The House of Commons on its last business day for 2022 unanimously passed into law a bill to criminalize organ selling, according to Blacklock’s Reporter. .“Efforts to combat this practice have been ongoing in Canada’s Parliament for close to 15 years,” said Conservative MP Garnett Genuis. .“The time that has elapsed underlines the sad reality of how long it takes to pass good private members’ bills, even when every one agrees.”.Advocates called organ trafficking a shameful practice, where wealthy patients buy organs abroad. .Bill S-223 would forbid any Canadian from seeking an organ transplant without informed consent of a donor. It passed the Senate in 2021. .Conservative Sen. Salma Ataullahjan said organ trafficking exists, but Canadian statistics are unknown. .“We know that Canadians are going abroad for organ harvesting,” said Ataullahjan. .The number of illegal organ transplants worldwide is estimated to be 10,000 per year. Ataullahjan noted “this is a conservative number, as many illegal organ sales remain unreported.”.She said the bill is non-partisan for her. She added it is “about doing the right thing.”.“It’s the harvest of the poor,” she said. .“A lot of those people don’t even get paid and a lot of them don’t survive.”.This bill comes after the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms called on Albertans on November 15 to petition Premier Danielle Smith and Health Minister Jason Copping to allow organ transplant patient Sheila Annette Lewis to have her surgery. .READ MORE: Justice Centre calls on Albertans to petition Smith to save unvaxxed transplant patient.Lewis was denied a spot because she refused to take the COVID-19 vaccine. .“I am a wife, mother, and grandmother, and I want to live as long as I can to be there for my family and be a part of their lives while they grow and mature," she said.
