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| Parliamentary Press Gallery - December 5, 2025 |
My name is Alex Schadenberg and I am the Executive Director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition (EPC). EPC is a Coalition of groups and individuals from all walks of life and beliefs that oppose euthanasia and assisted suicide.
Today we have with us from remote: Kelsi Sheren, a military veteran, business owner, speaker, writer and social media influencer, Alicia Duncan, whose mother died by euthanasia in 2021 based on circumstances related to her mother’s mental health. Alicia has become a world-wide speaker, author and advocate. Dr Paul Saba (in-person), is a well-known family physician in Lachine Quebec. (Link to the Press Conference Video)
Today we are speaking about Bill C-218, the Private Members Bill that is sponsored by Tamara Jansen (MP - Cloverdale - Langley City) to exclude mental illness as being a “grievous and irremediable medical condition.”
This minor change to the criminal code will prevent persons with their sole condition being a mental illness, from being approved for medical assistance in dying, better known as euthanasia.
Canada legalized euthanasia by creating exception to the criminal code for homicide, therefore MAiD or euthanasia has enabled doctors and nurse practitioners to poison their patients to death.
The issue of MAiD for mental illness brings other questions into the debate such as: Is the request to be killed part a symptom of their mental health condition? Is the person fully competent to consent to be killed? Could the person recover, with treatment, at some time in the future?
It's been 4,620 days since my suicide attempt. Leading up to it, I'd been diagnosed with a cornucopia of mental illnesses (including, at different times, schizo-affective disorder, bipolar disorder type II, agoraphobia, panic disorder, and others). I felt, at the time, that even if my situation could get better in the future, I was too exhausted to continue to live until it did improve. I had been so highly medicated and sleep deprived that I was convinced, beyond all arguments, that I needed to die to end my suffering.Canadians deserve better mental health care than death. Canadians deserve the dignity of our suffering and burden being shared and earnestly helped. Canadians deserve more than euthanasia.
At the time of my suicide attempt, I was unable to attend school. I was unable to regularly sleep through the night due to night terrors and a psychotic detachment from reality. While awake, I experienced almost hourly panic attacks, which wreaked havoc on my already underweight and exhausted body. I could not have dreamed of ever being capable of working, of living a life without extreme support measures, or considering myself to be a generally happy person.
Recently, I got married, and my husband and I are expecting our first child. I was able to finish high school, I got my college diploma and have maintained ongoing full-time employment for 4 years. I received the support I truly needed, and no longer require medication to live a fulfilling, beautiful life. I cannot remember the last time I had a panic attack. I look forward to the years ahead of me now, and enjoy the days as they come, even when I might feel tired or discouraged. I am so proud of the girl I was, who endured so much hardship to overcome the seemingly endless, and utterly hopeless pit of mental illness I was trapped in. I am so grateful for a medical system that could not suggest that my suicidal desires might have actually been good, true or helpful. I am so thankful to be alive. I do not doubt that had euthanasia been a lawful option, I would have sought it wholeheartedly, and I am moved to grief when I consider that the difference between life and death, for me, could have so easily had a different outcome.
There are many Kathryn’s in Canada who need the law to protect them, not kill them.
Bill C-218, a private members bill that would prevent MAiD for Mental Illness alone in Canada. (Link to the campaign article).
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