118: Humboldt Broncos Bus Crash – Green Shirt Day (SK)

In a tragedy that shook Canada and the rest of the hockey playing world, just before 5:00pm on April 6, 2018, the team bus of the Humboldt Broncos Junior Hockey team smashed into a semi that had just blown through a stop at the intersection of Saskatchewan highways 35 and 335. Of the the 29 people on the bus that day, only 13 survived. The truck driver walked away unharmed, and was later charged with and convicted of 16 counts of dangerous driving causing death and 13 more counts of dangerous driving causing injury. 

One player, 21-year-old defenseman Logan Boulet, had signed his donor card only 5 weeks before the crash and his death. His thoughtful gift saved the lives of six organ recipients. Logan’s selfless actions led droves of other Canadians to sign their donor cards, creating what has been called the #LoganBouletEffect. This remains the largest number of donors pledging their organs from a single event; 100,000 in the first three weeks. To keep the effect going his family helped to create Green Shirt Day in 2019, observed on April 7, the anniversary of Logan’s passing. 

Sources and Further Reading:
[Humboldt Broncos]
[Humboldt Broncos bus crash – Wikipedia]
[9 Apr 2018, NP1 – The National Post at Newspapers.com]
[Home – Green Shirt Day]
[Green Shirt Day – Home | Facebook]
[Green Shirt Day (@GreenShirtDay) | Twitter]
[Green Shirt Day (@greenshirtday) • Instagram photos and videos]
[Report On Intersection Review | Government of Saskatchewan]
[ER doctor recalls Humboldt Broncos crash response – YouTube]
[Rod Stewart pays tribute to Humboldt Broncos | Globalnews.ca]
[Logan Boulet taken off life support, organs donated  | Globalnews.ca]
[COVID-19 forcing Green Shirt Day campaign changes | Global News]
[Agreed statement of facts – Humboldt Broncos bus crash]
[Guilty plea in Humboldt Broncos bus crash  | Globalnews.ca]
[Driver in Humboldt crash wasn’t distracted | CBC News]
[Adam Herold Legacy Foundation]
[SEARCH: Global News Humboldt – YouTube]
[Swift Current Broncos bus crash – Wikipedia]
R v Sidhu, 2019 SKPC 19 (CanLII), < [http://canlii.ca/t/hzbj5] >

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