How to Register as an Organ and Tissue Donor in Canada

Registering as an organ and tissue donor in Canada means recording your decision with your province or territory. There is no national registry: the Health Canada organ and tissue page routes you to register in your province or territory, and states that health care providers will ask your family about donation before it happens, so telling your family matters as much as the registration itself. This guide covers registration mechanics only, province by province, with Ontario in detail. It contains no medical content and states no eligibility finding: several provinces state that eligibility to donate is determined at the time of death by the health care team.

Ontario: the detailed example

In Ontario, anyone 16 years of age or older with a valid Ontario health card can register consent for organ and tissue donation through ServiceOntario, and the consent is stored in a Ministry of Health database that the Trillium Gift of Life Network, part of Ontario Health, uses to confirm consent when needed. Register online through BeADonor.ca, in person at any ServiceOntario centre, or by completing and mailing the Organ and Tissue Donor Registration form. You need to be at least 16, provide your date of birth, and have a health card with your current address on file, including your health card number and version code where applicable. Without a valid Ontario health card, you cannot formally register in the Ministry's registry, as the Trillium Gift of Life Network states, including for members of the Canadian Forces without an Ontario health card.

You must register your consent even if you signed a donor card: paper donor cards are no longer in use, and in 2008 Ontario moved to an online donor registry linked to the health card. When you register, you can consent to the use of your organs and tissues for transplant only, or for transplant and organ and tissue research; the code on the back of the photo health card records that choice. To check or update your registration, use the ServiceOntario registration page and select "Register, Check or Update", entering your health card number and date of birth. To withdraw consent, write and mail a letter including your health card number, as the Ontario page directs. You can update or withdraw consent at any time.

Western Canada: British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan

In British Columbia, register your decision through the BC Transplant registry, using your BC Personal Health Number. The BC Transplant registration form lets you consent to all organs and tissues needed for transplant, or only the checked organs and tissues, and lets you add consent for research use. For someone under 19, the form states the record reflects an expressed wish and is not a legally binding decision record under the Human Tissue Gift Act. Register online, and tell your family the decision is recorded.

In Alberta, you must be 18 years old or older to record consent. The Alberta consent page gives three legal ways to record it: register online with the Alberta Organ and Tissue Donation Registry, visit a registry agent office, or sign, witnessed, the back of your Alberta Personal Health Card, which applies only to cards issued before 2018. You can update your choices through the online registry or at a registry agent, and you can withdraw consent through the registry or by calling 1-844-815-3315. You cannot withdraw consent at registry agent offices. For the online route, registration is completed entirely online, with no consent form to sign and send, as the registry page states.

In Saskatchewan, any person 16 years or older with a valid Saskatchewan Health Services Card number can register intent to be an organ or tissue donor through the Saskatchewan registry page. Register online from any computer, tablet, or mobile device, or by paper form sent to eHealth Saskatchewan. You need your Health Services Card number, first and last name, and date of birth, and you can choose all organs and tissues needed for transplant or select organs and tissues of your choosing.

Manitoba and Quebec: separate registries, different mechanics

In Manitoba, register your intent online at Sign Up for Life, the province's online organ and tissue donor registry run by Transplant Manitoba and Tissue Bank Manitoba. The Sign Up for Life page states that the information is recorded in a Manitoba eHealth database and made available to your family at the right time. You need your Manitoba health card with your Personal Health Information Number, your name, and your date of birth as they appear on the card. Signed blue paper cards are no longer an option: the information on a signed card is not recorded in a Manitoba eHealth database, so use the online registry even if you carry a signed card.

In Quebec, consent can be given in three ways, as Transplant Québec states: register with the RAMQ organ donor registry, the Registre des consentements au don d'organes et de tissus; sign the sticker and affix it to the back of your health insurance card; or register with the organ donor registry established by the Chambre des notaires du Québec. To give RAMQ your consent, use the RAMQ consent page: enter your consent in the Registre, which RAMQ manages and which holds more than 3.8 million consents, or affix a signed sticker to the back of your Health Insurance Card. Registration in the Registre is valid for life and confidential, and the form must be signed, including for persons aged 14 and under, using a Government Authentication Service account. Quebec's current system is consent registration, not presumed consent: the RAMQ and Transplant Québec pages describe giving consent through these routes, and no page states a presumed-consent rule in force.

Atlantic Canada: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador

Nova Scotia is the exception in Canada: it uses deemed consent. The Nova Scotia Health guide states that if you have not registered a decision and you are eligible, you will be seen as having consented to donating your organs and tissues after death. Deemed consent does not apply to people under 19, people without decision-making capacity, people who have lived in Nova Scotia for less than 12 months, or Canadian Armed Forces and RCMP members and their families posted to Nova Scotia. You can still register your decision to donate or not to donate, choosing which organs and tissues, by mail when you renew your provincial health card, by calling MSI at 902-496-7008 or toll-free 1-800-563-8880, or online through the Nova Scotia organ and tissue donation page, as the Nova Scotia Health guide states.

In New Brunswick, indicate your intent to be a donor by checking the appropriate box on the Medicare Updates and Changes Form, available through the New Brunswick Organ and Tissue Donation Program page, or by calling Service New Brunswick Teleservices at 1-888-762-8600. Medicare updates your request so your intent to donate is noted. For other information, contact the New Brunswick Organ Donation Program or the New Brunswick Eye and Tissue Bank at 1-888-553-6667.

In Prince Edward Island, you can register your intent to donate after death if you have a Health Card and are 16 or older, and a parent or legal guardian registers for anyone 15 or younger. Use the Prince Edward Island donor service, which needs your eight-digit Personal Health Number and must be completed in one session, or complete the Intent to Donate form and mail it to the Medicare Office in Montague, as the province's intent page states. Prince Edward Island runs a combined registry, so you can register a wish to opt in or opt out. You can change your mind at any time.

In Newfoundland and Labrador, indicate your intent to donate using your MyGovNL account or by completing the appropriate section of your Medical Care Plan application or renewal form, as the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador page states. Do not rely on the older driver's licence route: the same page states that intent information is no longer collected at Motor Registration, and that a heart symbol previously shown on a driver's licence card reflects an earlier collection method.

The territories: Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut

In Yukon, download and print the organ donor registration form, or get a form at the Yukon Health Care Insurance Plan office. Complete it and submit it by mail to the Yukon Health Care Insurance Plan, Box 2703, Whitehorse, Yukon Y1A 2C6, or in person at the office on the 4th floor of the Financial Plaza building at 204 Lambert Street in Whitehorse, as the Yukon organ donation page states. Donors have a small heart on their health care cards indicating donor status, and donors who change their mind may cancel registration at any time.

In the Northwest Territories, any resident 16 years or older can complete an Organ and Tissue Donation Consent Form. Drop the completed form at your local health centre, email it to otdonation@gov.nt.ca, or mail it to the Health Services Administration Office, Bag #9, Inuvik, as the Northwest Territories registration page states. The territory has partnered with Alberta's Department of Health, so once your name and health care number are confirmed, your form is sent to Alberta and added to the Alberta Organ and Tissue Donation Registry. Changes are not effective immediately and may take several weeks, there is no fee, and online registration is not an option for Northwest Territories residents at this time.

For Nunavut, no separate Nunavut registry page was found. The federal Health Canada hub lists Nunavut as managed by Alberta, so Nunavut residents should use the Alberta Organ and Tissue Donation Registry route described above and confirm the arrangement with Alberta Health or their health care provider before relying on it. Do not assume a Nunavut-specific form exists.

Figures this guide does not state

No official page states a processing time for any registration, a fee for any route other than the Northwest Territories' statement of no fee, or a waiting list figure, so this guide states none. The New Brunswick deemed-consent legislation enacted in 2023 was not treated as the current route in this guide, because the New Brunswick program page still describes the Medicare form route; confirm the current New Brunswick position on the program page before registering. The Nunavut route is stated only as the Health Canada hub routes it, through Alberta, since no Nunavut government registry page was found.

Related guides:

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Sources

• Health Canada, Organ and tissue donation — no national registry, registration by province or territory, Nunavut managed by Alberta, and the family being asked about donation.
• BeADonor, Organ and Tissue Donation Registration — the ServiceOntario registration route, the age and health card requirements, and checking or updating registration. The Ontario.ca registration page carries the same requirements and the mailed withdrawal letter.
• Ontario Health, Trillium Gift of Life Network, FAQ — the 16 and older and valid health card rule, paper cards no longer in use, transplant-only versus transplant and research consent and the health card codes, updating or withdrawing consent, and the no-Ontario-health-card limit.
• BC Transplant, British Columbia Organ Donor Registry form — the Personal Health Number, the all-or-selected organs and tissues choice, the research option, and the under-19 expressed-wish rule.
• MyHealth.Alberta.ca, Consent to donate — the 18 or older rule, the three legal ways to record consent, updating choices, and withdrawing by registry or phone but not at registry agent offices.
• Government of Saskatchewan, Become an Organ and/or Tissue Donor — the 16 or older and Health Services Card rule, online and paper registration, and the all-or-selected choice.
• Transplant Manitoba, Sign Up for Life — the online registry, the Manitoba eHealth database record, and paper cards no longer being an option, with the name, birthdate, and nine-digit PHIN requirements.
• Régie de l'assurance maladie du Québec, Make my consent to organ and tissue donation official — the Registre and health insurance card sticker routes, lifelong and confidential registration, and the signed form requirement.
• Transplant Québec, How to Register — the three consent routes in Quebec and the legal prerequisites for donation upon death.
• Nova Scotia Health, Organ and Tissue Donation guide — deemed consent, its exceptions, and registering a decision by mail, phone, or online.
• Government of New Brunswick, New Brunswick Organ and Tissue Donation Program — the Medicare form box route, the Teleservices number, and the program contact numbers.
• Government of Prince Edward Island, Register as an Organ and/or Tissue Donor — the 16 or older and Health Card rule, the eight-digit Personal Health Number, and the one-session form.
• Government of Prince Edward Island, Registering Your Intent to Donate Organs and Tissue — online and mailed registration, parent or guardian registration for age 15 and younger, and changing your mind at any time.
• Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, Organ and Tissue Donation Saves Lives — the MyGovNL and MCP form routes, and intent information no longer collected at Motor Registration.
• Government of Yukon, Donate your organs — the form, mailing and in-person submission, the heart on the health care card, and cancelling at any time.
• Government of the Northwest Territories, Organ and Tissue Donation Registration Process — the consent form at 16 or older, the submission routes, the Alberta registry partnership, the several-week delay, no fee, and no online registration.