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Canadian pro-life groups hold rally on Parliament Hill to protest euthanasia for mental illness

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By Clare Marie Merkowsky

‘The implementation of euthanasia for the mentally ill must not simply be delayed for three years, it must be entirely stopped,’ Campaign Life Coalition national president Jeff Gunnarson said.

A number of top pro-life groups, including Campaign Life Coalition (CLC), held a rally on Parliament Hill in Ottawa Tuesday to call for protection of the mentally ill from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s euthanasia regime.Ā Ā 

On February 27, CLCĀ joinedĀ Euthanasia Prevention Coalition (EPC) and Quebec Life Coalition along with other legal and medical experts to demand that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau permanently pause the expansion of MAiD (Medical Assistance in Dying) to the mentally ill.Ā 

ā€œWhile we accept this delay, the fact is that euthanasia solely on the grounds of mental illness should never have been legally permitted in the first place,ā€ said CLC national president Jeff Gunnarson in aĀ press release. ā€œThose suffering from mental illness need compassionate care, not killing.ā€Ā 

ā€œThe implementation of euthanasia for the mentally ill must not simply be delayed for three years, it must be entirely stopped,ā€ he added.Ā 

During the rally, Dr. Paul Saba urged Canadians to oppose MAiD, arguing ā€œwe should be providing better care and not be killing the disabled.ā€Ā 

Similarly, human rights lawyer Garifalia Milousis condemned the MAiD laws, revealing that she was ā€œhere today because thankfully in my moment of suffering no one came to me and said ā€˜maybe assisted suicide is the solution.’ā€Ā 

Milousis warned that if the MAiD laws are expanded, ā€œsomeone like myself in a moment of deep despair and depression and psychological sufferingā€ would be told there is no hope for them and death is the only solution.Ā Ā 

ā€œInstead of us coming alongside those individuals and saying that there is hope; there is meaning, and there is purpose to their lives,ā€ she said ā€œWe’re instead going to say ā€˜maybe depression is right; maybe there isn’t any hope for you anymore.’ā€Ā Ā 

In January, after a lot of pushback from pro-life, medical, and mental health groups as well as most of Canada’s provinces, the federal government under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delayed its planned expansion of MAiD to those suffering solely from mental illness from March of this year until 2027.    

Shortly after, Liberal Health Minister Mark Holland announced the Trudeau government still intends to expand euthanasia to mentally ill Canadians, despite provincial health ministersĀ requestingĀ the measure be ā€œindefinitelyā€ postponed.Ā Ā Ā Ā 

The provision, if and when it is implemented, will relax legislation around so-called MAiD to include those suffering solely from mental illness. This is a result of the 2021 passage of Bill C-7, which allowed the chronically ill – not just the terminally ill – to qualify for so-called doctor-assisted death.   

However, many experts have warned against the MAiD expansion, including leading Canadian psychiatrist Dr. K. Sonu Gaind, who testified that the expansion of MAiD ā€œis not so much a slippery slope as a runaway train.ā€ā€ÆĀ Ā 

Similarly, in November, several Canadian psychiatrists warned that the country is ā€œnot readyā€ for the coming expansion of euthanasia to those who are mentally ill. They said that further liberalizing the procedure is not something that ā€œsociety should be doingā€ as it could lead to deaths under a ā€œfalse pretense.ā€ā€ÆĀ 

The expansion of euthanasia to those with mental illness even has the far-left New Democratic Party (NDP) concerned. Dismissing these concerns, a Trudeau Foundation fellow actually said Trudeau’s current euthanasia regime is marked by ā€œprivilege,ā€ assuring the Canadian people that most of those being put to death are ā€œwhite,ā€ ā€œwell off,ā€ and ā€œhighly educated.ā€ā€ÆĀ Ā 

The most recent reports show that MAiD is the sixth highest cause of death. However, it was not listed as such in Statistics Canada’sĀ top 10 leading causes of death from 2019 to 2022. When asked why MAiD was left off the list, the agency explained that it records the illnesses that led Canadians to choose to end their lives via euthanasia, not the actual cause of death, as the primary cause of death.Ā Ā 

According to Health Canada, in 2022, 13,241 Canadians died by MAiD lethal injections. This accounts for 4.1 percent of all deaths in the country for that year, a 31.2 percent increase from 2021.     

While the numbers for 2023 have yet to be released, all indications point to a situation even more grim than 2022.  

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ā€˜Great Reset’ champion Klaus Schwab resigns from WEF

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From LifeSiteNews

By Jonathon Van Maren

Schwab’s World Economic Forum became a globalist hub for population control, radical climate agenda, and transhuman ideology under his decades-long leadership.

Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum and the face of the NGO’s elitist annual get-together in Davos, Switzerland, has resigned as chair of WEF.Ā 

Over the decades, but especially over the past several years, the WEF’s Davos annual symposium has become a lightning rod for conservative criticism due to the agendas being pushed there by the elites. As the Associated PressĀ noted:Ā 

Widely regarded as a cheerleader for globalization, the WEF’s Davos gathering has in recent years drawn criticism from opponents on both left and right as an elitist talking shop detached from lives of ordinary people.Ā 

While WEF itself had no formal power, the annual Davos meeting brought together many of the world’s wealthiest and most influential figures, contributing to Schwab’s personal worth and influence.

Schwab’s resignation on April 20 was announced by the Geneva-based WEF on April 21, but did not indicate why the 88-year-old was resigning. ā€œFollowing my recent announcement, and as I enter my 88thĀ year, I have decided to step down from the position of Chair and as a member of the Board of Trustees, with immediate effect,ā€ Schwab said in a brief statement. He gave no indication of what he plans to do next.Ā 

Schwab founded the World Economic Forum – originally the European Management Forum – in 1971, and its initial mission was to assist European business leaders in competing with American business and to learn from U.S. models and innovation. However, the mission soon expanded to the development of a global economic agenda.Ā Ā 

Schwab detailed his own agenda in several books, includingĀ The Fourth Industrial RevolutionĀ (2016), in which he described the rise of a new industrial era in which technologies such artificial intelligence, gene editing, and advanced robotics would blur the lines between the digital, physical, and biological worlds. Schwab wrote:Ā 

We stand on the brink of a technological revolution that will fundamentally alter the way we live, work, and relate to one another. In its scale, scope, and complexity, the transformation will be unlike anything humankind has experienced before. We do not yet know just how it will unfold, but one thing is clear: the response to it must be integrated and comprehensive, involving all stakeholders of the global polity, from the public and private sectors to academia and civil society …

The Fourth Industrial Revolution, finally, will change not only what we do but also who we are. It will affect our identity and all the issues associated with it: our sense of privacy, our notions of ownership, our consumption patterns, the time we devote to work and leisure, and how we develop our careers, cultivate our skills, meet people, and nurture relationships. It is already changing our health and leading to a ā€œquantifiedā€ self, and sooner than we think it may lead to human augmentation.

How? Microchips implanted into humans, for one. Schwab was a tech optimist who appeared to heartily welcome transhumanism; in aĀ 2016 interview with France 24Ā discussing his book, he stated:Ā Ā 

And then you have the microchip, which will be implanted, probably within the next ten years, first to open your car, your home, or to do your passport, your payments, and then it will be in your body to monitor your health.

In 2020, mere months into the pandemic, Schwab publishedĀ COVID-19: The Great Reset, in which he detailed his view of the opportunity presented by the growing global crisis. According to Schwab, the crisis was an opportunity for a global reset that included ā€œstakeholder capitalism,ā€ in which corporations could integrate social and environmental goals into their operations, especially working toward ā€œnet-zero emissionsā€ and a massive transition to green energy, and ā€œharnessingā€ the Fourth Industrial Revolution, including artificial intelligence and automation.Ā 

Much of Schwab’s personal wealth came from running the World Economic Forum; as chairman, he earned an annual salary of 1 million Swiss francs (approximately $1 million USD), and the WEF was supported financially through membership fees from over 1,000 companies worldwide as well as significant contributions from organizations such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Vice Chairman Peter Brabeck-Letmathe is now serving as interim chairman until his replacement has been selected.Ā 

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Jonathon’s writings have been translated into more than six languages and in addition to LifeSiteNews, has been published in theĀ National Post,Ā National Review,Ā First Things, The Federalist, The American Conservative, The Stream, theĀ Jewish Independent,Ā theĀ Hamilton Spectator,Ā Reformed Perspective Magazine, and LifeNews, among others. He is a contributing editor to The European Conservative.

His insights have been featured on CTV, Global News, and the CBC, as well as over twenty radio stations. He regularly speaks on a variety of social issues at universities, high schools, churches, and other functions in Canada, the United States, and Europe.

He is the author ofĀ The Culture War,Ā Seeing is Believing: Why Our Culture Must Face the Victims of Abortion,Ā Patriots: The Untold Story of Ireland’s Pro-Life Movement,Ā Prairie Lion: The Life and Times of Ted Byfield, and co-author ofĀ A Guide to Discussing Assisted SuicideĀ with Blaise Alleyne.

Jonathon serves as the communications director for the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform.

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2025 Federal Election

Euthanasia is out of control in Canada, but nobody is talking about it on the campaign trail

Published on

From LifeSiteNews

By Jonathon Van Maren

While refraining from campaigning on the issue, Poilievre, to his credit, has said previously that he will ‘scrap’ the Liberal’s plan of expanding euthanasia to the mentally ill ‘entirely.’

Canada’s euthanasia regime should be one of the key election issues on the campaign trail, but thus far, there seems to be little interest in discussing the issue.Ā 

This despite the fact that last month, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with DisabilitiesĀ took the stunning step of publishing a reportĀ calling on Canada to halt ā€œTrack 2 MAID,ā€ stop the planned 2027 expansion of euthanasia to those suffering solely from mental illness, and reject ā€œadvance directivesā€ for euthanasia.Ā 

Track 2 MAID was legalized in Canada in 2021, when a lower Quebec court ruled that restricting euthanasia to those with ā€œreasonably foreseeable deathā€ was unconstitutional and expanding eligibility to a wide range of Canadians suffering from various conditions. The floodgates opened; over 60,000 Canadians have died by euthanasia since legalization.Ā 

In fact, the vice-chair of the UN committee, at a hearing in Geneva, went so far as to ask a Canadian government representative how it was possible not to view Canada’s euthanasia regime as a ā€œstep back into state-sponsored eugenics.ā€Ā 

When Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre was asked on the campaign trail if his government would make any changes to Canada’s laws, he responded: ā€œPeople will continue to have the right to make that choice, the choice for themselves. We are not proposing to expand medical assistance in dying beyond the existing parameters. That said, we also believe that we need better healthcare so that people have all sorts of options.ā€Ā 

 

Poilievre then pivoted to discussing his policies to fix Canada’s broken healthcare system, making it quite clear that this is an issue that he is not eager to discuss—likely because ofĀ high support for euthanasia in Quebec. Indeed, Dying with Dignity—Canada’s relentless and well-funded euthanasia lobby—hasĀ been releasing polling data designed to discourage politiciansĀ from addressing the issue, emphasizing public support for their agenda.Ā 

Rebecca Vachon of Cardus has a good breakdown of DWD’s data that highlights the truth of the old political adage that polls are often commissioned to shape public opinion rather than measure it:Ā 

 

Indeed, inĀ response to a request for commentĀ on the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities report and recommendations from Canadian Affairs, Health Canada ignored the condemnation of Canada’s regime and instead simply reiterated the current framework—including the planned 2027 eligibility expansion. In summary, if the Liberals are re-elected at the end of this month, it is full steam ahead—and Canadians with disabilities will simply have to live (or die) with it.Ā 

Despite the Conservative Party’s clear disinterest in campaigning on the issue, the choice before Canadians is still clear. Make no mistake: Expanding euthanasia to those with mental illness would be one of the greatest national tragedies since the 1988Ā R v. MorgentalerĀ decision. If you have foundĀ the stories of the past several years horrifying, remember: They are nothing compared to the stories that we will all be forced to read, and perhaps even experience, once a Liberal government begins to facilitate suicide for those suffering solely from suicidal ideation.Ā Ā 

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Jonathon’s writings have been translated into more than six languages and in addition to LifeSiteNews, has been published in theĀ National Post,Ā National Review,Ā First Things, The Federalist, The American Conservative, The Stream, theĀ Jewish Independent,Ā theĀ Hamilton Spectator,Ā Reformed Perspective Magazine, and LifeNews, among others. He is a contributing editor to The European Conservative.

His insights have been featured on CTV, Global News, and the CBC, as well as over twenty radio stations. He regularly speaks on a variety of social issues at universities, high schools, churches, and other functions in Canada, the United States, and Europe.

He is the author ofĀ The Culture War,Ā Seeing is Believing: Why Our Culture Must Face the Victims of Abortion,Ā Patriots: The Untold Story of Ireland’s Pro-Life Movement,Ā Prairie Lion: The Life and Times of Ted Byfield, and co-author ofĀ A Guide to Discussing Assisted SuicideĀ with Blaise Alleyne.

Jonathon serves as the communications director for the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform.

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