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| Mark Holland |
Shortly before the delay was announced but when there were already signs that the Canadian Government was having “second thoughts”, the Editorial Board of the Washington Post wrote a sharply worded piece opposing voluntary euthanasia for psychiatric survivors in Canada and elsewhere. The importance of a major newspaper taking such a stand cannot be overestimated.
Federal Bill C-62 seeks to amend the Criminal Code to provide that persons are not eligible, until March 17, 2027, to receive medical assistance in dying “if their sole underlying medical condition is a mental illness” continues its legislative journey.
The adoption of a motion this week allowed this Bill to be expedited. Note that there was a failed attempt by the Bloc Québécois to add the issue of advance requests to C-62.
We thank psychiatrists Pierre Gagnon and Sonu Gaind who spent Valentine's evening participating in the only meeting of the Standing Committee on Health studying the Bill.
By Alex Schadenberg*
Spiked published an in-depth article by Lauren Smith on January 15, 2024 titled: "Canada has revealed the horror of assisted dying." Smith tells the stories of the many people who have felt forced into considering death by euthanasia.
Smith sets the stage for her article by calling Canada's euthanasia law a gruesome, state-sanctioned industry. Smith states:
There is nothing remotely civilized about Canada’s medical assistance in dying (MAID) programme. Assisted dying in Canada was initially considered a last resort for terminally ill patients suffering from incurable pain. But in the space of just a few years, euthanasia has been made available to pretty much anyone who is struggling with an illness or a disability. Even Canadians facing homelessness and poverty are feeling compelled to end their lives, rather than ‘burden’ the authorities.
An increase in deaths among younger people last year was attributable in part to deaths under investigation by a coroner or medical examiner, which typically include suicides, homicides and drug toxicity deaths.Further to that, the Canadian Press reported:
New Brunswick saw the biggest decline in life expectancy among provinces, dropping more than a year to 79.8 years from 80.9 in 2021, the report said. Saskatchewan's life expectancy has fallen the most over the past three years combined, dropping a full two years to 78.5 in 2022 from 80.5 in 2019. Prince Edward Island was not included in the yearly data breakdowns by province.Health Columnist Andre Picard was published by the Globe and Mail on December 5 as stating:
A one-year loss in life expectancy may not seem like a big deal, but it is. It’s only the second time this sharp a drop has happened in Canada in the past century. In fact, life expectancy has been climbing steadily for decades: 71 in 1960, 75 in 1980, 79 in 2000, and 82.3 in 2019. Life expectancy is an oft-misunderstood measure. It’s not so much a prediction of how long an individual can expect to live, but rather a crude measure of a country’s health, the only real measure of overall population health we have.To read Schadenberg's article as originally published, please click here:
In 2011, I met a beautiful blonde woman at a Euthanasia Prevention Coalition Conference in Vancouver BC Canada. To me, she looked like a movie star. She was in fact a jazz singer and also a teacher.
We talked and she explained that her mother had been starved and dehydrated to death in a Canadian long-term care home. She also told me that she had published an article about her experience and agreed to let me republish the article on the Choice in an Illusion website.[1] We also became friends.
In April 2013, Alex Schadenberg, head of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, wrote Kate regarding the impact of her republished article:
I want you to know that I had a meeting with a head nurse at a local nursing home today who was converted by your article about your mom's death.
She cried and cried . . . she is trying to change her nursing home.