed were kidney transplants. Canadian Blood Services has a program called the kidney paired donation, where transplant candidates are matched with compatible living donors from all over Canada. It also gives individuals an opportunity to be a living donor for an anonymous patient waiting for a transplant. As of December 31, 2017, there were 4,333 patients on the transplant waitlist. In 2017, there were a total of 2,979 transplants, including multi-organ transplants; 242 patients died while on the waitlist.
However, the answer given on the drivers license does not constitute informed consent, because at the time of drivers license application not all individuals are equipped to make an informed decision regarding whether to be a donor, and it is therefore not the deciding factor in whether donation is carried out or not. It is there to simply give indication of the persons wishes. Family must agree to the procedure for donation to take place.A 2006 bill proposed setting up an organ donation register where people can give informed consent to organ donations and clearly state their legally binding wishes. However, the bill did not pass, and there was condemnation of the bill from some doctors, who said that even if a person had given express consent for organ donation to take place, they would not carry out the procedure in the presence of any disagreement from grieving family members.The indigenous population of New Zealand also have strong views regarding organ donation. Many Maori people believe organ donation is morally unacceptable due to the cultural need for a dead body to remain fully intact. However, because there is not a universally recognised cultural authority, no one view on organ donation is universally accepted in the Maori population. They are, however, less likely to accept a kidney transplant than other New Zealanders, despite being overrepresented in the population receiving dialysis.