Attend the Bring Roger Home Campaign Town Hall meeting

Register for the Bring Roger Home Campaign Town Hall Meeting.

Date: Wednesday September 16 at 2 pm (Eastern Time), 11 am (Pacific Time)

(Zoom event Registration Link)

Join our speakers:

• Roger Foley
• Alex Schadenberg, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition,
• Lino Defacendis, Life Care Network,
• Kathy Matusiak Costa, Compassionate Community Care.

It will also be Roger's 51st birthday.

There is now a plan to bring Roger home.

(Zoom event Registration Link)

After almost a decade living in a London Ontario hospital and experiencing multiple series issues related to his care, and being denied direct funding home care alternatives and being offered euthanasia.

The Bring Roger Home Campaign enables you to get involved.

Check out his music, merchandise, T-shirts, coffee, plushies, his upcoming book and more!

You will hear new music, meet Roger live on Zoom and learn what Roger is going through and how you can be part of the solution.

(Zoom event Registration Link)

Let's celebrate Roger's 51st birthday and showcase real hope for people who live with disabilities.

Social Death of Disabled Fuels Assisted Suicide Culture

Meghan Schrader

By Meghan Schrader
Meghan is a disability activists and a member of the EPC-USA board.

In 2023 and 2024 I published blog posts celebrating the anniversaries of the Americans With Disabilities Act, which was on July 26th. But I didn’t write a blog post last year; I wasn’t sure what to say.

Since 2025, there has been a year of disability access erosion. The government has strong-armed restructuring the Special Education system and attempted to eliminate bellwether disability programs and guidelines that have existed for decades. The government has reduced access to home and community care that helps prevent institutionalization. The government has attempted to reduce benefits for disabled veterans, discontinued sign language interpreters at White House press briefings, paused new regulations improving air travel for wheelchair users and much more.

One of the most radical changes to America’s disability access infrastructure is the Department of Justice’s approach to a 1999 SCOTUS precedent called Olmstead LC. Olmstead generally requires states to provide community supports to disabled people who would be unnecessarily institutionalized without them. Ie, SCOTUS held that there may be some people who do need institutionalization, like if they are homicidal, have no ability to care for themselves whatsoever or prefer to live in an institution. But within reason, states can't put disabled people in institutions because states prefer that to community support. This determination created Olmstead’s “community integration mandate.”

For 27 years, Olmstead has been interpreted to mean that states have to create as many community services as possible. Legal loopholes and structural barriers to community services continue to cause unnecessary institutionalization, but Olmstead helps many disabled people who can live safely in their communities avoid arbitrary confinement.

Recently the Department of Justice released a slip opinion saying that states don't have to follow that precedent anymore; if they want to consolidate their disability services in institutions, and thus coerce disabled people who could live safely in their communities into institutions, that's fine. The Olmstead precedent still stands, but the DOJ will not enforce it.

At the same time, the government has proposed eliminating categorical grants for the Agency For Community Living, dismantling the ACL and spreading its functions across different agencies, even though the ACL has been shown to play a crucial role in helping disabled people live in their communities. The President’s 2026 budget proposed eliminating the federal Long Term Care Ombudsman Program that helps monitor abuse in institutions, and HHS rescinded guidance requiring that nursing homes hire enough staff to prevent life-threatening neglect. These policies make it more likely that disabled people will be institutionalized and will increase the misery of those experiences.

Coercive institutionalization has a significant impact on euthanasia prevention efforts. Bear in mind that one of the ways hospital staff have tried to bully disabled Canadian Roger Foley into assisted suicide is to withhold medical equipment and procedures needed to meet his basic needs. Disabled Canadian Normand Meunier died by assisted suicide because a hospital didn’t keep an accessible mattress on hand which resulted in him developing a festering bedsore. Although our assisted suicide laws are not as expansive as Canada’s, many disabled people who would become terminal without the correct support are also at risk of being unnecessarily institutionalized. Coercing such persons into institutions makes it more likely that they will choose assisted suicide.

I think all readers can understand that people need the solace and support of their communities, and to feel that they belong there. Forcing people who do not need to be institutionalized into institutions is like an unjust prison sentence. Such situations cause despair and hopelessness, furthering the culture of death that euthanasia opponents are trying to fight.

I invite readers to consider late disability studies scholar and assisted suicide opponent Paul Longmore’s concept of “social death.” In Longmore’s memoir “Why I Burned My Book And Other Essays On Disability,” Longmore criticizes assisted suicide advocates for ignoring ableism.

Longmore asserts:

“One wades through reams of this suicide rights advocacy without finding any real acknowledgment of the intense social stigma and discrimination that segregate people with disabilities…deny them opportunities for education, employment, marriage, and family, rob them of social dignity and self-esteem, and inflict on many of them what can only be called "social death." One searches in vain for even a passing reference to the civil-rights movement of disabled Americans that has been battling this discrimination for generations. One finds no mention and, one concludes, no knowledge of the independent-living movement of people with major physical disabilities. Apparently, none of this has attracted the attention or interest of suicide rights activists.”

Collectively, the aforementioned policy changes and proposals inflict the “social death” that Longmore talked about. Weakening the requirement that states provide support in the most integrated setting possible will rob unjustly institutionalized persons of hope. That’s the impact of weakening disability access laws in general: robbing disabled people of hope for a happy, dignified life.

So, euthanasia opponents, embrace your full potential as human dignity advocates: honor euthanasia prevention and the 36th anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act by supporting policies that help disabled people thrive.

Author Note 1: I did an interview with moral theologian Charlie Camosy about how coerced institutionalization and assisted suicide are connected to one another. It can be read here.

Author Note 2: For a detailed list of the extensive disability policy changes that have been implemented or attempted in the past year, see this link.

Join Roger Foley & Alex Schadenberg (May 28) as they discuss Canadian euthanasia court decisions

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Roger Foley

Join Alex Schadenberg and Roger Foley as we discuss the Canadian euthanasia court decisions on Thursday May 28 at 2 pm (ET).

You will need to register ahead. Register online. (Zoom Registration Link).

Roger lives with a rare, progressive neurological disease called Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 14 (SCA14) along with other severe disabilities.

Alex Schadenberg

While working on a challenge to Canada's euthanasia law, a few years ago, Roger studied the background to the Carter case, that legalized euthanasia and the Truchon case, that led to removing the requirement that a person needs to be terminally ill to be killed by euthanasia in Canada.

Participate in the one hour zoom event.

Register online. (Zoom Registration Link).

Free online Life Worth Living film screening on March 30.

Register in advance to watch the free online screening of the powerful Life Worth Living film on Monday, March 30 at 7 pm (Eastern Time). (Registration Link)

The Life Worth Living film features stories from people who have been directly affected, doctors who explain their experiences, and people who are working to prevent euthanasia in Canada. 

Register in advance for this online event: (Zoom registration link). After registering you will receive a viewing link.

EPC has had multiple online screenings and many groups have sponsored screenings of the Life Worth Living film. We encourage groups and individuals to arrange a screening of the Life Worth Living film. Contact EPC at info@epcc.ca

Life Worth Living was a finalist at the Cannes World Film Festival and is being considered by multiple film festivals. 

Life Worth Living is 60 minutes long. After the completion of the broadcast we will have time for a discussion.

Life Worth Living features:

• Alicia Duncan, whose mother died by euthanasia with conditions based on mental health, 
• Kelsi Sheren, a Canadian military veteran. CEO, best selling Author of the book - Brass & Unity, TedX speaker and host of the Kelsi Sheren perspective.

  

  Roger Foley

• Roger Foley, a Canadian man living with a significant disability who has been pressured by hospital staff to request euthanasia.
• Dr David D'Souza, Ontario pain specialist.
• Dr Catherine Ferrier, Quebec Gerontologist and a leader of the Physicians' Alliance against Euthanasia, 
• Dr Will Johnston, family physician and leader of Euthanasia Resistance BC
• Kathy Matusiak Costa, Executive Director of Compassionate Community Care,
• Alex Schadenberg, (myself), author, keynote speaker, International leader opposing euthanasia and assisted suicide.

 

The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition needs your help:

1. Arrange to have Life Worth Living shown in your community. Contact us at: info@epcc.ca
2. You may want a speaker at the event to lead a discussion. Contact us at: info@epcc.ca
3. You can purchase the Life Worth Living film at:  www.lifeworthlivingfilm.com or through Salem Now.

A year in review. Important stories and articles in 2025.

Alex Schadenberg

Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

In 2025, the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition experienced growth in support, in article readership and in success. In 2025 we had 3.66 million blog pageviews on the EPC blog. Americans were our largest audience but readers were world-wide.

 

January is a good time to renew your $30 EPC 2026 Friendship (Friendship Link). You can also renew your friendship by (Paypal Donation Link) or by sending an E-transfer to info@epcc.ca.

In 2026 we are sharing hope especially with our new film - Life Worth Living - being released on January 1 and is now available to be rented or purchased online (film Link).

A year in review: Important stories and articles in 2025.

In January 2025 EPC started a petition campaign demanding a review of Dr Ellen Wiebe's euthanasia practice in response to the many controversial deaths that are linked to Dr Wiebe (Link). Dr Wiebe was also ordered, by a Judge, not to kill an Alberta woman who Dr Wiebe had approved for euthanasia (Link) and Alberta Premier, Danielle Smith, stated that she was concerned about euthanasia in Canada (Link).

In January, several assisted suicide bills were introduced in US States including: Delaware, Illinois, and New York. EPC explained that once legal, assisted suicide laws will inevitably expand (Link) and we reported on a Hawaii assisted suicide murder investigation. (Link).

In February 2025, based on the Ontario, Quebec and Alberta data, I predicted that there were approximately 16,500 Canadian euthanasia deaths in 2024. (Link). When Health Canada finally released the 2024 report in November, the report stated that there were 16,499 Canadian euthanasia death (Link).

In February we focused on defeating assisted suicide legalization and expansion bills in US states including: California, Delaware, Maine, New Jersey, Oregon, Washington state, We were also hopeful that Montana would pass a bill prohibiting assisted suicide (Link).

In March 2025 we reported that the Canadian Human Rights Commission were concerned about Canada's euthanasia law (Link) and we reported that the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities ordered Canada to repeal Track 2 euthanasia and to not expand euthanasia to people with mental illness, children and by advance request (Link 1), (Link 2).

In March we also focused on defeating assisted suicide bills in US states including: Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts,  Nevada, New Hampshire, and Oregon. We continued to support the Montana bill.

In March we published several articles concerning the poison cocktails used for assisted suicide and euthanasia (Link 1), (Link 2), (Link 3).

In March we also published articles about the Quebec euthanasia report, the Belgian report and the Netherlands report.

In April 2025 we focused on several key stories including that another Canadian veteran was offered euthanasia (Link) and Canada's Conservative Party promised not to expand the euthanasia law (Link).

In April we also focused on defeating assisted suicide bills in: Delaware, Illinois, Nevada, New York, while the bill to prevent assisted suicide in Montana was defeated.

In April we published articles on a Canadian who was denied surgery but offered euthanasia (Link), about a Netherlands political party who are wanting to extend euthanasia to people with late stage dementia (Link). We also commented on the problem of defining euthanasia and assisted suicide as medical treatment (Link) and Professor Theo Boer urged France to consider the Netherlands experience with euthanasia and reject it (Link).

In May 2025 the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition and the Delta Hospice Society held a press conference in Ottawa (Link). EPC demanded a complete review of Canada's euthanasia law (Link). We also followed the Coroner's inquest into the death of Normand Meunier (Link).

In May we also focused on the New York assisted suicide bill and we continued to challenge the assisted suicide poison cocktails (Link).

In May we also commented on Canada's euthanasia lobby pushing for child euthanasia (Link), and how a Quebec radio host said that assisted suicide was a 'solution' for the mentally ill (Link). We also reported on the debate in Belgium to extend euthanasia to people with dementia (Link).

In June 2025 we focused on improving Roger Foley's care (Link) and we launched a petition urging the hospital to feed Roger Foley (Link). We published articles about the euthanasia clinic that is attached to St Paul's hospital in Vancouver (Link 1) (Link 2) and Bill C-218 was introduced by Tamara Jansen (MP) to prevent euthanasia for mental illness alone (Article Link)

In June we also mourned the death of Stephen Mendelsohn (Link). We also wrote about the New York assisted suicide bill, and the assisted suicide lobby court case to force Colorado to provide suicide tourism (Link) and the American Medical Association re-affirming its opposition to assisted suicide (Link). We also launched a petition to the US Food and Drug Administration concerning the assisted suicide poison cocktails (Link) 

In July 2025 we launched our campaign supporting Bill C-218 (Link) and promoted the video by Andrew Lawton (MP) - I got better (Link). We also published personal stories of people who are happy to be alive, in support of Bill C-218 (Story). We also started our Dying With Dignity corporate boycott (Link).

In July, the US Department of Health and Human Services published a study showing abuse of organ donation, with many organ donors not being dead before donation (Link 1) (Link 2).

In August 2025 we published stories of people who are happy to be alive (Link 1) (Link 2) in support of Bill C-218. We also published three articles on the expose titled: Canada is Killing itself (Link 1) (Link 2) (Link 3). We also published an article about an Ontario report on people who refuse treatment who died by euthanasia (Link).

In August we also published an article on how US states have abandoned their assisted suicide "safeguards" (Link), about the increase in New Zealand euthanasia (Link), on the legalization of euthanasia in Uruguay and Slovenia (Link) and we commented on the use of language in the debate (Link).

In September 2025 we published more stories, in support of Bill C-218, of people who are happy to be alive (Link 1) (Link 2) (Link 3) and we continued to promote Bill C-218 (Link). We also published articles on language games (Link) and about the Canadian government funding the euthanasia lobby (Link).

Jennifer Brady - Nova Scotia

In September we also explained that 90,000 Canadians had died by euthanasia since legalization (Link) and Canadians with disabilities are disproportionately dying by euthanasia (Link). We reported on a Nova Scotia woman who was offered euthanasia but denied treatment, but recieved treatment in the US (Link) and we urged Brian Kilmeade to resign from Fox for stating: Just kill the mentally ill (Link).

In October 2025 we published articles about a dementia patient who died by euthanasia after the family made the request (Link), an Ontario mother who was offered euthanasia after being paralysed from a Covid shot (Link), how assisted suicide was offered to a Colorado woman with an eating disorder (Link) and how euthanasia has caused Canadians with disabilities to fear the healthcare system (Link).

In October the Quebec government proposed a new constitution that included a "right" to euthanasia (Link) and we published an article that Veterans Affairs had offered euthanasia to 20 veterans (Link).

In October, we reported that the assisted suicide lobby is promoting suicide tourism (Link) and Illinois had passed their assisted suicide bill (Link).

In November 2025 Health Canada finally released the 2024 euthanasia report indicating that 16,499 Canadians died by euthanasia representing 5.1% of all deaths (Link), the Quebec 2024 euthanasia report indicated that Quebec has the highest euthanasia rate in the world (Link). We also published a guide to supporting Bill C-218 (Link) and a poll showed that the majority of Canadians do not support euthanasia for mental illness (Link) and we published an article explaining that Health Canada regulations require doctors to offer euthanasia (Link).

In November we mourned the death of the great John Kelly (Link) and we launched a campaign to lobby the Illinois Governor to veto the assisted suicide bill (Link) and we reported on a Netherlands euthanasia bill that would eliminate existing legal restrictions (Link).

In November we were also heavily involved with the successful Slovenian referendum campaign. 53.5% of the voters rejected the Slovenian euthanasia law (Link 1) (Link 2).

In December 2025, the first hour of debate for Bill C-218, the bill that would prevent euthanasia for mental illness in Canada, was on December 5. Tamara Jansen (MP) who sponsored the bill spoke in Parliament (Link) and Andrew Lawton (MP) who lived with mental illness also spoke in Parliament (Link). EPC held a Press Conference in support of Bill C-218 (Link), at the Press Conference, Alicia Duncan stated that Canada will remember the lives saved or lost (Link). EPC also released a video titled: No MAiD for Mental Illness (Link).

In December the Illinois and New York Governors agreed to sign their assisted suicide bills. Three US states legalized assisted suicide in 2025 (Link). We published the article - the myth of a safe assisted suicide regime (Link) and we learned of a woman who fraudulently died by assisted suicide in Washington state (Link). 

In December we also learned of another Canadian woman who was denied surgery but offered euthanasia and who may be going to the US for treatment (Link). The death lobby also promoted the story of an actress who is seeking euthanasia for mental illness (Link).

The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition ended 2025 by celebrating hope, milestones and success (Link) but most of all we offer hope with our new film - Life Worth Living that is now available to be rented or purchased online (Link).

Help care for Roger, and protect him from euthanasia?

Help provide care for Roger Foley (Life Funder Donation Link).

Dear Friends,

My name is Roger Foley. I live with a rare, progressive neurological disease called Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 14 (SCA14) along with other severe disabilities. I’m currently a patient ‘trapped’ inside London Victoria hospital in Ontario because the self-directed home care I need has been cruelly withheld by public health authorities.

Hospital staff have repeatedly offered and pressured me to consider Canada’s infamous euthanasia program Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) while simultaneously obstructing the very services and supports I need to live safely. Despite my condition, I have fought tirelessly for my rights, dignity, and the ability to return to the community.

On May 7, 2025, the hospital removed the specialized lighting accommodations that I had relied on for years. These accommodations were medically necessary due to my severe neurological photosensitivity and visual disability. To safely swallow liquids or pureed foods, I must be lifted with a mechanical sling and seated in a solid chair, where I can achieve more than a 90-degree forward neck bend to perform an effortful swallow technique with a chin tuck. This is essential to prevent choking, aspiration, and pneumonia. Without the lighting accommodations, I cannot safely eat, take oral medications, or even drink water. The hospital’s fluorescent and halogen lighting emits high-intensity blue wavelengths that cause intense eye pain and injury. My eyes require non-direct, low-intensity amber-wavelength lighting—the exact conditions provided by the longstanding accommodations that were removed.

Help provide care for Roger Foley (Life Funder Donation Link).

Since then, I have also been starved of basic care: placed on IV fluids, subjected to ongoing dehydration and malnutrition, repeatedly berated and harassed by staff, violently woken under the guise of so-called “checks,” and assaulted with other abusive tactics.

After months of research beginning in late July, I now rely on taped-together makeshift ski goggles—stacking three separate visors to approximate the <1% VLT amber filtration I medically require but which does not exist commercially. Because of my malformed cervical spine, however, I can only tolerate these heavy goggles for about 10 minutes at a time, which allows only minimal hydration but not food or medication. Despite all efforts, I remain dehydrated and in increasing neck pain from being forced to use makeshift goggles just to access partial fluids.

The hospital refuses to restore my accommodations or provide even the most basic humanitarian needs: food, water, oral meds, and toileting. This is why I’m asking for your gracious assistance.

Without proper lighting accommodations and support:

• I can only tolerate fluids for a few minutes at a time using makeshift taped-together ski goggles.
• I am unable to eat solid food or take oral medications.
• My arms are scarred from repeated IV insertions because my veins keep collapsing.
• I live in constant pain, severe fatigue, and cognitive decline from dehydration and lack of sleep.
• Staff continue to impose arbitrary and unsafe “rules,” including denying me side rails during transfers and barging in with bright lights – despite knowing it causes me extreme harm.

I never consented to this treatment. It is a form of cruel punishment and discrimination that has destroyed my health and quality of life.

But, an independent non-profit organization, Life Care Network Inc., has stepped forward to help me. They are prepared to send Personal Support Workers (PSWs) directly into the hospital to provide me with the essentials the hospital refuses to:

• Food
• Oral medications
• Hydration (safe access to water)
• Toileting and basic hygiene support

Life Care Network has already assessed the specialized lighting set-up in my room and confirmed it is safe for staff, visitors, and care providers. This means that independent PSWs can safely provide the care I urgently need without harm to anyone.

Help provide care for Roger Foley (Life Funder Donation Link).

To make this possible, in addition to Life Care’s limited funding, I require additional financial support to cover the costs of bringing PSWs into the hospital on a consistent basis. Without this, I remain completely dependent on a hospital that refuses to meet even my most basic needs and continues to actively try to end my life.

100% of your donation will directly fund safe and independent care, ensuring I have access to food, water, and dignity while I continue my fight for justice.

So I ask you to please consider donating whatever you can – 100% of every contribution goes directly to supporting my care through Life Care Network. 

My life and survival depend on this care. Please help me access the essentials that everyone deserves – food, water, medications, and personal safety.

Thank you sincerely for your consideration to make a personal difference by supporting and standing for life in a very compassionate and practical way.

Roger Foley

P.S. For your prayerful consideration: “Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ ” Matthew 25:44-45

P.P.S. Sadly, I had tried to previously fundraise on LifeFunder, but the credit card processor refunded all donations because I was unable to provide a valid ID from my hospital bed. Life Care Network has now stepped-in and is humbled to host this fundraiser and collect the funds on my behalf.

Thank you sincerely for your consideration to support me, God bless – Roger

Help provide care for Roger Foley (Life Funder Donation Link).

Ontario mother offered euthanasia after being paralysed from Covid shot.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Kayla Pollock

I was going through some old emails and came upon an important article from last year.

Kayla Pollock, a mother who worked as a casual educational assistant, assisting kindergarten children in the same school her son attended, was fit, healthy and active until she reacted to a Moderna shot that she received on January 11, 2022.

Without getting into all of the issues around her care, I will just state that Pollock was diagnosed with Transverse myelitis, a condition that interrupts the transmission of messages along the spinal cord nerves throughout the body.

These are difficult stories to write about, based on the politics related to Covid, nonetheless Pollock was pressured to request euthanasia (MAiD) three times while she was trying to recover in the hospital. Pollock wanted to live and care for her son.

It is beyond me why a person, who wants to live can be harassed and pressured to ask to be killed by euthanasia.

Roger Foley has had similar experiences (Link).

For more information go to Operation Kayla (Link).

Sylvia Jones: Roger Foley needs to receive self-managed funding.

Roger Foley needs to be able to leave the hospital and go home.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director,
Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition has followed the plight of Roger Foley for a long time. In June, 2025; EPC promoted the online petition - Roger Foley needs to be fed (Petition Link).

Roger Foley, who lives with spino-cerebellar ataxia type 14, has been living at the London Health Sciences Centre for almost 10 years. Previously, Roger lived in his home and received attendant services from an agency that was contracted to provide care. Roger ended up in the hospital based on the substandard care that he received from the agency.

Roger applied for inclusion in the Self-Managed Attendant Services program that would give Roger direct funding to enabled him to hire his own care-givers. This is a program that exists in Ontario. Roger was turned down by the Ministry of Health for this program.

Hon Sylvia Jones, has been Ontario's Minister of Health and Deputy Premier since June 2022. In June, 2008; Sylvia Jones, as a member of the Conservative opposition, expressed strong support for self-managed home care funding.

Contact Hon Sylvia Jones at: sylvia.jones@pc.ola.org and state:

Roger Foley has been living at the London Health Sciences Centre for almost 10 years. Roger wants to leave the hospital and receive care in his home.

Now is the time to implement change and approve him for Self-Managed funding for Attendant Services.

Self-Managed direct funding will provide him the right resources for less money and enable him to leave the hospital and move home. Hospitals are the most expensive setting for health care service delivery and, quite frankly, not the best type of care for stable individuals with a disability.

Allowing him to go home with self-managed funding for attendant services will enable him to fully participate in the community.

 
Here is the video of her June 2008 speech in the Ontario Legislature:

Here is what Sylvia Jones says in the (legislature) video:

Ms. Sylvia Jones: It's a pleasure to rise today to support the member for Wellington Halton Hills on this important resolution to add attendant services to the provincial wait time strategy.

For many years, experts in health care have told members of all three parties that our health system is too focused on hospital beds. Hospitals provide wonderful acute care for the citizens of this province, but it is the most expensive setting for health care service delivery and, quite frankly, not the best type of care for stable individuals with a disability.

As the Ontario Community Support Association highlighted in their August 13 press conference, people on the attendant services wait list put pressure on the health care system because they remain inappropriately stuck waiting in long-term-care homes, acute care beds, chronic care hospitals and rehabilitation facilities, all at a much higher cost to taxpayers. It's important that members in this House recognize that a failure to support today's resolution to make attendant services a priority by adding it to the provincial wait time strategy will result in higher costs to the taxpayer.

At the same news conference in August, the Ontario Community Support Association told us that the wait list for attendant services is four to 10 years. For four to 10 years, individuals with disabilities and their families are not getting the services they need. They remain in hospital or long-term-care beds, or their families, many with aging parents, struggle to continue to provide for their daily care needs. So even though we know that it is more cost-effective and more appropriate to have individuals cared for at home and even though we know attendant services allow people with physical disabilities to actively participate in their communities, go to school, get a job and contribute in other ways, we continue to focus our health care dollars in other areas.

This issue is most important across the province, but it also touches specific families in Dufferin Caledon. This summer, I met with a constituent from Honeywood who receives the Ministry of Health's direct funding for attendant services. I suppose you could call her one of the lucky ones. The program is administered by the Centre for Independent Living in Toronto. She tells me it took four years for her application to be approved, and this year, when she applied for a slight modification of her level of care because her health had changed, she was told that the Centre for Independent Living in Toronto was not even considering 2008 applications; they were still reviewing 2007 applications. Why is that? The Centre for Independent Living has a huge waiting list, and this Liberal government has not increased their funding since they were elected in 2003. So CILT is trying to serve as many Ontarians as it can with too few resources. In fact, my constituent believes that something needs to happen long-term care or worse for an individual with direct funding before the next person on the waiting list can receive funding for attendant services. My constituent wanted me to know that she feels this is a wonderful program that allows her to routinely participate in the community and live in her home. For example, I know that she is an active member of the Dufferin county accessibility advisory committee, and the Honeywood community. She came to see me because she wanted to brief me on this issue, and she believes that other people with a physical disability need to have the same opportunity that she has.

In addition to direct funding not being a priority for the Ministry of Health, my constituents are also having issues with funding from community care access centres. The boundary change introduced by the Liberal government has resulted in my constituents being asked to do with less service. Their disability has not changed, but the level of service being provided has.

An Orangeville resident who is a quadriplegic as a result of a car accident had been receiving home care since 1995. Under the former Waterloo-Wellington-Dufferin CCAC, he received morning and night visits, seven days a week, to assist with personal care. Under Central West CCAC, he was discharged from nursing and occupational therapy. Respite care was eliminated. His case is under review to determine what other services can be cut. The minister responded to us in correspondence by suggesting that he use the CCAC complaint process and to call the long-term-care action line.

Another constituent who happens to suffer from ALS has been told he was receiving too much care from the Waterloo-Wellington-Dufferin CCAC. He's been told his CCAC hours are being cut and a referral has been made to the March of Dimes to make up the care hour difference. That's right. The CCAC is referring people to a non-profit agency and expects them to provide front-line care, rather than our universal health care system. The March of Dimes also has a waiting list. So now the Central West CCAC has agreed to provide attendant care hours, but only until the March of Dimes can implement its services. He also needs respite care hours, but of course there's no support for his wife.

All three of these examples are alarming. I'm sure that members of all three parties have similar experiences from their own ridings. So what are we going to do about it? Now is the time to look at implementing the change that health care experts have been advocating for more than a decade. Now is the time to provide Ontarians with physical disabilities with the services they deserve. These citizens can either be taken care of at home with the right resources for less money or be forced into long-term care, or a hospital setting, which puts added strain on an already beleaguered health system and doesn't allow individuals with disabilities to fully participate in our communities.

I encourage all members to support the resolution of the member from Wellington Halton Hills. Let's make attendant care services a priority by adding it to the provincial wait time strategy.

Hon Sylvia Jones, has been Ontario's Minister of Health and Deputy Premier since June 2022. Why has she abandoned Roger Foley by forcing him to live at the London Health Sciences Centre rather than enabling him to be cared for at home?

Feeding Roger Foley - Clarification of update.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

On Saturday August 16, EPC sent out the following message:

EPC has followed the Roger Foley story since it began. In June, EPC launched the petition: Roger Foley needs to be fed. After launching the petition the hospital inserted an IV. Roger needs assistance to enable him to eat.

After visiting Roger on August 6 and learning that he was only receiving water, we relaunched the petition. The hospital responded by feeding Roger. They then withdrew feeding and then reversed the decision and are feeding him again. It is ridiculous that an Ontario hospital has put a disabled man on a roller coaster ride over his basic right to eat.

Important: Sign the Petition. Roger Foley needs to be fed (Petition Link).

Roger Foley responded to the update:

Clarification of My Situation: LHSC is still not feeding me.

• I only have limited access to fluids in order to stay off an IV. The Compleat 1.5 is not food — I am drinking it only to get by until my lighting accommodations are restored.
  

• I remain blocked from eating and from accessing oral medications. Sometimes LHSC even restricts me to water alone.
  

• To drink, I am forced to wear extremely heavy makeshift ski goggles that cause severe pain and further injury to my deformed cervical spine. With these goggles, I can only manage about 10 minutes of fluids three times a day, before my neck gives out. During that short window, I must bloat myself with as much fluid as possible to avoid dehydration. There will come a time when my neck can no longer tolerate the goggles, and then I will be forced back on an IV.

Roger is receiving Compleat 1.5, which is an improvement, but as he states, this is not food and since he is not being fed he is unable to receive oral medications, that are required to be taken with food.

Roger wears ski goggles to enable him to eat without reacting to the light, but as he states, he can only wear the goggles for 10 minutes because of his neck and his cervical spine.

The stand-off between the hospital and Roger concerns the level of lighting. The staff insist that it is not safe to feed Roger without more light but Roger insists that his reaction to the regular lighting is so intense that he requires special lighting. The CNIB confirmed that Roger has severe photo sensitivity.

The key issue is that London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) must accommodate Roger by changing the lighting.

It is ridiculous that an Ontario hospital is not feeding a man with a degenerative neurological condition. Roger is capable of eating but he requires assistance.

Important - Sign the Petition: Roger Foley needs to be fed.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Sign the Petition: Roger Foley needs to be fed. (Petition Link)

I once again visited Roger Foley at the London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) (Victoria Hospital Campus) to get an update on his care based on the concerning emails that I have been receiving.

Once again, Roger Foley is not being fed.

On June 12, 2025 EPC launched a petition to the Ontario Minister of Health Hon. Sylvia Jones, and LHSC Patient Relations, stating that Roger Foley needs to be fed. At that point Roger had not been fed for five weeks.

LHSC had inserted an IV that provided fluids and some essential nutrients but they were not feeding Roger. After we launched the petition the LHSC agreed to provide a limited feeding for Roger. More recently his IV was removed and the LHSC is only providing water.

Roger lives with Spino cerebellar ataxia type 14, a degenerative neurological condition. Roger is able to be fed normally, with assistance but his condition causes him to have severe photo sensitivity (photophobia) to regular lighting.  

The stand-off between the hospital and Roger concerns the level of lighting. The staff insist that it is not safe to feed Roger without more light but Roger insists that his reaction to the regular lighting is so intense that he requires special lighting. Recently Roger contacted the CNIB who confirmed that he has severe photo sensitivity.

 

It is ridiculous that an Ontario hospital is not feeding a man with a degenerative neurological condition who is capable of eating with assistance. It takes a long time to die by starvation but without nutrition Roger will die.

Roger cannot live on water alone and he couldn't live (long term) with an IV alone.  

 

He is able to eat with assistance. Roger needs to be fed.

Sign and share the Petition: Roger Foley needs to be fed. (Petition Link)

If you live in London Ontario and are willing to visit Roger, contact me at: alex@epcc.ca

Previous articles:

• Alex Schadenberg and Roger Foley on the cruelty of Canada's euthanasia regime (Link).
• June 12, 2025 - Roger Foley needs to be fed (Link).
• Visiting Roger Foley. Join the Roger Foley team (Link).