Quebec euthanasia deaths increase in 2023 to the highest euthanasia rate in the world.

2023: Québec had a 17% increase in euthanasia deaths. 7.3% of all deaths were euthanasia.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

CBC Radio Canada published an article on March 9, 2024 stating that there was a 17% increase in Québec euthanasia deaths with 5,686 reported deaths representing 7.3% of all deaths, which is the highest rate in the world in 2023. The Radio Canada report is based on the Quebec euthanasia deaths between January 1 - December 31, 2023.

I recently wrote an article based on the analysis by Amy Hasbrouck, the leader of Toujour Vivant - Not Dead Yet concerning the inconsistent data published in the The Quebec Commission on End-of-Life Care Annual Reports.

The Quebec Commission on End-of-Life Care Eighth Annual Report indicated that there were 5211 reported euthanasia deaths (April 1, 2022 - March 31, 2023) which was up from 3663 in the previous year (April 1, 2021 - March 31, 2022).

Hasbrouck's analysis of the Eighth annual report found that there were:

• 5,211 euthanasia reported by doctors in declaration forms (§ 3.2 p. 13)
• 5,401 euthanasia reported by hospitals and institutions (table C6 p. 46) 
• 5,208 euthanasia declaration forms received by the Commission (§ 2.1, p. 6)

This means that there was a discrepancy of 190 euthanasia deaths in the Eight Annual Report. Further to that, the Seventh Annual Report had a discrepancy of 289 euthanasia deaths.

In my article I asked the question: How many Quebec euthanasia deaths actually occur?

In early February I wrote an article stating that: There were approximately 16,000 Canadian euthanasia deaths in 2023 and more than 60,000 since legalization I made my prediction based on the euthanasia data from Ontario, Quebec, Alberta and Nova Scotia.