NAN Encourages Organ Donations

Native people who for spiritual and cultural reasons may have hesitated to sign an organ donor's card are being encouraged to reconsider to sign an organ donor's card by one of Northern Ontario's leading native organizations.

"This is the first time in Canada's history that a First Nations group has taken the initiative to create an awareness to promote organ and tissue donation," Nishnawbe Aski Nation said in a news release.

NAN, along with Trillium Gift of Life Network, is distributing information brochures in Ojibwa, Cree and Oji-Cree so that people who live on NAN's 49 remote reserves can learn about organ and tissue donation.

Some native people believe a deceased person's remains shouldn't be tampered with prior to burial.

NAN Chief Stan Beardy, whose son Daniel's organs were donated with he died in 2004, said the concept may be new to some aboriginals, "but the value of sharing and helping others in need is deeply rooted in our spirituality and culture."

"By reaching out in traditional ... languages we are specifically targeting First Nation people who have never had the opportunity to register their consent for organ and tissue donation," Beardy added.

There are currently 1,669 Ontario residents, including children, waiting for an organ transplant.

The release included the experience of Attawapiskat First Nation band member Madelaine Kioke, who credited the organ-donor program with restoring her sight.

"I lost complete eyesight in my right eye when I was just nine years old, and for 25 years there was no way to restore my vision until the opportunity arose for tissue donation that gave me hope that one day I would be able to see," Kioke said in the release.

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