Why we need to kill the UK assisted dying bill.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Kevin Yuill

Kevin Yuill has written some excellent articles opposing assisted suicide. His latest article was published by Spiked on December 30, 2024 explaining the direction of the assisted suicide lobby and the need to kill the UK assisted suicide bill. Yuill wrote:

This past year has exposed the moral bankruptcy of the ‘assisted dying’ lobby. Dignity in Dying placed ads on the London Underground that gleefully celebrated people taking their own lives. Times columnist Matthew Parris called for legalising assisted suicide in order to cull the elderly. We witnessed the unveiling of the dystopian Sarco ‘suicide pod’. There can now be no doubt: far from being built on compassion, the ‘assisted dying’ movement is built on a blatant disregard for human life.

The low point of this year arrived in November, with the parliamentary vote on legalising assisted suicide in England and Wales. After having fewer than three weeks to consider Kim Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, and fewer than five hours to debate it, MPs voted by 330 to 275 in favour of it.

This vote was the culmination of years of emotionally manipulative propaganda, dominated by assisted-suicide lobby groups like Dignity in Dying. The issue of ‘assisted dying’, as proponents euphemistically call it, was brought back to the centre of political discussion late last year, when former TV presenter Esther Rantzen revealed that she was suffering from terminal lung cancer and might ‘buzz off’ to Dignitas in Switzerland. She called for a change in the law, complaining that, as it stands, police could prosecute her loved ones if they accompany her.

Keir Starmer, then leader of the opposition, was quick to agree with Rantzen. ‘I am an advocate to change the law’, he said. He went on to promise Rantzen that, should Labour win the upcoming General Election, he would give MPs a free vote on legalising ‘assisted dying’. Once Labour got into power in July, Starmer made good on that promise. In October, Leadbeater, Labour MP for Spen Valley, introduced her assisted-dying private members’ bill to parliament.

Starmer’s office successfully convinced many of the 231 new Labour MPs that this vote was simply about the principle, rather than the bill itself. They were reassured that there would be a chance to vote again on the details of the bill, which even some assisted-suicide advocates acknowledged had been poorly drafted.

Now, Leadbeater is handpicking a committee to consider amendments to the legislation. Unsurprisingly, this committee noticeably lacks critics of assisted suicide, or indeed MPs with medical training. So we shouldn’t put much stock in its ability to smooth out the bill’s many loopholes – such as potentially allowing anorexics and people with Type 1 diabetes to access assisted suicide, despite Leadbeater’s reassurances to the contrary.

The notion that assisted suicide has widespread public support is also misleading. Polls show that while most people back ‘assisted dying’ in principle, they have little understanding of what it entails in practice. The ‘assisted dying’ campaigners’ linguistic games, aimed at disguising the fact that they are advocating for state-sanctioned suicide, appear to have paid off. One poll conducted ahead of the vote in parliament found that 10 per cent of Brits thought ‘assisted dying’ meant access to hospice care. Forty-two per cent thought it meant the right to stop medical treatment, which is already legal. When people were informed that ‘assisted dying’ means helping people to kill themselves, support plummeted to just 11 per cent.

We need only to look to Canada to see what disasters await the UK, should Leadbeater’s bill become law. This year, Canada released its fifth annual report on its medical assistance in dying (MAID) programme, which has been in place since 2016. In that time, 60,301 Canadians received either euthanasia or assisted suicide. Last year, the number of total MAID procedures was more than 15 per cent higher than the year before. Euthanasia now accounts for nearly one in 20 deaths in Canada. Half of those who die at the hands of MAID are aged under 75.

Plenty of stories came out of Canada this year that showed the inevitable horrors that legalising assisted dying creates. In one case that came to court, a father desperately tried to stop the assisted death of his 27-year-old daughter, who, despite being diagnosed with ADHD and autism, was otherwise physically healthy as far as he knew. Tragically, many more such stories are bound to follow when, in 2027, the criteria for MAID will expand to include those suffering solely from mental illness. Despite Leadbeater’s claims that her bill will contain plenty of ‘safeguards’ to stop UK law expanding to these levels, anyone who has been paying attention to places like Canada knows that the slippery slope is very real.

You can also look to the Netherlands, where assisted suicide has been legal since 2002. This year, there was a spate of Dutch cases in which physically healthy people were euthanised. Twenty-nine-year-old Zoraya ter Beek and 35-year-old Jolanda Fun were both killed because they suffered from severe depression.

Leadbeater would have us believe that such a situation is impossible in the UK. Earlier this year, she claimed that ‘wherever [an assisted-dying] law has been introduced… and it’s got strict, limited criteria and proper safeguards and protections, it hasn’t been widened’. This is demonstrably untrue. There is not a single jurisdiction in which assisted suicide has been legalised where the eligibility criteria have not been relaxed or expanded. We have no reason to believe that the UK would be the exception to this rule.

Despite the depressing news on assisted suicide, there are still rays of light. That 275 MPs voted against the bill is in many ways incredible, given the political pressure exerted by Starmer and his large majority. Meanwhile, among the general public, polling shows that most Brits have their doubts about ‘assisted dying’.

In 2025, the debate must continue. And this time, it must be centred on facts, thoughtfulness and human dignity.

Kevin Yuill taught American studies at the University of Sunderland. His book, Assisted Suicide: The Liberal, Humanist Case Against Legalisation, is published by Palgrave Macmillan.

Previous articles by Kevin Yuill:

• Ten myths about assisted suicide (Link).
• The dystopian horror of the Sarco Suicide pod (Link).
• No safe way to legalize euthanasia (Link).
• Why are Dutch doctors euthanizing young healthy women? (Link).
• UK Labour Party leader is wrong about assisted suicide (Link).

(62%) of Canadians are concerned that socially and financially vulnerable will look to MAID based on inadequate health care.

6% of the respondents indicated that they knew a person who was offered MAiD (euthanasia) who had not requested it.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

The Angus Reid Institute in partnership with Cardus conducted an opinion poll of 1652 Canadians concerning MAiD (euthanasia). Similar to previous opinion polls, the current poll which was released on November 21, 2024 found that Canadians generally support access to MAiD (euthanasia) but have significant concerns with the application of the law.

The poll found that 63% of the respondents supported Canada's euthanasia law while 62% said that they worry about socially and financially vulnerable Canadians looking to MAID in lieu of adequate and quality health care.

Furthering the concerns is that people with disabilities are reporting barriers to accessing health care:

A majority (57%) of those living with disabilities which severely impact their day-to-day life have experienced some sort of barrier, including worse access to health care in general (31%), worse quality care (24%), difficulty finding a primary care doctor (21%), or inaccessible treatment or testing locations (12%).

The poll included 468 respondents who were healthcare workers. Among this group:

(45%) say they believe people living with disability receive poor or terrible care in their province.

The poll found that nearly 4 in 10 healthcare workers stated that Canadians with disabilities experience slower access to healthcare, a lower quality of care and are less likely to have their concerns taken seriously in the healthcare system.

The poll also found that almost 1 in 5 Canadians know someone who has died by MAiD (euthanasia) and 6% of the respondents indicated that they knew a person who was offered MAiD who had not requested it.

With instances of MAID increasing, the proportion of those who know a close friend or family member who received MAID has reached one-in-five (18%). This is higher among those older than 54 (24%) and those in Quebec (26%), the province which has seen the most medically assisted deaths since 2016. Exposure is close to evenly divided between close friends or family members.

Notably, six per cent of Canadians say that they had a close friend or family member who was offered MAID unsolicited, something opponents have been concerned about.

The 6% of respondents who stated that a friend or relative was offered euthanasia without asking for it, 37% stated that the person accepted the suggestion and died by euthanasia.

The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition has received many phone calls from people who were upset that healthcare professionals (often a hospital MAiD team) had asked them or a loved one if they wanted euthanasia. One person contacted me after being asked 5 times if they wanted euthanasia.

In June 2024, Heather Hancock, who lives with Cerebral Palsy, shared her story of being pressured at two Canadian hospitals to request MAiD (euthanasia).

Canada had approximately 15,280 euthanasia deaths in 2023 (Article Link).

Previous Angus Reid polls:

• The majority of Canadians oppose euthanasia for mental health (Link). 
• 28% of Canadians support euthanasia for mental illness (Link).
  
• The majority of Canadians say that religiously affiliated hospitals should not be forced to do euthanasia (Link). 
• Canadians oppose further expansions of (MAiD) euthanasia (Link).
  

Slovenia passes assisted suicide referendum in tight vote.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

The Slovenian referendum on the question ‘Are you in favour of adopting a law that will regulate the right to assistance in the voluntary end of life?’ passed with 55% in favour and 45% against. The vote is non-binding, but has support from three political parties who proposed the referendum.

Earlier this year I travelled to Slovenia to speak to politicians and local organizers about Canada's experience with legalizing euthanasia.

In March I reported that the Slovenian government defeated the euthanasia bill. At the same time the Slovenian government announced their intention to have a referendum on the "basic question" of euthanasia rather than the bill that they were debating.

Slovenian legislation allows for a referendum on legislation that is passed by the government. Therefore if the new Slovenian government passes a bill to legalize assisted suicide, it is likely that a new referendum will be organized based on the specific language of the legislation.

The assisted suicide battle in Slovenia is far from over.

Journal of Medical Ethics article: Scottish Support for assisted suicide is weakening.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Scottish Parliament

An article by David Albert Jones was published in the Journal of Medical Ethics on April 15, 2024 explaining that support for assisted suicide in Scotland is weakening.

On 27 March 2024, Liam McArthur introduced his Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill. He said that he was “absolutely convinced” that the legislation would be passed as “there is growing public support for the policy”. Similarly, when the Bill was proposed in 2022 it was argued that public opinion “seems to be shifting in favour of a law change.” Again, a recent article in defence of the Bill appealed to the “increasing and now overwhelming” support in Scotland for a change in the law. This was based on “several polls” cited in the Policy Memorandum that accompanied the Bill.

The Memorandum cites four polls giving 87% (March 2019), 72% (June 2021), 77% (July 2023) and 71% (December 2023) support for “assisted dying”. In addition, a more recent poll (March 2024) of 4,132 adults in Scotland showed 78% in favour.

It is noteworthy that the three polls commissioned by Dignity in Dying Scotland (March 2019, July 2023 and March 2024), generated the highest figures for support. This is in part because the questions referred to terminal illness and included other reassurances. They also asked if people “strongly support[ed]” assisted dying or only “somewhat” or “tend[ed] to” support. Asking in this way ensures that people who are ambivalent but tend to be in favour on balance or in principle are included as supporters.

Jones explains that strong support for assisted suicide is declining:

These polls thus measured how many “strongly support[ed]” legalising assisted dying. This was 55% in 2019, 45% in 2023, and 40% in 2024. It is evident that the level of strong support has declined and that a majority of Scots are no longer strongly in favour, but are ambivalent to some degree or are opposed.

Jones explains that the public is confused by the meaning of the term - assisted dying:

To measure change in support over time, it is important to use the same question and to conduct multiple repeated polling. YouGov provides a bimonthly “tracker” (August 2019 to April 2024) for the questions: “Do you think the law should or should not be changed to allow someone to assist in the suicide of someone suffering from a terminal illness?” and “Do you think the law should or should not be changed to allow someone to assist in the suicide of someone suffering from a painful, incurable but NOT terminal illness?”

Support in Scotland in April 2024, as measured by these questions, was 71% and 41% respectively. This is lower than the polls quoted above in part because of the reference to “assisted suicide” rather than “assisted dying”. There is evidence that many people are confused about what is included in “assisted dying”. A survey conducted in 2021 found that most people thought that this meant either “giving people who are dying the right to stop life-prolonging treatment” (42%) or “providing hospice-type care to people who are dying” (10%).

In any case, the usefulness of the tracker lies less in the snapshot of support and more in capturing change over time. These trackers, each repeated 31 times over five years, clearly show that support for assisted suicide in Scotland has declined measurably.

Support for assisted suicide is less than 50% when it applies to people who are not terminally ill and yet Scotland's euthanasia bill permits people who are not terminally ill to be killed by euthanasia. Jones explains:

The second tracker also shows that support is well under 50% if assisted suicide would be provided to people who are not terminally ill. It might seem that the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill is indeed restricted to people who are terminally ill. However, unlike similar legislation in the United States, New Zealand or Australia, the Scottish Bill defines “terminal illness” with no reference to a person being close to death. The term is used to cover anyone with an advanced progressive condition that would be expected to shorten life if not treated. This would include conditions such as type 1 diabetes. It is unclear if this is what the public understands by the term “terminal illness”.

Jones ends his article by stating that support for assisted suicide is not overwhelming and it is not growing:

Public support for legalisation of assisted suicide in Scotland is thus neither “overwhelming” nor “growing”. Less than half strongly support a change in the law. Less than half want their MP to vote to change in the law. Less than half support assisted suicide for non-terminal conditions (as the proposed Bill seems to include). Few if any regard assisted dying / assisted suicide as being among the most important issues facing Scotland and all indications are that Scottish support for its legalisation has declined markedly in recent years.

MSPs should assess for themselves the merits and/or dangers of the proposed Bill without fearing that they will be out of step with public opinion. Indeed, if they feel ambivalent or hesitant on this issue then they are probably reflecting the views of most people in Scotland.

Scotland's deceptive euthanasia bill redefines terminal illness to include people with disabilities (Link).

Euthanasia lobby poll indicates that a majority of UK citizens support assisted dying for hard cases.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Paul Brand reported for ITV news on March 11 that a poll conducted by the UK euthanasia lobby group, Dignity in Dying, found that 75% of the repondents in the UK support legalizing assisted dying.

The news article did not publish the poll question, but it is known that when people are asked the question - Should terminally ill people who are suffering be able to ask for assisted dying, that the majority will say yes.

When you poll a group of people with a question that is based on a hard case scenario -- the person is terminally ill and suffering uncontrolled pain -- the respondent will react to that specific question.

If you ask people in a poll about real life scenario's, such as in Canada where we are having euthanasia deaths for poverty, homelessness, disability or an inability to obtain medical treatment (not based on futility but based on medical backlogs) then the response changes.

When you poll a group of people with a question that employs inaccurate language, then you will get stronger support. The media article indicates that the Dying in Dignity poll asks if a person should be legally allowed to seek assisted dying.

It is one question to be legally allowed to seek, it is another question whether a doctor or nurse should be legally allowed to poison their patients to death. Also, the term assisted dying is intentionally imprecise. We all want "assistance in dying". That assistance could be home-care or pain and symptom management (if necessary) but the euthanasia lobby use the term assisted dying to confuse us about the act of doctors and nurses killing their patients with poison.

Finally, it is the real life stories that are important.

When you legalize euthanasia or assisted suicide you may think that you are opening the door to specific scenario's but based on human reality there is always other doors behind the door that you have opened.

The recent court case in Alberta is a prime example of the further doors that are opened when you legalize euthanasia.

The Alberta court case concerns a father who has petitioned the court to prevent the euthanasia death of his 27 year old autistic daughter, who lives at home. The father is stating that his daughter does not have a medical condition that qualifies under the law, whereas the daughter has already been approved for death by lethal poison.

The father says that his daughter, who is autistic, has been influenced to believe that death is the answer to her social and personal difficulties, but she doesn't have an irremediable medical condition, as required by the law. Her father also believes that his daughter is depressed but depression doesn't qualify under the law.

The lawyer for the daughter is arguing that it is understandable that the father doesn't want his daughter to die by euthanasia, but the law doesn't give him legal standing. The lawyer for the daughter is saying that the law only requires approval by two medical professionals, and that has been accomplished.

When debating the legalization of euthanasia, the public is presented with the hard case scenario -- the terminally ill person who is suffering uncontrolled pain -- but the reality is that euthanasia cannot be legalized for specific hard case scenario's. The end result is a case of an otherwise healthy 27 year old autistic woman who lives at home who has been approved for death by lethal poison.

Killing is never the solution to social problems, we need a society that offers care.

Don’t abandon people with mental illness to death by MAiD.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

On December 15, 2023 Stephanie Taylor reported for the Canadian Press that Justice Minister Arif Virani stated that the federal government may “pause its plan” to permit euthanasia (MAiD) when a person’s only underlying condition is a mental disorder (Link).

*Sign and share our petition to Justice Minister Hon Arif Virani, Hon Rob Moore (CPC Justice Critic) and Randall Garrison (NDP Justice Critic) (Petition Link).

The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition needs your help to implement a successful campaign to reverse the current direction with euthanasia in Canada.

When the Canadian government expanded its (MAiD) euthanasia law in March 2021 (Bill C-7) it did so by removing the terminal illness requirement and permitting Canadians to be poisoned to death if they have an irremediable medical condition (Link).

Bill C-7 also added the option of euthanasia for mental illness alone. (Link) The government originally provided a two-year moratorium on euthanasia for mental illness to give them time to prepare for this expansion. In 2023 the government extended the moratorium for another year (Link). Therefore, unless the government pauses its current plan, euthanasia for mental illness alone will become an option on March 17, 2024.

In February 2023, the Angus Reid Institute published a poll indicating that 31% of Canadians supported euthanasia for mental illness alone, with the highest support being in Quebec (36%) and the lowest support being in Saskatchewan (21%) (Link). In September 2023, the Angus Reid Institute conducted another poll which indicated that support for euthanasia for mental illness alone had dropped to 28% of Canadians (Link).

Even though Canadians oppose euthanasia for mental illness, Canada’s parliament recently defeated Bill C-314, that was sponsored by Hon. Ed Fast (MP) that would have prevented euthanasia for mental illness alone. The good news was that the vote was close (167 – 150) with all of the Conservatives and NDP and 8 Liberals supporting Bill C-314. (Link)

We need to tell the stories.

In August 2022, Global News reported the story of a Veterans Affairs employee who advocated (MAiD) euthanasia for a veterans living with (PTSD). The article stated (Link):

A Canadian Forces veteran seeking treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder and a traumatic brain injury was shocked when he was unexpectedly and casually offered medical assistance in dying by a Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) employee, sources tell Global News.

Sources say a VAC service agent brought up medical assistance in dying, or MAID, unprompted in the conversation with the veteran. Global News is not identifying the veteran who was seeking treatment.

Canadians were shocked that a veteran who served the country and was seeking help for PTSD was offered (MAiD) euthanasia. The story was published around the same time as several other stories of people with disabilities who were approved for euthanasia based on poverty (Link), homelessness or being unable to obtain medical treatment.

Kathryn Mentler

The Tyee in August 2023 the story of Kathrin Mentler (37) who lives with chronic suicidal ideation. Mentler, who said that she has lived with depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts for many years, was offered euthanasia at the Assessment Centre at the Vancouver General Hospital when she was seeking help for suicidal ideation (Link).

According to the article, Mentler went to the Vancouver General Hospital to receive help. The article states that she was told by the counsellor that the mental health system was "completely overwhelmed", there were no available beds, and the earliest that she could talk with a psychiatrist was in about five months. The counsellor then asked Mentler if she had ever considered medically assisted suicide.

Canadians reacted strongly to the Mentler story as she was experiencing suicidal ideation and offered euthanasia while seeking a “safe place”. It must be noted that euthanasia for mental illness was technically illegal in June 2023 when it was offered as an option to Mentler.

In August 2023 a story was published by the Richmond News explaining that if euthanasia for mental illness had existed in the past, that Karim Jessa would be dead. Jessa explained in the interview that he opposes euthanasia for mental illness because, when he had hit rock bottom, he would have asked for an assisted death if it had been legal, but now he is a completely different person.

An editorial published by the Globe and Mail on November 4, 2023 quoted Dr. K Sonu Gaind, Chief of Psychiatry at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, stating that there is "absolutely no consensus" as to what constitutes an irremediable medical condition when it comes to patients with mental illness. (Link) This comment is important because the law requires that a person to be approved for euthanasia, must have an irremediable medical condition.

There have been many articles in the media concerning people with disabilities who asked for or received (MAiD) euthanasia based on poverty, homelessness or an inability to obtain medical treatment.

Similar to people with disabilities (Link), people with mental health issues (Link) are more likely to live in poverty (Link), to be homeless (Link) or to struggle to obtain the medical treatment that they need.

The battle to protect people with mental illness has not ended. 

On December 13 Justice Minister Arif Virani stated that the Federal government may “pause its original plan” to permit (MAiD) euthanasia for mental illness (Link).

Members of parliament will have the opportunity to oppose euthanasia for mental illness when they return to parliament after the Christmas break.

Members of Parliament need to reject euthanasia for mental illness.

Urge Member's of Parliament Not to abandon people with mental illness to death by MAiD.

Sign and share our petition to Justice Minister Hon Arif Virani, Hon Rob Moore (CPC Justice Critic) and Randall Garrison (NDP Justice Critic) (Petition Link).

Links to reference articles used in this article:

• Canada's government may pause the implementation of euthanasia for mental illness. (Link)
• Canada passes Bill C-7 - permitting euthanasia for mental illness. (Link)
• Canada to delay euthanasia for mental illness until March 2024. (Link)
• The majority of Canadians oppose euthanasia for mental health. (Link)
• 28% of Canadians support euthanasia for mental illness. (Link)
• Bill C-314 defeated. Parliament divided on euthanasia for mental illness. (Link)
• Veterans Affairs Canada worker advocates euthanasia for PTSD. (Link)
• Canadian Quadriplegic woman approved to die by euthanasia faster than it takes to get needed disability benefits (Link)
• Canadian woman offered euthanasia as a "treatment option" during a mental health crisis. (Link)
• Globe and Mail editorial urges federal government to withdraw euthanasia for mental illness. (Link) 
• The problem with Canada's MAiD policy (Link)
  
• Ontario man seeks euthanasia to avoid homelessness. (Link)
• Why did they kill my brother. (Link)
  

The Majority of Canadians say that religiously affiliated hospitals should not be forced to provide euthanasia.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

St Paul's hospital Vancouver

A euthanasia lobby group has been lobbying the British Columbia (BC) government to force Catholic hospitals to provide euthanasia. 

Samantha O'Neill (34), died by euthanasia (MAiD) on April 4, 2023 after being transferred from St Paul's hospital in Vancouver to St. John’s Hospice. 

O'Neill's family argue that Samantha should have been able to die by euthanasia at St Paul's hospital rather than be transferred to St. John's Hospice to die.

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.

On October 17, 2023; an Angus Reid Institute poll indicated that 58% of Canadians believe that religiously affiliated healthcare should not be forced to provide (MAiD) euthanasia but should transfer the person to a facility that will provide euthanasia, while 18% of Canadians were unsure and only 24% of Canadians demanded that religiously affiliated healthcare facilities must provide euthanasia.

The poll results varied by province with Manitoba (65%) and Saskatchewan (64%) offering the strongest support for religiously affiliated healthcare while Québec (47%) responded with the lowest support. Only 35% of the Québec poll participants stated that religiously affilitiated institutions must provide euthanasia.

The other key question in the Angus Reid Institute poll concerned conscience rights for medical professionals who oppose euthanasia. The poll found that 70% of Canadians thought that a medical professional who opposes euthanasia should refer someone who requests euthanasia to a medical professional who will provide it while 30% believed that medical professionals should not be forced to refer for euthanasia.

The Angus Reid Institute did not differentiate between a doctor being required to refer a patient for euthanasia or a doctor who opposes euthanasia being required to make an "effective referral" for euthanasia. Most medical professionals are willing to refer a patient, but not make an effective referral since an effective referral means sending the patient to a medical professional who will do the act.

Medical professionals who oppose euthanasia, usually oppose killing their patients. If they believe that its morallly wrong to kill a patient then they will also believe that its morally wrong to send their patient to someone who will kill their patient.

Nonetheless, Canadians clearly support the right of religiously affiliated healthcare institutions to not provide euthanasia.

An Angus Reid Institute poll that was published on September 28 found that only 28% of Canadians support euthanasia for mental illness alone. This is important because Canada is adding mental illness as a reason for euthanasia starting in March 2024.

28% of Canadians support euthanasia for mental illness

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

New polling data from the non-profit Angus Reid Institute, in partnership with Cardus, published on September 28, 2023 indicated that:

Three-in-ten (28%) say they support allowing those whose sole condition is mental illness to seek MAID, while half are opposed (50%).

Four-in-five (82%) Canadians feel mental health care should be improved first before MAID eligibility is expanded to include those whose sole condition is a mental illness. That includes seven-in-ten (69%) of those who support this expansion of MAID eligibility.

The data revealed that:

a vast majority of Canadians are concerned with the mental health care resources available in the country (80%) and the state of Canadians’ mental health overall (81%).

According to the Angus Reid Institute poll:

Overall, one-in-five (19%) Canadians say they’ve looked for treatment for a mental health issue from a professional in the last 12 months. In that group, two-in-five say they’ve faced barriers to receive the treatment they wanted. These obstacles appear to be more of an issue for women (45% of those who sought treatment say it was difficult to receive) and young Canadian adults aged 18-34 (51%).

The poll found that 40% of the people who sought treatment for mental health in the last 12 months faced barriers to receiving treatment.

Considering the difficulties that Canadians experience accessing mental health treatment, the Angus Reid Institute asked participants about their support for MAiD (euthanasia) in general and if they support the expansion of MAiD to include the sole condition of mental illness. The poll indicated that:

Majorities of Canadians support the previous rules governing MAID, first passed in 2016 (64%) and then updated in 2021 (60%), but there is more hesitation when it comes to this next step. Three-in-ten (28%) say they support allowing those whose sole condition is mental illness to seek MAID, while half are opposed (50%).

Nationally, 28% of Canadians support allowing those whose sole condition is mental illness to die by MAiD but the data varies by province. The poll indicated:

There is much more opposition to the proposed expansion to include mental illness as an eligible sole condition for MAID. At most, one-third in B.C. (33%), Manitoba (35%) and Quebec (31%) say they support this change to MAID eligibility.

The lowest support for MAiD for mental illness alone was (21%) in Alberta.

Support for MAiD for mental illness alone also varied by political affiliation. (22%) of Conservatives voters, (31%) of Liberals voters, (37%) of NDP voters, and (28%) of Bloc voters supported euthanasia for mental illness alone.

The Hon Ed Fast sponsored private members Bill C-314 to prevent the implementation of euthanasia for mental illness alone in Canada. Bill C-314 will have it's second hour of debate in parliament on Thursday October 5, 2023.

Canadians clearly support Bill C-314.

The Angus Reid Institute is a national, not-for-profit, non-partisan public opinion research foundation. The Institute surveyed 1872 Canadians between September 19 - 22, 2023.

Canada’s poverty reduction scheme

Is poverty or homelessness a good reason for euthanasia?

This article was published by Mercatornet on May 11, 2023.

By Michael Cook

If you have read A Christmas Carol, you may remember Ebenezer Scrooge’s opinion about social services, as expressed to two gentlemen who ask him for a donation to make “some slight provision for the Poor and destitute”. Are there no prisons, asks Scrooge; are there no workhouses?

“Many can’t go there; and many would rather die,” they say.

To which Dickens’ monument to misanthropy retorts: “If they would rather die, they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.”

The spirit of Scrooge seems to have migrated across the Atlantic and taken up residence in Canada where Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) – aka euthanasia — for the poor is warmly supported.

There have been a number of well-publicised cases of people who have applied for MAiD simply because they cannot find housing, or because their housing is inadequate.

For instance, take the case of Amir Farsoud, a 54-year-old who applied for euthanasia last year because he feared becoming homeless. He said that his quality of life is “awful, non-existent and terrible … I do nothing other than manage pain.” However, it would be bearable if he didn’t have to cope with the fear of homelessness. He depends on social assistance and can’t find affordable accommodation. “I don’t want to die but I don’t want to be homeless more than I don’t want to die”.

So what does the Canadian public think about cases like this?

Lots of them are cool with it.

A huge majority – 73% — are broadly supportive of the country’s euthanasia legislation, which has been called the most radical in the world.

MAiD was touted as a solution for people with terminal illness in unbearable pain. But now that people are dying by the thousand under Canada’s euthanasia law, just about any reason will do.

According to a recent poll by Research Co, a company which monitors public opinion in Canada, more than one in four would allow euthanasia for homelessness (28%) and for poverty (27%). Even more shocking is that the poll showed that 50% of Canadians would allow euthanasia for people who had been unable to access medical treatment and 51% for people with a disability.

Alarmingly, millennials are even more Scrooge-like than their elders. Forty-one percent of people between 18 and 34 agree or strongly agree that poverty and homelessness should make Canadians eligible for euthanasia. That’s two out of five in the up-and-coming generation.

Even worse, bioethicists – who ought to be defending the rights of the vulnerable – are defending the right of poor people to receive euthanasia if they want it. “All options on the table are really tragic and sad,” a bioethicist at the University of Toronto told the National Post recently. “But the least harmful way forward is to allow people who are competent to make decisions to have access to this choice, even if it’s a terrible one.”

But Yuan Yi Zhu, a Canadian research fellow at Harris Manchester College at the University of Oxford, got it right. “It is more than tragic,” he told the National Post, “it is a moral stain on our country, for which future generations will have to atone for.”

Canadians are reputed to be the nicest people on the planet. If the test of a just society is how it cares for the vulnerable, Canadians have flunked. How did they end up turning into Scrooges who believe that poor people are better off dead?

The answer which springs to mind is that Canada has drifted far from its moorings in the Christian faith. It’s no coincidence that Christian affiliation and practice are at an all-time low in Canada.

And this is what a post-Christian welfare system looks like – a syringe and a bottle of pills. In the scriptures of a religion which most Canadians once believed you can read: “Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor will himself call out and not be answered.” Pity elderly Canadians when those Millennials are running the country and need to balance budgets.

Canadians oppose further expansions of (MAiD) euthanasia.

    Canadians are deeply divided on euthanasia.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

A press release about a recent poll by Researchco.com concerning Canada's euthanasia law states that "Canadians back the status quo on MAiD." 

When analyzing the data I conclude that Canadians oppose further expansions of euthanasia and support for Canada's law has dropped.

The Researchco press release states that 73% of Canadians are satisfied with the current MAiD law which was down by 3% since 2021. The poll indicates that 48% of Canadians are satisified with the current law, 25% are undecided and 27% are dissatisfied with the law. The undecided are not necessarily satisfied with the law. Canadians are deeply divided on euthanasia.

Quebec had the highest support for the existing law where 53% were satisfied with the law while Alberta had the lowest support with only 40% indicating satisfaction with the law.

The federal government recently passed legislation which will allow euthanasia for mental illness starting in March 2024. According to the poll, only 43% support euthanasia for mental illness.

The Researchco poll results are similar to the Angus Reid Institute poll in February 2023 which found that 51% were opposed and 31% supported euthanasia based on mental health.

There were several stories, over the past few years, of people who were approved for euthanasia based on disability or an inability to obtain medical treatment, homelessness or poverty.

The poll found that Canadians were divided on euthanasia being approved based on an inability to obtain medical treatment (51% support) or disability (50% support). When considering euthanasia for homelessness support dropped to 28% and support dropped to 27% when considering euthanasia for poverty.

The poll did not ask about child euthanasia (mature minors) or euthanasia by advanced consent.

Canadians are not demanding expansions to the euthanasia law and support for Canada's euthanasia law has dropped. The polling company claimed that 73% of Canadians support the current law, but the data indicated 48% support for the current law and 25% were undecided. Similar to previous polls, the language of the poll effects the outcome of the poll.