Canada's new Justice Minister is radically pro-euthanasia.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition.

I am concerned about the expansion of euthanasia to children in Canada.

On January 16, Prime Minister Trudeau indicated his intention to expand Canada's euthanasia law when he appointed David Lametti as Justice Minister.

Jody Wilson-Raybould (left)
David Lametti (right)

After the release of the Council of Canadian Academies (CCA) reports on the expansion of euthanasia in Canada to include children, psychiatric conditions alone and incompetent people who previously requested euthanasia, Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould stated that no changes to the law were coming. It seems likely that Lametti was appointed to expand the law.

Lametti voted against Bill C-14, the bill that legalized euthanasia in June 2016, because he thought that the law was too restrictive and thus unconstitutional.

● Article: Is Child Euthanasia Next in Canada?

I am concerned about the expansion of euthanasia to children. The CCA report on Child Euthanasia stated:

Denying MAID to mature minors would pose a potential future legal challenge if a case were to be brought forward in which a mature minor argued that their constitutional rights were being denied.

● Sign the online petition: I oppose Child Euthanasia.

The CCA reports were negative to the idea of expanding euthanasia to people with psychiatric conditions alone while the report on expanding euthanasia to incompetent people, who made a prior request, was mixed in its response. The euthanasia lobby is running a campaign to expand euthanasia to incompetent people who previously requested it.

I am also concerned about the conscience rights of medical professionals and institutions that refuse to participate in killing. 

Long-time euthanasia activist and "academic" Jocelyn Downie, is campaigning to force St. Martha's hospital to participate in euthanasia. Even though this is a provincial issue, the federal government could impact this debate.

Since the Liberals have a majority government, I hope that Lametti will wait until after the October 21 federal election, but it is possible that the Liberals will view euthanasia as a wedge issue and move to expand the law before summer.