Québec expands euthanasia law. They already have the highest euthanasia rate in the world.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

On June 7, The Physicians’ Alliance against Euthanasia joined with the Living with Dignity citizen network to express their great disappointment that Bill 11, An Act to amend the Act respecting end-of-life care and other legislative provisions was passed in the Québec legislature.

Many people are not aware that Canada has two euthanasia laws, a Québec law that came into effect in December 2015 and a federal law that came into effect in June 2016. Bill 11 amended the Québec law.

The Physicians' Alliance and Living with Dignity reported that Bill 11 will expand euthanasia in Québec in the following ways:

- creating an obligation for palliative care homes to offer MAID (in 6 months);

- offering MAID in cases of serious physical disability* (in 9 months);

- offering MAID by advance request* (in a maximum of 24 months).

*together with the other criteria of the Act respecting end-of-life care.

The Canadian Press reported that Bill 11 "also allows Quebecers to receive a doctor-assisted death in places other than hospitals, such as funeral homes and long-term care facilities."

A CBC radio program (in french) program by Davide Gentile & Daniel Boily reported on February 16, 2023 that more than 7% of deaths were from medical assistance in dying in Quebec with more than 5,000 people who died by MAiD in 2022, compared to less than 1,000 MAid deaths five years ago.

I reported on February 20 that the Québec government Commission on End-of-Life Care launched a consultation to learn why Québec has the highest euthanasia rate in the world.

Based on the passing of Bill 11, the euthanasia rate in Québec will only go up. As already stated, Bill 11 will force palliative care homes, that have refused to participate in MAiD, to provide it. Bill 11 expands the definition of eligibility to include people with serious disabilities and it expands euthanasia to be permissible by advanced request.

By forcing palliative care homes to provide euthanasia, some palliative care professionals will leave the profession. Defining euthanasia eligibility to specifically permit the killing of people with serious disabilities, who are not otherwise dying, confirms the eugenic nature of Québec's euthanasia program.

Pierre Luc Turcotte stated in his article published by the Montreal Gazette that:

In Germany, during the Second World War, "competent professionals" - doctors and nurses - participated in a euthanasia program that led to the deaths of 200,000 disabled persons. This eugenic policy was part of the Nazi's social cleansing efforts. But it was also seen and socially accepted as "medical care" based on the reasoning these lives were "not worth living." While a parallel with Bill 11 may seem far-fetched, eugenics similarly existed in Québec.

We must take every precaution to avoid repeating mistakes of the past.

I know that people will say that it is unacceptable to compare Canada and Québec's current euthanasia programs to the Nazi euthanasia program that began in 1939, but if they are different, then Turcotte is correct to urge that we avoid repeating the mistakes of the past.

Québec has the highest euthanasia rate in the world and it has now expanded it's euthanasia law. It seems to me that Québec, and much of Canada, have become dedicated to death.

The question is not - why does Québec have the highest euthanasia rate in the world, but rather, what can be done to reverse the killing trend in Québec and Canada?

I recently projected that there will be at least 13,500 Canadian euthanasia deaths in 2022 representing a 35% increase.