April 5, 2024
Friends and supporters of the Boulet family recently gathered at Lethbridge City Hall for the unveiling of the new Green Shirt Day logo. Photo by Patrick Burles.
Bernadine and Toby Boulet thank supporters. Photo by Patrick Burles.
The University of Alberta Hospital’s transplant inpatient unit staff pose for Green Shirt Day in Edmonton Photo by Mathew Martin.
Organ donor coordinators, along with Comprehensive Tissue Centre, Clinical Islet Lab, Living Donor Services and transplant recipient staff mark Green Shirt Day in Edmonton. Photo by Mathew Martin.
Story and photos by Patrick Burles | Photos by Mathew Martin
LETHBRIDGE — Seven years ago, a simple conversation between father and son planted the seeds of a movement that would save countless lives.
It was a summer day in 2017 when Logan Boulet told his father, Toby, that when his time came, he wanted to be an organ donor, following the example of his coach and mentor Ric Suggit, who died that year.
Neither could have imagined that Logan’s life would end less than a year later when the Humboldt Broncos bus was involved in a collision that would claim 16 lives and leave 13 others injured.
Toby recalled the story recently, acknowledging that the conversation had stayed between them while Logan was alive.
“I didn’t want to share it. I didn’t want to tell people that Logan wanted to be an organ donor because he was 20-years-old, he’s talking about his death,” Toby says of his initial reluctance to discuss an unfathomable topic for a parent.
“Our whole philosophy on that has changed significantly,” adds Bernadine, Logan’s mother. “Teaching Grade 2, we have a Green Shirt Day school assembly and we do a program. We want it to be so that the kids have a conversation with their family, that they talk about it, and it becomes more of a normal thing and not a scary thing.
“As adults, we see it more as death,” she continued. “As a kid, they see it more as the right thing to do… having that conversation is huge.”
The conversations that followed Logan’s death — as well as the news that his decision to become an organ donor had given six other people a second chance — sparked an immediate surge of 150,000 registrations for others to become donors, in what has become known as the Logan Boulet Effect.
In the spirit of hope that this wave brought to those waiting for a donation, the Boulet family unveiled a new logo for their cause — an eight-point star adorning shirts, jerseys and other items, with the proceeds going towards the Canadian Transplant Association and The Logan Boulet Endowment Fund.
“In Blackfoot culture, the stars have great meaning for us, and for me, it’s really a symbol of hope and Logan’s legacy,” says Hali Heavy Shield, a friend of the family who designed the logo after being approached by the Boulet family. “It’s such an honour — and I’m very humbled to be a part of the Logan Boulet Effect.”
She drew inspiration from a star blanket that was given to the Boulets — as well as to the 15 other families that lost a loved one in the collision — by the Waywayseecappo First Nation in Manitoba. The eight points of the star symbolize the values of kindness, humility, honesty, respect, healing, forgiveness, wisdom and love.
The new design also includes the Blackfoot translation for Green Shirt Day: Otsskoi Sookasim Miiksistikoo.
“The Logan Boulet Effect has really told us that Logan’s story continues on and the impact of his story and what happened has made a difference,” says Bernadine.
“We’ve walked down the street or (have) been somewhere, and someone comes to us and tells us how thankful they are for our story. At the beginning, we really thought it was our story, and then we realized how much it has impacted so many people across Canada and across the world. (It means a lot) to know that people are getting closer to a donation because of other people registering.”
To learn more about organ, tissue and eye donation and to register your wishes, visit our website. Green Shirt Day, held every April 7, honours Logan and the massive impact his decision played in inspiring others to register, now known as the Logan Boulet Effect.
