Euthanasia is legal in Canada.
Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID), assisted suicide, was made legal in Canada as of 2016. Doctors are required to participate in euthanasia regardless of their conscious rights.
Pain is not the top reason why people ask to be euthanized.
Depression, loneliness and feeling like a burden are the top reasons people ask to be euthanized.
Euthanasia is being abused by medical professionals.
Studies of other countries with legalized euthanasia show that medical professionals do not properly report cases of euthanasia, especially when mentally ill persons are involved.
Euthanasia Statistics
Euthanasia Hard Questions
What is Euthanasia?
Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide are different means to the same end.
Euthanasia
Formerly called “mercy killing,” euthanasia means intentionally making someone die rather than allowing that person to die naturally. Put bluntly, euthanasia means killing in the name of compassion. Learn more at:
Everyone's life is valuable.
Support additional services for Canadians so they have real options to live. At the same time, access to MAiD has been expanded in Canada since its introduction in 2016. In March 2021, the federal government passed revised legislation that changed the eligibility criteria and procedural safeguards for MAiD. The new law grants Canadians with chronic illness or disability, who are not terminally ill, the right to seek MAiD, and those who suffer solely from mental illness will have access to MAiD in March 2023.
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Assisted Suicide
Also referred to as Medical Assistance In Dying (MAID), assisted suicide is where a non-suicidal person knowingly and intentionally provides the means or acts in some way to help a suicidal person kill himself or herself. For example, a doctor writes a prescription for poison, or someone hooks up a face mask and tubing to a canister of carbon monoxide and then instructs the suicidal person on how to push a lever so that she’ll be gassed to death.
History of Euthanasia in Canada
1972
Canadian Parliament …
abolishes suicide and attempted suicide as a criminal offense.
1980
Canadian Charter …
of Rights and Freedoms is signed by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.
1993
Tracy Latimer …
who had cerebral palsy is killed by her father Robert Latimer. He is arrested and charged with murder in 1994.
1998
Appeals Court …
overturns the Latimer sentence, replacing it with Life in prison. Requiring a minimum of 10 years to be served without parole. Latimer appeals to the Supreme Court of Canada.
2001
Supreme Court …
of Canada upholds the Latimer conviction.
2010
Canada’s parliament …
rejected Bill C-384, a bill to legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide by a vote of 228 to 59.
2015
Carter v Canada case …
overturned legal ban on doctor-assisted suicide. The federal government was given 12 months to enact the necessary legislation to make doctor – assisted suicide legal.
2016
Current legislation …
on medical assistance in dying is now part of the Criminal Code, stating that a person is not guilty of a criminal offence if they provide or assist in assisted suicide, according to the conditions and safeguards of the law.
Do you or someone you know need support through chronic care or end-of-life journey?
Compassionate Community Care helpline can help. Call 1-855-675-8749 or click to visit their website.