In a rare piece of good news from Canada, Health Minister Mark Holland announced on January 29 a delay of the Trudeau government’s plan to expand eligibility for euthanasia to those suffering from mental illness. The Trudeau government had already delayed the expansion by a year previously; now, in response to a joint parliamentary committee’s report indicating unresolved issues with implementation, they are preparing to delay once again. The expansion was scheduled to take place on March 17. Holland stated that the country was not yet ready; a dissenting report by Conservative legislators described the expansion as “reckless and dangerous” and called on the government to abandon it entirely.
Over the past several years, Canada’s euthanasia regime has become international cautionary tale, with a nonstop string of horror stories making headlines around the world: poor people opting for euthanasia due to lack of housing; veterans being offered assisted suicide in lieu of treatment for PTSD; sick Canadians requesting lethal injections because they cannot get the healthcare they need. Euthanasia is being proactively offered in many Canadian hospitals. In 2022, 13,200 Canadians died by state-sanctioned and funded lethal injection—over 4% of recorded deaths. The planned expansion would have increased those numbers dramatically.
In recent months, the backlash to the Trudeau government’s planned expansion has grown. Conservative MP Ed Fast put forward Bill C-314 last year, which would have banned euthanasia for mental illness; it was voted down by the Liberals, although the New Democrats and eight Liberals broke rank. Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has condemned the expansion, and Conservative MPs have gone on the road across the country, hosting town hall meetings in which they highlight the dangers posed to the mentally ill. I attended one such meeting last fall in Oxford County, Ontario—it was packed, and the MPs noted that there was still time to halt the expansion. With characteristic chutzpah, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has claimed that his government has been driven by “the desire to protect vulnerable people.”
Canada’s Supreme Court overturned criminal prohibitions on assisted suicide in Carter v. Canada in 2015, and the Canadian Parliament passed Bill C-14, which legalized so-called “medical aid in dying” (or MAiD) for adults with “enduring and intolerable suffering” and a “reasonably foreseeable death” the following year. Those flimsy safeguards were soon removed, with the Trudeau government—ignoring an outcry from suicide prevention experts, Canada’s psychiatric bodies, and disability activists—passed Bill C-7 in 2021, legalizing euthanasia for those with mental illness. Despite condemnation of the legislation from across the ideological spectrum (the primary advocates of the bill are Dying with Dignity, one of the most dangerous groups in Canada), the Trudeau government has stuck to their guns.
Hopefully that will change. The March 17 deadline looms, and the Liberals will need to pass legislation in order to delay it once again (a one-year delay was legislated last year). Neither Health Minister Mark Holland nor Justice Minister Arif Virani detailed how the delay would be implemented, with Holland noting that: “The legislative time frame is tight. We recognize that. This has to be done in advance of (March 17). I don’t see the timeline being a barrier, but we do need to move expeditiously.” No mention was made of Canada’s abysmal record on healthcare provision to the mentally ill, which is in many places virtually unobtainable, rendering the concept of “choice” with regard to mental illness and euthanasia a sickening farce. At the very least, however, this delay buys more time—for opponents of euthanasia to advocate a complete cancellation, and for those struggling with the disease of despair to find real help rather than a lethal injection.
Canada Delays Implementing Euthanasia for the Mentally Ill
In a rare piece of good news from Canada, Health Minister Mark Holland announced on January 29 a delay of the Trudeau government’s plan to expand eligibility for euthanasia to those suffering from mental illness. The Trudeau government had already delayed the expansion by a year previously; now, in response to a joint parliamentary committee’s report indicating unresolved issues with implementation, they are preparing to delay once again. The expansion was scheduled to take place on March 17. Holland stated that the country was not yet ready; a dissenting report by Conservative legislators described the expansion as “reckless and dangerous” and called on the government to abandon it entirely.
Over the past several years, Canada’s euthanasia regime has become international cautionary tale, with a nonstop string of horror stories making headlines around the world: poor people opting for euthanasia due to lack of housing; veterans being offered assisted suicide in lieu of treatment for PTSD; sick Canadians requesting lethal injections because they cannot get the healthcare they need. Euthanasia is being proactively offered in many Canadian hospitals. In 2022, 13,200 Canadians died by state-sanctioned and funded lethal injection—over 4% of recorded deaths. The planned expansion would have increased those numbers dramatically.
In recent months, the backlash to the Trudeau government’s planned expansion has grown. Conservative MP Ed Fast put forward Bill C-314 last year, which would have banned euthanasia for mental illness; it was voted down by the Liberals, although the New Democrats and eight Liberals broke rank. Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has condemned the expansion, and Conservative MPs have gone on the road across the country, hosting town hall meetings in which they highlight the dangers posed to the mentally ill. I attended one such meeting last fall in Oxford County, Ontario—it was packed, and the MPs noted that there was still time to halt the expansion. With characteristic chutzpah, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has claimed that his government has been driven by “the desire to protect vulnerable people.”
Canada’s Supreme Court overturned criminal prohibitions on assisted suicide in Carter v. Canada in 2015, and the Canadian Parliament passed Bill C-14, which legalized so-called “medical aid in dying” (or MAiD) for adults with “enduring and intolerable suffering” and a “reasonably foreseeable death” the following year. Those flimsy safeguards were soon removed, with the Trudeau government—ignoring an outcry from suicide prevention experts, Canada’s psychiatric bodies, and disability activists—passed Bill C-7 in 2021, legalizing euthanasia for those with mental illness. Despite condemnation of the legislation from across the ideological spectrum (the primary advocates of the bill are Dying with Dignity, one of the most dangerous groups in Canada), the Trudeau government has stuck to their guns.
Hopefully that will change. The March 17 deadline looms, and the Liberals will need to pass legislation in order to delay it once again (a one-year delay was legislated last year). Neither Health Minister Mark Holland nor Justice Minister Arif Virani detailed how the delay would be implemented, with Holland noting that: “The legislative time frame is tight. We recognize that. This has to be done in advance of (March 17). I don’t see the timeline being a barrier, but we do need to move expeditiously.” No mention was made of Canada’s abysmal record on healthcare provision to the mentally ill, which is in many places virtually unobtainable, rendering the concept of “choice” with regard to mental illness and euthanasia a sickening farce. At the very least, however, this delay buys more time—for opponents of euthanasia to advocate a complete cancellation, and for those struggling with the disease of despair to find real help rather than a lethal injection.
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