1. MOTIONS
UofT
2015 - 2016 Annual Report
Multi-Organ Transplant Insight Outreach and Networking Society
Celebrating novel outlooks in promoting organ donation

2. Contents
Sponsors & Partners
MOTIONS sincerely appreciates the generous contributions of our sponsors. We wish to thank the following
organizations for their monetary, material and logistical support this year.
Toronto
Transplant
Institute
MOTIONS
We also wish to thank the Trillium Gift of Life Network for their generous provision of materials and
signage in support of our efforts.
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2 Pg.
3 Pg.
4 Pg.
5
Sponsors and
Partners
Year in Review Executive
Message
Academic
Engagement
Pg.
6 Pg.
7 Pg.
8
Public
Engagement
Future Partners Reflections and
Future Outlook
Members and
Community
Partners
&

3. 2015 - 2016 Report
Pg. 3
Year in Review
Hosted 20 new public
outreach events
Engaged a dozen new
community partners
Supported 30 other
community events
Recognized in 5
publications
Reached thousands of Ontarians

4. Executive Message
Dear Colleagues,
It is my great pleasure to present you with this annual report summarizing the many novel initiatives
and undertakings conducted by MOTIONS this year.
Since our inception in September 2013, MOTIONS has sought to alleviate the crippling shortage of
transplantable organs in Ontario, as well as bring light to the many social stigmas and ethical dilemmas
surrounding transplantation. Previously, our efforts were focused on raising academic discourse and
encouraging scholarship in the areas of transplantation. Though this work is vital to effectuating meaningful
and lasting impact, it seemed incomplete on its own. Therefore, this year MOTIONS dramatically
augmented our mandate to include direct social and public outreach as central focus, alongside our
traditional academic roles.
In total, we hosted 20 Organ Donor Registration Drives with a dozen new community partners this
year, representing a 10 fold increase from last year. We further provided materials and expertise for up to
an additional 30 events across the province. We trust these efforts helped engage thousands of Ontarians
and bring light to their role in alleviating the organ wait-lists. We further continued our academic
engagement with our presence at several University events as well as our MOTIONS debate—where experts
and students again faced off to analyse alternate solutions for managing wait-lists.
In future, MOTIONS shall continue our dual mandate to raise both public and academic awareness
and with ever increasing membership and community partners, we hope to achieve lasting change for
Ontario’s patients.
Lastly, thank you to all of our sponsors, members, community partners and executives whose
tireless work made MOTIONS possible this year.
Sincerely,
Imindu Liyanage
President 2015-2016
E-mail: imindu.liyanage@uhnresearch.ca
MOTIONS

5. Academic Engagement
MOTIONS Debate
MOTIONS hosted our annual debate
tackling a complex ethical dilemma
in the field of transplantation.
This year we featured Dr. Daniel
Buchman (UHN Bioethicist) and
Andrea Norgate (UHN Pancreas
Transplant Coordinator) along with
students Roman Zyla (U of T Medical
School) and Theodora Brunn (PhD.
Candidate at Oxford University) who
debated the virtues of employing
prior lifestyle choice as a
determinant of transplantation.
Several members of the audience
weighed in with their opinions and
questions. We thank all those who
participated for their support.
Engaging Students
Broad engagement of students is
crucial to MOTIONS’s mandate.
To this end, Members of MOTIONS
took advantage of a special
invitation to the Toronto Science
Expo hosted at the MARS building
to introduce the field of Organ
Donation and transplantation to
gifted high school students in the
city. Similarly we attended the
University of Toronto’s Frost Week
Fair to showcase MOTIONS as a
student’s association. Both events
illustrated a clear role for MOTIONS
as an educating society to bring
light to issues in organ donation in
an otherwise untargeted group.
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2015 - 2016 Report

6. Public Outreach
It is well established that organ donation rates are typically lower among certain faith-based communities.
Therefore, in our effort to raise awareness about the lack of organs, MOTIONS decided to devote much of our
initial efforts towards faith groups. We immediately noticed that there are great difficulties in accessing
certain communities with unwavering religious persuasions precluding the possibility of organ donation.
However, we were graciously welcomed by three distinct denominations of Christianity, as well as invitations
for subsequent visits by Hindu, Muslim and Jewish places of worship. In many of these visits, we learned that
faith was not the barrier to donation; rather procedural misconceptions, particularly about eligibility were the
most common obstacles.
The Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto
With several kind invitations from local
clergy, MOTIONS was able to visit 3
churches within the Archdiocese on
multiple occasions: St. Luke’s Church in
Thornhill, St. Michael’s Cathedral and St.
Paul’s Basilica in Toronto.
The Catholic church has long supported
organ donation, and we were grateful to
the many clergy and staff who
participated in spreading the message of
organ donation (particularly Fr. Smith of
St. Paul’s). Despite this strong support,
we noted many individuals did not know
that organ donation was an option, let
alone how to register. This invitation was
therefore a valuable opportunity to start
crucial conversations.
The Chinese Renal Association
MOTIONS is grateful to have been afforded the opportunity to
visit several nonsectarian community partners this year.
We were especially pleased to partner with the Chinese
Renal Association to visit Dragon City Mall in downtown
Toronto. Events that reach out to Ontario’s many ethnic
communities are crucial to establishing meaningful
awareness, therefore we look forward to a continued
partnership for years to come. We are also grateful for Dr.
Istvan Mucsi for initiating this partnership.
MOTIONS

7. The Presbytery of East Toronto
With the permission of the Presbytery of
Canada, and with the support of the Rev.
Alex Bisset - MOTIONS was able to visit
the three largest churches in the
Presbytery of East Toronto: St. Andrews,
Trinity and Knox. Here too our welcome
was exceptionally kind, and we again
appreciate the many members of the
churches who went out of their way to
encourage organ donation. Yet, again it
was procedural misconceptions that
prevented many potential donors from
registering. MOTIONS’s members were
happy to clarify many of these
questions —which many of us had been
asked repeatedly. We look forward to a
continued partnership with the
Presbytery of Canada.
The Anglican Diocese of Toronto
With a fortuitous invitation from the office of
Archbishop Colin Johnson, MOTIONS was
afforded the extraordinary opportunity to act
as an exhibitor at the General Synod of the
Diocese of Toronto.
At this meeting, representatives of hundreds
of churches across the province met to
discuss ecclesiastical policy for the following
two years. This presented a remarkable
chance for MOTIONS to inform the delegates
about deficiencies in organ donation and
explain how they could assist to overcome it
in their home communities. With the direct,
and enthusiastic support of the Archbishop
himself, 30 local churches were provided
with materials and expertise to host their
own registration drives. We thank the church
for their invitation and look forward to
attending further events.
His Grace, Archbishop Colin Johnson showing his support
for organ donation .
MOTIONS eagerly awaits participating in the annual health fair at the Swami
Narayan Hindu Temple Society as well as visiting the Jaffari Village Islamic
Centre and the Sathya Sai Centre of Victoria Park in the months to come.
Future Partners
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2015 - 2016 Report

8. 2015 - 2016 ReportMOTIONS
Though MOTIONS reached many people this year, and though many paused and took interest at the
information we presented, it is clear that a great many Ontarians have yet to be persuaded to become organ
donors. In all our engagements, deep-seeded opposition to organ donation and transplantation was evident
across ethnic and religious divides. For some of these individuals, it must be recognized that their beliefs are
fundamental and not subject to persuasion. However, many more are either unaware that they must register
to donate their organ or are operating under some misconception. For example, at one visit, a visitor to the
MOTIONS display remarked that she was afraid that she would wake up while: “they were taking her organs”.
Another remarked that they wanted to be buried with their family and feared that her entire body would be
transplanted to other patients. Though both cases represent somewhat extreme examples, they highlight
that Ontarians still contend with profound misunderstandings about transplantation. It must further be noted
that this is not the fault of the public, but rather a failure of our health system to educate them correctly.
Should Ontario desire to eliminate waitlists permanently, and provide transplantation as the gold-standard
therapy it is meant to be, then social and public education must be made a priority. Furthermore, groups like
MOTIONS must venture into the community and start these conversations, otherwise social stigma and
misconceptions will continue to thrive for years to come - all the while, Ontario organ waitlists continue to
balloon out of control.
Reflections and Future Outlook
Thank you for your support...
MOTIONS Members Community Partners
Derrick Chan
Martha Ghebreselassie
Michelle Liu
Monika Ashwin
Helen Liu
Franz Marie Gumabay
Dian Yu
Shanna Gu
Eleanor Warsmann
Asha Sardar
Nicholas Ng
Theodora Bruun
Christie Liang
Nikita Gupta
Anglican Diocese of Toronto
Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto
St. Luke’s Catholic Church
St. Michael’s Cathedral
St. Paul’s Basilica
The Presbytery of East Toronto
Trinity Church
Knox Church
St. Andrew’s Church
Chinese Renal Association,
The Kidney Foundation of Canada
Sathya Sai Center of Victoria Park
Swami Narayan Hindu Temple
Executives
Imindu Liyanage
Ashley Zhang
Linlei Ye
George Li
Elaine Lai