Euthanasia (MAiD) is out of control in Canada.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

In April I wrote about the euthanasia death of a 51-year-old Ontario woman who had chemical sensitivities. The story was reported by CTV National News Medical Correspondent, Avis Favaro who reported that the woman was not terminally ill but living with chronic chemical sensitivities and environmental allergies. Favaro reported:

She died after a frantic effort by friends, supporters and even her doctors to get her safe and affordable housing in Toronto. She also left behind letters showing a desperate two-year search for help, in which she begs local, provincial and federal officials for assistance in finding a home away from the smoke and chemicals wafting through her apartment.

“This person begged for help for years, two years, wrote everywhere, called everywhere, asking for healthy housing,” said Rohini Peris, President of the Environmental Health Association of Québec (ASEQ-EHAQ).

“It’s not that she didn’t want to live,” Peris said from her home in Saint Sauveur, Que. “She couldn’t live that way.”

I stated that the CTV news story represented the ultimate form of abandonment whereby this woman died by MAiD, not because of "unremitting suffering" but because the government didn't help her find appropriate housing.

In late April, Favaro reported on a case of a 31-year-old Ontario woman who was approved for (MAiD) euthanasia for chemical sensitivities. Favaro stated that Denise (not her real name) was diagnosed with Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (MCS), which triggers rashes, difficulty breathing, and blinding headaches called hemiplegic migraines that cause her temporary paralysis. Favaro reported:

The chemicals that make her sick, are cigarette smoke, laundry chemicals, and air fresheners. She is at risk of anaphylactic shock and so has EpiPens at all times in case she has a life-threatening allergic attack.

Denise is also a wheelchair user after a spinal cord injury six years ago and has other chronic illnesses. In March 2021, the Canadian government passed Bill C-7 which permitted (MAiD) euthanasia for people who were not terminally ill, but living with chronic conditions. This has resulted in approvals to lethally inject (MAiD) people with treatable chronic conditions and it is exposing the reality that people with chronic conditions are often living in abject poverty and poor living conditions.

According to Favaro, Denise applied for MAiD based on poverty. Favaro stated:

She desperately wants to move to an apartment that’s wheelchair accessible and has cleaner air. But her only income is from Ontario’s Disability Support Program (ODSP). She receives a total of $1,169 a month plus $50 for a special diet. "I've applied for MAiD essentially...because of abject poverty,"

One of her physicians, Dr. Riina Bray, medical director of the Environmental Health Clinic at Women's College Hospital in Toronto, has been looking for better housing saying Denise requires “immediate relocation for her safety.”

The treatment for chemical sensitivities is to move the person into a home that doesn’t trigger sensitivities/allergic response. Therefore, medical practitioners are approving euthanasia and lethally injecting people who are not dying, who are not chronically ill, but rather require a clean place to live.

The reason these people live in unbearable social housing is because of poverty.

In April we received a call from a woman who was approved for euthanasia. She was speaking to one of our supporters about her decision to die by euthanasia. Our supporter gave her my contact information. This woman has cancer, she is nearly blind and she has debilitating arthritis.

After speaking with her we established that she wanted death by euthanasia because she couldn’t live the way she was living. Yes, she has cancer and yes she has debilitating arthritis, nonetheless, the reason she was seeking death was poverty. Due to her arthritis she could not go grocery shopping, she could not wash her clothes, she could not take a shower and nobody was helping her.

After buying her some groceries, arranging for a laundry service and arranging for someone to help her with some basic needs, she was happy to live and not die.

What we learned by caring for this woman, is that when she was assessed for (MAiD) she was not examined, but rather she was only asked questions. She was living in poverty, but they were only interested in her death, not her life. She wondered why they didn’t even offer her a sandwich. 

Make a donation to the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition (Link).

The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition opposes (MAiD) euthanasia because it gives medical practitioners the right in law to intentionally cause the death of a person. It is a form of homicide (murder). In fact, the law gives doctors and nurse practitioners the right in law to kill their patients, as long as two medical practitioners agree.

What about people with chronic injuries or medical conditions?

Donna Duncan, from Abbotsford BC, died by euthanasia in October 2021. Donna was not terminally ill, but rather she was injured from a car accident in February 2020 and was living with post-concussion syndrome. Due to the COVID protocols, Donna did not receive adequate rehabilitation and her symptoms persisted until she decided to seek out death by euthanasia to escape her suffering.

The family only found out after Donna had been approved for euthanasia and it was scheduled to happen within two days. Donna’s daughters attempted to get a court injunction. Donna was then examined by two psychiatrists. One psychiatrist found her depressed and in distress while the other determined that there was no evidence of depression or anxiety. Donna was then declared competent by a third psychiatric assessment and lethally injected later that day.

We are now facing the debate of expanding euthanasia to children “mature minors.” Prime Minister Trudeau established a Special Joint Parliamentary Committee to investigate the expansion of (MAiD) euthanasia to include euthanasia for “mature minors,” euthanasia by advanced directive and euthanasia for people with mental illness.

One problem is the lack of effective control of the law. The only requires two medical practitioners to approve a death, so even when Duncan's family challenged the death approval, the psychiatrist was only fulfilling the role of assuring that Duncan was competent.

Sadly we predicted this outcome. But we are standing against the wave.

We care and we oppose killing. Join us. 

Help us to be a voice and an active presence against this culture of death. Killing needs to be replaced by caring. 

Become a member of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition (Membership link).