Bill 237 explained in plain English
Robbie's Legacy Act (Honouring Beloved Organ and Tissue Donors), 2024
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 43rd Parliament, 1st Session. Representative vote breakdowns appear when the Assembly publishes an Ayes and Nays page for the bill.
Our plain-language take, written for civic education.
Source: By PoliticalData.ca
Bill 237 allows Ontario hospitals to publicly identify deceased organ and tissue donors by name as a memorial or tribute, with family consent and under specific conditions.
Bill 237, called the Robbie's Legacy Act (Honouring Beloved Organ and Tissue Donors), 2024, amends Ontario's Gift of Life Act. It allows hospitals to publicly identify deceased organ and tissue donors by name, as a way to recognize and honour their donation. This can only happen if specific conditions are met: the deceased person's name is the only information shared (no dates or other details), the identification is done as a memorial or to show appreciation, at least six months have passed since the transplant, and the family member or substitute decision-maker of the deceased person has given written consent to the public identification, including approval of how it will be done. The bill comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
- Amends the Gift of Life Act to allow deceased organ and tissue donors to be publicly identified by name as a way to recognize and honour their donation
- Requires that only the deceased person's name be used for public identification, with no additional identifying information such as transplant dates disclosed
- Requires that public identification be done as a memorial or other form of recognition and appreciation for the donation
- Requires at least six months to pass after a transplant before a deceased donor can be publicly identified
- Requires written consent from the deceased person's family member or substitute decision-maker before they can be publicly identified, including consent to the specific manner of identification
- Comes into force on the day the bill receives Royal Assent
- Deceased organ and tissue donors in Ontario whose families wish to publicly recognize their donation
- Family members and substitute decision-makers of deceased donors, who must provide written consent before public identification can occur
- Ontario hospitals, which may publicly identify deceased donors under the new conditions
- Hospitals may publicly identify deceased organ and tissue donors by name if all specified conditions are met
- Family members or substitute decision-makers of deceased donors have the right to decide whether their deceased family member is publicly identified as a donor and how that identification is done
- Only the deceased person's name can be publicly shared; no other identifying information such as transplant dates may be disclosed
- At least six months must pass after a transplant before a deceased donor can be publicly identified
- Bill received 1st Reading on December 5, 2024
- The Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent (commencement date not yet scheduled)
- The bill text does not specify what forms of memorial or recognition hospitals may use when publicly identifying deceased donors
- The bill does not clarify procedures for obtaining written consent from family members or substitute decision-makers
- The bill does not specify penalties or enforcement mechanisms if hospitals fail to comply with the conditions for public identification
- The bill does not explain how hospitals should handle situations where multiple family members may have different views about public identification
- The bill does not specify whether public identification must be done or whether it remains optional for hospitals even when conditions are met
Adds new rules that allow deceased organ and tissue donors to be publicly recognized by name under specified conditions, including a waiting period, family consent, and restrictions on what identifying information can be shared.
Source: Section 1
Generated using AI from official bill text. Not legal advice. It is written by PoliticalData.ca for civic education, automatically checked and spot-reviewed before publishing.
Official textProcess Snapshot
Vote Summary
This bill is still active. We only show vote counts after the legislature publishes a recorded division.
No published representative vote breakdown
This bill is still moving through the process. When a recorded division is published, representative positions can be listed here.
Official sources
Status, sponsor, votes, and timeline on this page are drawn from these official legislative sources and public records. Each summary above is attributed to its own source.
How this data is sourced