Image Source: X / Mike Lee
Canada recorded more deaths through assisted suicide in 2024 than the United States recorded firearm homicides, despite the US having a population more than eight times larger.
According to Health Canada’s latest annual report, 16,499 people died through Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) during 2024, an increase of 6.9 per cent on the previous year. Assisted deaths accounted for 5.1 per cent of all deaths in Canada that year.
By comparison, analysis of US Centre for Disease Control data by Johns Hopkins University found that 15,364 Americans were killed in firearm homicides during 2024, meaning Canada recorded 1,135 more assisted suicides than the US recorded gun homicides.
The comparison is particularly striking given the enormous difference between the populations of the two countries. If Canada’s state suicide rate were overlayed onto the United States, there would be over 130,000 citizens killed annually.
Canada legalised MAiD in 2016, initially requiring a person’s natural death to be reasonably foreseeable. Parliament expanded eligibility in 2021 to include some people whose deaths are not reasonably foreseeable.
The numbers have subsequently risen dramatically. There were 5,461 MAiD deaths in 2019, compared with 16,499 just five years later, meaning the annual total has approximately tripled. Health Canada records 76,475 assisted deaths between legalisation and the end of 2024.
Of those who received MAiD in 2024, 732 were people whose natural deaths were not reasonably foreseeable—those with eating disorders included.
Canada is also approaching another major decision over the boundaries of assisted suicide. Under current federal law, people whose sole underlying medical condition is mental illness remain excluded from MAiD until March 2027 unless Parliament legislates otherwise.
The extraordinary boom of the death trade in Canada demonstrates how quickly a practice introduced under supposedly limited circumstances can become a significant part of a country’s approach to death and healthcare.
In 2024, more than one in every 20 deaths in Canada involved MAiD.
SPUC Communications Manager Peter Kearney said: “It is clear that the fabric of Canada has been completely destroyed by MAiD as these figures are eye-watering. America is famed across the world for gun access and Canada is soon catching up as a nation infamous for killing the infirm.”
He continued, “SPUC is pleased to have been part of the fight to stop the slippery slope we’ve seen in Canada from coming to England, Wales, and Scotland. When societies muddy the waters regarding the value of life the torrent is often unstoppable. Canada can only reverse that torrent by choosing, like Britain, to disallow the violence of assisted suicide and euthanasia.”
