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MAiD

Canada’s devastating assisted suicide regime is tearing families apart

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From LifeSiteNews

By Jonathon Van Maren

The father stated that his daughter’s ‘capacity to consent to [assisted suicide] is impacted by mental illness’ and that she had likely been ‘unduly influenced by a third party.’

Last year, I noted in First Things that of all the perverse lies told by proponents of euthanasia, one of the worst is their claim that it reduces suffering in society. The precise opposite is true. We have seen this in Canada time and again; heartbroken relatives reaching out to the media to explain how the assisted suicide of a loved one has left them destroyed. Each person who dies at the end of a doctor’s needle leaves loved ones behind; many of them are deeply traumatized by the experience. 

Gary Hertgers of British Columbia found out that his sister, Wilma, had died by lethal injection when her building manager called him to inform him that the coroner had just left her apartment. A doctor told the Globe and Mail that he still has nightmares about his father’s euthanasia death, which the family opposed. Two sisters in B.C. found out that their mother had died through euthanasia by text message. Another mother whose troubled son was approved for euthanasia only managed to have that approval rescinded by launching a media campaign. 

The CBC is now reporting on a similar story. A desperate father has requested that Court of King’s Bench Justice Colin Feasby in Alberta examine the process that led to two of three doctors approving his daughter for euthanasia (which is referred to in Canada as “MAiD,” or medical assistance in dying). His daughter, who suffers from autism, is only 27 years old. The court has issued a publication ban to protect the identities of the family members and the doctors involved; CBC identified the father as “W.V.” and the daughter as “M.V.”  

According to court proceedings, M.V. was approved for euthanasia in December – signoff by two doctors is required to meet the threshold. She was given the date of February 1 to receive the lethal injection. M.V. still lives with her father, who managed to obtain a temporary injunction halting the impending euthanasia (the CBC reported that this “prevent(ed) M.V. from accessing MAiD”) the day before her scheduled death. Her father argued to the court that “M.V. suffers from autism and possibly other undiagnosed maladies that do not satisfy the eligibility criteria for MAiD.” 

The daughter’s lawyer, Austin Paladeau, countered by arguing that M.V. is “not trying to withhold or hide anything” by her failure to supply medical documents justifying euthanasia, but that “She’s saying ‘it’s none of (W.V.’s) or the public’s business, I’ve been approved by two doctors, I am entitled to this and, court, it’s none of your business either.’” 

Her father, who still cares for her, feels differently; her death is very much his business. His lawyer, Sarah Miller, argued in a brief: “As it stands, AHS (Alberta Health Services) operates a MAiD system with no legislation, no appeal process and no means of review.” 

Miller is asking the Calgary judge for a judicial review of M.V.’s approval for euthanasia, and W.V. submitted a 2021 report to the court from a neurologist who stated that M.V. was “normal”; the father also stated that M.V.’s “capacity to consent to MAiD is impacted by mental illness” and that she had likely been “unduly influenced by a third party.” M.V.’s lawyer argued that the issue at stake was medical autonomy itself, stating:  

He’s at risk of losing his daughter and while this is sad, it does not give him the right to keep her alive against her wishes. One of the real challenging parts of this process… is what’s actually happening. I completely understand (W.V.) does not want his daughter to die… I represent (M.V.), I don’t want her to die either but that doesn’t play into account here. Even though we have or may have very strong views… at the end of the day this is (M.V.’s) decision.

The judge is grappling with the case. “As a court, I can’t go second guessing these MAiD assessors… but I’m stuck with this: the only comprehensive assessment of this person done says she’s normal,” Feasby stated. “That’s really hard.” He called the case a “vexing” one and, according to the CBC, “reserved his decision on whether he’ll set aside the temporary injunction preventing M.V. from accessing MAiD… the other part of his decision will deal with whether a judicial review will take place, which would examine how doctors came to sign off on M.V.’s MAiD application.” 

I hope Feasby makes the right decision. If he does not, a father will face the horror of a doctor coming into his home and giving his daughter a lethal injection against his will – with the entire force of the state endorsing the doctor’s right to do so. At the end of the day, this case is vexing – but it really isn’t hard. 

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Jonathon Van Maren is a public speaker, writer, and pro-life activist. His commentary has been translated into more than eight languages and published widely online as well as print newspapers such as the Jewish Independent, the National Post, the Hamilton Spectator and others. He has received an award for combating anti-Semitism in print from the Jewish organization B’nai Brith. His commentary has been featured on CTV Primetime, Global News, EWTN, and the CBC as well as dozens of radio stations and news outlets in Canada and the United States.

He speaks on a wide variety of cultural topics across North America at universities, high schools, churches, and other functions. Some of these topics include abortion, pornography, the Sexual Revolution, and euthanasia. Jonathon holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in history from Simon Fraser University, and is the communications director for the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform.

Jonathon’s first book, The Culture War, was released in 2016.

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2025 Federal Election

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

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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. 

This despite the fact that last month, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities took the stunning step of publishing a report calling on Canada to halt “Track 2 MAID,” stop the planned 2027 expansion of euthanasia to those suffering solely from mental illness, and reject “advance directives” for euthanasia. 

Track 2 MAID was legalized in Canada in 2021, when a lower Quebec court ruled that restricting euthanasia to those with “reasonably foreseeable death” 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. 

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 “step back into state-sponsored eugenics.” 

When Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre was asked on the campaign trail if his government would make any changes to Canada’s laws, he responded: “People 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.” 

 

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 of high support for euthanasia in Quebec. Indeed, Dying with Dignity—Canada’s relentless and well-funded euthanasia lobby—has been releasing polling data designed to discourage politicians from addressing the issue, emphasizing public support for their agenda. 

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: 

 

Indeed, in response to a request for comment 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. 

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 1988 R v. Morgentaler decision. If you have found 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.  

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Jonathon’s writings have been translated into more than six languages and in addition to LifeSiteNews, has been published in the National PostNational ReviewFirst Things, The Federalist, The American Conservative, The Stream, the Jewish Independent, the Hamilton SpectatorReformed 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 of The Culture WarSeeing is Believing: Why Our Culture Must Face the Victims of AbortionPatriots: The Untold Story of Ireland’s Pro-Life MovementPrairie Lion: The Life and Times of Ted Byfield, and co-author of A Guide to Discussing Assisted Suicide with Blaise Alleyne.

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

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MAiD

Disability rights panel calls out Canada, US states pushing euthanasia on sick patients

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From LifeSiteNews

By Calvin Freiburger

Physician-assisted suicide programs in the United States and Canada are discriminating against patients with serious medical conditions even when their cases are not terminal, in many cases pushing to end their lives for financial reasons rather than medical.

Catholic News Agency reported that a panel of disability-rights advocates recently examined the landscape of the issue during the Religion News Association’s 2025 annual conference. During the panel, Patients Rights Action Fund (PRAF) executive director Matt Vallière accused state euthanasia programs of discriminating against patients with life-threatening conditions in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, noting that when a state will “will pay for every instance of assisted suicide” but not palliative care, “I don’t call that autonomy, I call that eugenics.”

Inclusion Canada CEO Krista Carr, meanwhile, discussed her organization’s lawsuit against the expansion of Canada’s medical assistance in dying (MAID) program to “people with an incurable disease or disability who are not dying, so they’re not at end of life and their death is not reasonably foreseeable.”

More astonishingly, she added, this “funded right” to lethal injection is slated to be expanded to mental illness in 2027.

“By setting out a timeline of three years, it’s an indication that the systems need to move towards readiness in two years. There’s the opportunity to do another review, and to assess the readiness of the system through a parliamentary process,” Health Minister Mark Holland said in February of the move, which Dying with Dignity Canada presents as a matter of “equality” for “those whose sole underlying condition is a mental illness.”

“It’s being called a choice,” but “it’s not a choice,” Carr said. Rather, these programs are pushing the “choice” on patients in “a desperate situation where they can’t get the support they need.”

As LifeSiteNews recently covered, the “most recent reports show that (medical assistance in dying) is the sixth highest cause of death in Canada. However, it was not listed as such in Statistics Canada’s top 10 leading causes of death from 2019 to 2022.”

In America, nine states plus the District of Columbia currently allow assisted suicide.

Support is available to talk those struggling with suicidal thoughts out of ending their lives. The American Suicide & Crisis Lifeline and the Canadian Suicide Crisis Helpline can both be reached by calling or texting 988.

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