Euthanasia lobby and family launch Charter Challenge to force religiously affiliated healthcare institutions to provide euthanasia.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

St Paul's Hospital Vancouver

One of the goals of the euthanasia lobby is to force all Canadian medical institutions to provide (MAiD) euthanasia.

In June 2023, the Québec National Assembly passed Bill 11, An Act to amend the Act respecting end-of-life care. One of the provisions in Bill 11 created an obligation for all palliative care homes to offer MAID, even religiously affiliated institutions.

St. Raphael's in Montréal 

In December, 2023 I wrote that St. Raphael Palliative Care Home and Day Centre, that had signed an agreement with the Archdiocese of Montreal and the Québec government guaranteeing that St Raphael's would provide end-of-life care but not provide euthanasia, was being forced by the Quebec government to provide euthanasia.

On February 6, 2024 I reported that the Archdiocese of Montréal launched a lawsuit to prevent the Québec government from forcing St. Raphael Palliative Care Centre to provide euthanasia (MAiD).

On Monday, June 17, 2024; Dying with Dignity and the family of Sam O'Neill, who requested euthanasia at St Paul's Hospital in Vancouver but transferred to another facility to die by euthanasia, launched a Charter Challenge claiming that her rights were denied when she was transferred from St. Paul's Hospital for euthanasia.

Ian Holliday reported for CTV News that:

The family of a young woman who was denied Medical Assistance in Dying at St. Paul's Hospital last year is taking the hospital's operators – including the provincial government – to court.

Lawyers for Gaye O'Neill – the mother of Sam O'Neill and administrator of her estate – filed a notice of civil claim in B.C. Supreme Court Monday.

The lawsuit names the provincial health minister, Vancouver Coastal Health and Providence Health Care Society as defendants, arguing that their policies regarding MAID violate Sections 2 and 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Joining Gaye as plaintiffs are Dr. Jyothi Jayaraman and the advocacy group Dying with Dignity Canada.

This case would set a national precedent. Holliday reports:

The MAID advocacy group Dying with Dignity has assembled a legal team to take on the B.C. government in a case they hope is precedent-setting.

“We argue that health-care facilities are government actors when they are delivering medical care because they are publicly funded, and as a government actor, they are not allowed to show preferential treatment to any one religion over others or over non-religion," said law professor Daphne Gilbert, who is part of the legal team arguing the case.

"And so there is a clear prioritizing at St. Paul's and Providence Healthcare of the Catholic faith, even though staff and patients don’t share that faith. So we are arguing it’s a violation of a patient's freedom of conscience rights."

Let's be clear. This court case will force every religiously affiliated healthcare institution in Canada to provide euthanasia and Sam O'Neill's death is the test case.

This is not the first attempt by the euthanasia lobby to force St Paul's hospital to provide euthanasia.

Katie DeRosa reported for The Vancouver Sun on June 23, 2023 that Dying With Dignity and O'Neill's family initiated a campaign to pressure the BC government to force Catholic hospitals to kill their patients by euthanasia. DeRosa reported:

O’Neill’s family and Dying with Dignity Canada say it’s unacceptable that a taxpayer-funded hospital like St. Paul’s — which is getting a $2 billion replacement in 2027 — forces dying patients to leave its facility to get MAID.

Dying with Dignity’s CEO Helen Long told DeRosa:

such policies will remain in place unless there’s a successful court challenge.

Shannon Paterson published a report on CTV news on June 27, 2023 stating:

Daphne Gilbert, a constitutional law professor at the University of Ottawa, expects a Charter challenge will be filed.

“The Catholic Church does not fund health care, they don’t put money into the health-care system through these institutions. It’s not like this is a shared funding agreement. All of the money is coming from the taxpayers,” said Gilbert.

In December 2023, The BC government responded by expropriating property from St Paul's and Providence Healthcare to build a euthanasia killing centre next to St. Paul's hospital.

It is not enough for the euthanasia lobby group that the BC government is building a killing centre directly beside St. Paul's hospital. 

The first attempt to force religiously affiliated medical institutions to provide euthanasia was when the euthanasia lobby pressured the Nova Scotia government to order St Martha's Hospital in Antigonish NS to provide euthanasia in 2019. The Nova Scotia government succumbed to the pressure and ordered St Martha's Hospital to provide euthanasia. In the end, the Antigonish Health and Wellness Centre, which is not owned by St Martha's hospital, agreed to provide euthanasia.

The euthanasia lobby is committed to forcing every healthcare facility in Canada to provide euthanasia.

Euthanasia lobby pressures BC government to force Catholic hospitals to provide euthanasia (MAiD)

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

*Sign the EPC petition: Catholic hospitals must not be forced to provide (MAiD) euthanasia (Petition Link).

St Paul's hospital Vancouver.

The euthanasia lobby group, Dying With Dignity, is lobbying the British Columbia (BC) government to force Catholic hospitals to provide euthanasia.

The euthanasia lobby is using the story of Samantha O'Neill (34), who died on April 4 by euthanasia (MAiD) after being transferred from St Paul's hospital in Vancouver to St. John’s Hospice (run by Vancouver Coastal Health).

Katie DeRosa reported for The Vancouver Sun on June 23 that Dying With Dignity and O'Neill's family initiated a campaign to pressure the BC government to force Catholic hospitals to kill their patients by euthanasia. DeRosa reported:

O’Neill’s family and Dying with Dignity Canada say it’s unacceptable that a taxpayer-funded hospital like St. Paul’s — which is getting a $2 billion replacement in 2027 — forces dying patients to leave its facility to get MAID.

Dying with Dignity’s CEO Helen Long told DeRosa:

such policies will remain in place unless there’s a successful court challenge.

Shannon Paterson published a report on CTV news on June 27 stating:

Daphne Gilbert, a constitutional law professor at the University of Ottawa, expects a Charter challenge will be filed.

“The Catholic Church does not fund health care, they don’t put money into the health-care system through these institutions. It’s not like this is a shared funding agreement. All of the money is coming from the taxpayers,” said Gilbert.

*Sign the EPC petition: Catholic hospitals must not be forced to provide (MAiD) euthanasia (Petition Link).

Alex Muir, the Chair of the euthanasia lobby Metro Vancouver chapter of Dying With Dignity wrote in a letter to the editor in the Vancouver Sun that:

Katie DeRosa’s story about Samantha O’Neill’s horrific forced transfer from St. Paul’s Hospital to access medical assistance in dying (MAID) highlights the need to stop these transfers.

... The province has the power and the financial leverage to change this, but lacks the political will due to Providence’s prominence in our publicly funded health care system. Shame all around.

This is not the first time that Dying With Dignity (a registered charity) has lobbied the BC government to force Catholic hospitals to kill their patients by euthanasia.

I published an article on March 8, 2022 entitled: Canada's euthanasia lobby demands that religious medical facilities kill. The euthanasia lobby wants to stop the transfer of people who have requested euthanasia by forcing denominational medical institutions to do euthanasia.

The Canadian Press reported:

Dying With Dignity says the service is being restricted because of an agreement that allows facilities covered by the Denominational Health Association to collect taxpayer dollars but refuse to perform services they oppose on religious or moral grounds.

Alex Muir, chair of the Metro Vancouver chapter of Dying With Dignity, says upholding the agreement denies eligible people their constitutionally protected right to access a medically assisted death.The British Columbia government is already forcing provincially funded medical institutions that are not affiliated with a denomination to provide (MAiD) euthanasia.

In February 2021 the Delta Hospice Society was defunded by the BC Ministry of Health because they refused to kill their patients.

The first attempt to force a religious medical institution to participate in euthanasia was in 2019 when the euthanasia lobby pressured the Nova Scotia government to order St Martha's Hospital in Antigonish NS to provide euthanasia. The Nova Scotia government succumbed to the pressure and ordered St Martha's Hospital to provide euthanasia. Consequently, the Antigonish Health and Wellness Centre, which is not owned by St Martha's hospital, agreed to provide euthanasia.

 

Canada's euthanasia lobby demands that religious medical facilities kill

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition.

The euthanasia lobby has started a campaign to force Canada's denominational medical institutions to participate or provide (MAiD) euthanasia.

The Canadian Press reported that Dying With Dignity is campaigning to stop "forced transfers" a process that they define as transfers from medical facilities that forbid (MAiD) euthanasia.

The euthanasia lobby wants to stop the transfer of people who have requested euthanasia by forcing denominational medical institutions to do euthanasia.

The Canadian Press report stated:

Dying With Dignity says the service is being restricted because of an agreement that allows facilities covered by the Denominational Health Association to collect taxpayer dollars but refuse to perform services they oppose on religious or moral grounds.

Alex Muir, chair of the Metro Vancouver chapter of Dying With Dignity, says upholding the agreement denies eligible people their constitutionally protected right to access a medically assisted death.

The British Columbia government is already forcing provincially funded medical institutions that are not affiliated with a denomination to provide (MAiD) euthanasia.

Last year the Delta Hospice Society was defunded by the BC Ministry of Health because they refused to kill their patients.

The first attempt to force a religious medical institution to participate in euthanasia was in 2019 when the euthanasia lobby pressured the Nova Scotia government to order St Martha's Hospital in Antigonish NS to provide euthanasia. The Nova Scotia government succumbed to the pressure and ordered St Martha's hospital, to provide euthanasia. In response, the Antigonish Health and Wellness Centre, which is not owned by St Martha's hospital, agreed to provide euthanasia.

Euthanasia lobby is using Covid-19 crisis to pressure Canadian governments to force Catholic hospitals to do euthanasia.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

A lobby document by the Canadian Association of MAiD Assessors and Providers (CAMAP) uses the Covid-19 crisis to force faith based healthcare institutions to provide euthanasia.

According to CAMAP, hospitals are refusing to transfer patients during the Covid-19 crisis. Concerning MAiD at faith based health care facilities, the document states:

• Many faith-based facilities prohibit the provision of MAiD.
• The transfer of patients from some or all long-term care (LTC) facilities to acute care hospitals has been prohibited in some jurisdictions due to the risk of spreading COVID-19 infection. CAMAP recognizes that this is an established means of preventing the spread of disease. 
• A significant number of LTC facilities and many acute care hospitals are faith based and prohibit MAiD. Patients resident in these facilities have previously been transferred to other institutions that do not prohibit MAiD. When the institutions to which these faith-based facilities previously transferred patients prohibit transfer for reasons of public health these faith-based institutions should now allow MAiD provisions on-site. CAMAP believes that if necessary provincial governments should issue directives to all faith-based institutions requiring them to allow MAiD when the transfer of patients has been prohibited for reasons of public health.

CAMAP claims to only be pressuring governments to force faith based institutions to kill their patients during the Covid-19 crisis, but clearly, once the killing begins it will continue.

This is not the first time that the euthanasia lobby has pressured Canadian governments to force faith based healthcare institutions to provide euthanasia.

Last year, the euthanasia lobby pressured the Nova Scotia government to order St Martha's Hospital, which is the only hospital in Antigonish NS to provide euthanasia. The Nova Scotia government succumbed to the pressure and ordered St Martha's hospital, to provide euthanasia. In response, the Antigonish Health and Wellness Centre, which is not owned by St Martha's hospital, agreed to do euthanasia (death by lethal injection).

I stated that the euthanasia lobby failed to accomplish their goal, but they will continue to pressure faith based healthcare institutions to provide euthanasia on their premises. Faith based medical institutions must continue to say no.

The CAMAP lobby document also pressures Provincial governments to approve euthanasia assessments and approvals by telehealth/telemedicine. The document states:

All provinces should follow the example of British Columbia and some other 1 provinces and alter the requirements for the assessment of MAiD so that:

• both assessments may be provided using telemedicine;  

• if there is a provincial requirement to have a professional witness during a telemedicine assessment, this should be removed;

The American assisted suicide lobby claims that the recent changes to telehealth provisions in the US permit assisted suicide assessments and approvals by telehealth.

Approving euthanasia or assisted suicide by telehealth/telemedicine means that a person with difficult health issues who feels like a burden on others, or is experiencing depression or existential distress, could be assessed, approved and prescribed a lethal drug cocktail for assisted suicide by telehealth without being examined by a physician.

*Sign the petition: Healthcare regulations must not permit assisted suicide approvals by telehealth (Link).

St. Martha's Catholic hospital will not provide euthanasia on-site.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director - Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Last week I wrote that a campaign by Jocelyn Downie, the academic euthanasia activist at Dalhousie University, has resulted in St. Martha's hospital in Antigonish NS being forced to provide MAiD (euthanasia) within the Catholic hospital.

Catholic hospital is forced to provide MAiD (euthanasia) in Nova Scotia (Link).

Yesterday I received the press release from St Martha's hospital explaining that MAiD (better known as euthanasia) will not be provided by St. Martha's hospital but at the Antigonish Health and Wellness Centre.

The Sisters of St. Martha, state in their media release:

...The Nova Scotia Health Authority has assured us that Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) will not take place in St. Martha's Regional Hospital.

We do not own St. Martha's Regional Hospital or the building called the Antigonish Health and Wellness Centre.

We continue to uphold the Mission and Values of St. Martha's Regional Hospital for quality compassionate health care. ...

Therefore Downie has not achieved her goal of imposing euthanasia (MAiD) upon a Catholic hospital. Downie will continue to pressure religiously affiliated healthcare institutions to provide euthanasia. Downie stated in The Global News article from last week:

“Governments and health authorities have failed to insist that faith-influenced, publicly funded institutions permit MAiD within their walls,” she said. 

The battle has only just begun.

Downie began her campaign, in December 2018, to force St Martha's hospital into doing euthanasia with an article in the Chronicle Herald.

In late December, Canada's national broadcaster, CBC news, featured a program designed to pressure St Martha's hospital to euthanize their patients.
 
The most recent news articles confirm what I originally stated, that Downie targeted St. Martha's hospital as a first step in a campaign to force all religiously affiliated health care institutions into participating in MAiD.
 
The euthanasia lobby will continue to pressure religiously based healthcare institutions to provide euthanasia on their premises. Religiously based medical institutions must continue to say NO.

I urge religiously based healthcare institutions to maintain their ethics and refuse to provide euthanasia.

Catholic hospital is forced to provide MAiD (euthanasia) in Nova Scotia.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

A campaign by Jocelyn Downie, the academic euthanasia activist at Dalhousie University, has resulted in St. Martha's hospital in Antigonish NS being forced to provide MAiD (euthanasia) within the Catholic hospital.

An article by Ross Lord and Alexander Quon, for Global News reported that the Nova Scotia Health Authority said:

“Assessments and provision of MAiD [medical assistance in dying] will be available in a section of St. Martha’s Regional Hospital complex at the Antigonish Health and Wellness Centre.”

The Global News article stated that the euthanasia lobby sees the St. Martha's hospital policy as the first of many euthanasia policies that they intend to impose upon Catholic or religious healthcare institutions. The article reports:

“We hope that this is the start and that Nova Scotia’s regulation, Nova Scotia’s position will be used as a model in other jurisdictions across the country. We’re certainly pushing for that,” said Jim Cowan, chair of Dying with Dignity.

Jocelyn Downie

Jocelyn Downie plans to pressure religiously affiliated healthcare institutions to provide euthanasia. The Global News article states:

“Governments and health authorities have failed to insist that faith-influenced, publicly funded institutions permit MAiD within their walls,” she said.

The reason that the euthanasia lobby focused on St. Martha's hospital is that the sisters had signed an agreement in 1996 where the hospital would maintain Catholic ethics but be administered by a secular board. St. Martha's was an easier target. 

There are dozens of other Catholic hospitals and nursing homes across Canada that forbid medically assisted dying, forcing some assisted dying applicants to sign request forms off-site.

In December, Downie began her campaign to force St Martha's hospital into doing euthanasia with an article in the Chronicle Herald.

In late December, Canada's national broadcaster, CBC news, featured a program pressuring St Martha's hospital to euthanize their patients.

The most recent news article confirms what I stated, last December, that Downie targeted St. Martha's hospital as a first step in a campaign to force all religiously affiliated health care institutions into participating in MAiD.

The euthanasia lobby will now challenge other religiously based healthcare institutions. Religiously based medical institutions need to stand up and say NO. Sadly, Catholic hospitals in Canada already agreed to provide euthanasia assessments, on site. Euthanasia assessments are part of the requirement of the law for approving euthanasia. Therefore Catholic hospitals have already agreed to be directly complicit with MAiD in Canada.

I urge religious healthcare institutions to maintain their ethics and refuse to provide euthanasia.

Media and euthanasia activist continue to pressure hospital to participate in euthanasia.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director - Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
 

The campaign to force St Martha's hospital to provide (MAiD) killing their patients continues.

An article by Brooklyn Connolly, published in the Coast newspaper, reports on a lecture by euthanasia activist academic Jocelyn Downie who is trying to force St. Martha's hospital into doing euthanasia. Connolly reports Downie as saying:

“We’ve got a problem here,”

“We don’t have the policy, we don’t have the program, we’ve got mistakes and we have the really pressing issue of St. Martha’s, and that’s weighing on the policy—and that matters.”

Jocelyn Downie

In December, Downie began her campaign to force St Martha's hospital into doing euthanasia with an article in the Chronicle Herald.

In late December, Canada's national broadcaster, CBC news, featured a program pressuring St Martha's hospital to euthanize their patients.

Downie believes that access to Medical Assistance in Dying (euthanasia) transends the agreement that St Martha's Hospital has with the provincial government and Catholic Healthcare. Downie is pressuring the Nova Scotia government to force St Martha's hospital into doing euthanasia.

According to Connolly, Downie, long-time euthanasia activist, believes that it is unconstitutional for a Catholic hospital not to provide euthanasia. Connolly writes:

Downie believes that detaining access to this procedure is against the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, but it all comes down to what the policy will say.

“On the website, it says ‘St. Martha’s doesn’t provide MAiD,’ so [the province is] accepting that St. Martha’s is not allowing this, and I think they have responsibility for it and I think we could hold them accountable for that and I do think that violates the Charter,”

Downie targeted St. Martha's hospital as a first step in a campaign to force all religiously affiliated health care institutions into participating in euthanasia and assisted suicide.