The Canadian Government has decided to delay its extension of assisted suicide to the mentally ill after a national outcry.
Canada’s “medical assistance in dying” programme, known as MAiD, has caused alarm around the world as deaths from the scheme have risen exponentially in recent years, killing over 10,000 people in 2021 alone.
Recently, The Lancet, the world-renowned medical journal, also noted the “worryingly high number” of assisted suicides in Canada, as reported by SPUC.
It also recently transpired that a doctor in Canada boasted that she had helped kill 400 people through assisted suicide, and that she saw “loneliness and poverty” as good enough reasons to justify her actions.
But David Lametti, Canada’s justice minister, has now announced that plans to introduce assisted suicide for the mentally will be delayed for at least a year to be “prudent” and “safe”.
A report on the proposed extension of MAiD is expected soon from a parliamentary committee, though Canada could still decide to implement assisted suicide for the mentally ill.
Canada has had enough of assisted suicide
Last week, Jordan Peterson, the famous Canadian psychologist, spoke out against assisted suicide and the Government. “I don’t trust the people who can’t give you a passport in two weeks to decide whether or not grandma gets to live”, he said at an event in Ottawa.
Dr Peterson and others have responded to numerous stories in recent months exposing the harm done by assisted suicide, which was introduced in Canada in 2016, and has since killed over 30,000 Canadians.
In one case, a woman known only as Denise, 31, was conditionally approved for assisted suicide after failing to secure suitable accommodation because of “abject poverty”. She later put her request on hold after the public raised money to fund her search for a liveable home.
In another case, which left a Canadian feeling “betrayed”, an ex-soldier suffering from PTSD was offered assisted suicide through a veteran hotline, shocking himself and his family.
UK’s vulnerable on the brink of disaster, warns SPUC
SPUC’s Michael Robinson, Executive Director (Public Affairs and Legal Services), said: “We are seeing just how far down the ‘slippery slope’ Canada has gone, and within such a short time. It serves as a warning to us all. Politicians in the UK should take note.
“While assisted suicide for the mentally ill is inherently dangerous and irresponsible, what Canada has imposed on its people for the last several years has already been a disaster for vulnerable people, especially the ill and elderly.
“Once assisted suicide in legalised, death fast becomes the default response to the challenges of care, mental illness and even poverty. We cannot allow that to happen here in the UK.
“At a time when calls for assisted suicide in the UK are growing louder, we must surely look at what is going in Canada right now and step back from the brink.”
Sign SPUC's petition against assisted suicide
Canada’s approach to assisted suicide shows how laws of this nature are inherently unsafe, unpredictable and unethical. We cannot allow this to happen in the UK.
Please consider signing our online petition, “Reject Any Move to Legalise Assisted Suicide”, by clicking the link here.
We must send a strong message to our political leaders that assisted suicide is a dangerous and unethical practice that must never be legalised in any part of the UK. Please sign the petition now.