Canada’s euthanasia expansion: how we became a world leader in assisted death

In 2017, just days after medical euthanasia was legalized in Canada, Vancouver’s most prominent euthanasia doctor commented on the initial high numbers, which startled even one provincial health minister.

In less than six months, Canadian doctors had killed 744 adults who requested assisted death—four Canadians a day.

In Quebec, where the provincial government was already allowing doctors to euthanize patients a year before Ottawa legalized it, Health Minister Gaetan Barrette was caught off guard. His province was euthanizing people at more than 2½ times the rate he had predicted. “That, in itself, is surprising to me.”

But the numbers didn’t faze Vancouver’s Dr. Ellen Wiebe, who claimed responsibility for at least five per cent of the 744 deaths. “I know that it will increase,” said Wiebe, who assisted in at least 40 of those deaths. “I expect that we’ll get to the point of the Netherlands and Belgium because their laws are similar to ours, and that would mean about five per cent of all deaths.”

Wiebe’s crystal ball was fairly accurate. In 2023, Canada reported 15,343 MAiD deaths, accounting for 4.7 per cent of all deaths—not quite the Netherlands’ 2022 rate of 5.1 per cent (9,195 cases), but well ahead of Belgium’s 2.5 per cent (2,966 cases).

Last year The B.C. Catholic published a special edition on MAiD, projecting that at its current growth rate, Canada would hit 18,000 deaths in 2024. Final numbers are still pending, but if accurate, that would push Canada past the Netherlands for the world’s highest euthanasia rate. There’s no reason to think we won’t get there—or didn’t long ago—given that euthanasia data is often incomplete and largely self-reported.

Canada’s bishops have consistently condemned all aspects of Canada’s MAiD legalization, calling euthanasia and assisted suicide “morally unacceptable” and “affronts to human dignity and violations of natural and divine law” in a November 2023 statement.

It’s remarkable how quickly a society’s natural aversion to suicide can be reversed. It didn’t happen by accident.

A new article in The American Journal of Bioethics identifies three factors that make Canada’s soaring euthanasia rates unique:

1. The “significant” number of cases where patients didn’t want to die but found MAiD their easiest option.
2. The rapid acceptance of MAiD, now the sixth leading cause of death in Canada.
3. An “active movement” more interested in expanding euthanasia access “in law, policy, and practice” rather than focusing on safeguards.

Euthanasia activists appear to have the government’s ear—and, in some cases, its wallet. Health Canada has provided millions of dollars in funding to MAiD provider group the Canadian Association of MAiD Assessors and Providers, a registered charity that received $1.2 million in government funding in 2023.

Dying With Dignity, which plays a major role in lobbying for expanded MAiD policy, receives over $2 million annually in tax-deductible donations.

Now, Health Canada is wrapping up a consultation process purportedly aimed at gauging public opinion on legalizing advance requests for MAiD.

Under current law, individuals cannot make a legally binding request for euthanasia at a future date. But Quebec has already begun allowing advance requests, and the federal government has declined to challenge the province in court. Pro-euthanasia activists are pushing for nationwide legalization of advance requests, using Quebec’s move as leverage to pressure Ottawa.

The Health Canada online consultation ends on Valentine’s Day, and critics argue it has “stacked the deck” to ensure a pro-advance-requests outcome.

Alex Schadenberg of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition believes the consultation is rigged, saying the wording of questions assumes support for advance requests and euthanasia by default.

He’s right. After reviewing the consultation, it’s clear the questions are framed to favour a pro-euthanasia outcome.

Canadian Physicians for Life called the survey “abysmal,” saying, “It presumes that advance requests are a foregone conclusion nationwide with many leading questions to endorse this development.” 

No Options, No Choice, a project of the Christian Medical and Dental Association of Canada, warns that the survey’s wording makes it difficult to express opposing viewpoints.

What can you do? Take part in the consultation the best you can. The online consultation link is open until Feb. 14 at canada.ca/en/health-canada/programs/consultation-advance-requests-medical-assistance-dying.

Schadenberg urges you to first read the EPC guide to answering the online consultation. It’s at alexschadenberg.blogspot.com/2024/12/guide-to-responding-to-online.

The No Options, No Choice team offers a sample response to the public survey at nooptionsnochoice.com. Use your own words when completing the survey. 

Canadian Physicians for Life invites Canadians to contact Opposition MPs about the survey’s bias:

• MP Stephen Ellis, Shadow Minister for Health – [email protected]
• MP Tracy Gray, Shadow Minister for Disability Inclusion – [email protected]
• MP Todd Doherty, Shadow Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention – [email protected].

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