Give Life Alberta
If you’d like to leave a gift of life after you pass away, take 2 steps.
Step 1
Register your decision
Register on the Alberta Organ and Tissue Donation Registry or at a motor vehicle registry office. You can specify which organs/tissues you’d like to donate (or not donate). When someone at the end of life is a potential donor, the medical team will check this registry and inform their family of their wishes.
Step 2
Tell your family
Whether you registered or not, it will be up to your next-of-kin to provide final consent for donation. Make the decision easier for them by discussing your wishes in advance.
Our award-winning public awareness campaign ‘All the Ways’ encourages Albertans to share their organ and tissue donation decision with their families, in case they are ever asked to give consent. The discussion doesn’t have to be grim. Use this video, or put a poster on the fridge, to spark the conversation.
Printable Posters
Text Only | Cake | Card | Needlepoint
After you register, your decision is securely recorded and kept confidential. Your family will be involved in honouring your wishes.
Your registration is protected by Alberta legislation — your donor status stays confidential. Your family may choose to share the decision with others, but they are not required to.
Registering doesn't mean everything is settled on its own — your family will still be asked for consent. That's why the conversation at home matters just as much as the registration.
Chris Snow helped save four lives after ALS took his in 2023 — a legacy his family holds close. The former Calgary Flames assistant GM gave of himself in life through ALS awareness efforts, then unexpectedly helped others after he died.
Even during her three-year battle with terminal colorectal cancer, Kathleen McGee managed to look at the bright side - incorporating her observations about having cancer into her shows - and ultimately had the vision to leave the gift of sight for someone else.
Logan Boulet was killed in the 2018 Humboldt Broncos bus crash. The 21-year-old defenseman, who had previously shared his wishes to donate, saved 6 people with his organ and tissue donations on April 7 of that year, now commemorated as Green Shirt Day.
There can be many questions when it comes to donating organs and tissues. Our FAQs aim to educate and dispel myths.
One deceased organ donor can save up to 8 lives. One deceased tissue donor can dramatically change, or sometimes save, up to 75 lives.
Thousands of Canadians are currently waiting for organs, and many more are waiting for tissues. Hundreds are waiting in Alberta.
Yes. The surgery to remove organs and tissues is done with the same care as any other surgery; the dignity of the person is maintained and their body is treated with respect. All areas that are disturbed during the removal of organs and tissues are reconstructed, including the eye area.
If you want to donate, don’t count yourself out. Each potential organ and tissue donor is evaluated by the medical team when the time comes.
For organ donation, there is no strict age limit; eligibility depends more on the person’s type of death and the health of their organs. Livers have been successfully transplanted from donors in their 80s, lungs and kidneys from donors in their 70s. Absolute contraindications (barriers) for organ donation are very few, and you should not assume you will be ineligible due to a health condition.
For tissue donation, the age limit is 81. Absolute contraindications for tissue donation are more restrictive than for organs, including but not limited to infectious diseases such as HIV, Hepatitis B, and Hepatitis C, active sepsis, and certain high-risk social behaviors such as non-medicinal intravenous drug use.
