Image – Shutterstock: Florin Deperin
The question of whether faith-based hospitals should be permitted to refuse to provide Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) continues to divide Canada, as court challenges and political pressure mount against exemptions given to Christian hospitals.
The issue has gained renewed attention following an article from CBC, detailing several high-profile cases in which patients were transferred from Catholic hospitals to other facilities in order to receive MAiD. Campaigners argue that such transfers are traumatic and unnecessary, while religious healthcare providers maintain that participation in assisted suicide would violate their core values.
St Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver, operated by Providence Health Care, does not permit MAiD on its premises, citing its Catholic ethos. A spokesperson for the organisation has said its approach is rooted in “a long-standing moral tradition of compassionate care that neither prolongs dying nor hastens death, grounded in the belief that all life is sacred and in the dignity of the person.”
Under current Canadian law, provinces may decide whether faith-based institutions can opt out of providing MAiD. Quebec is the only province that does not allow such exemptions. In response, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Montreal and the Archdiocese of Montreal launched a legal challenge in 2024, arguing that the province’s end-of-life legislation infringes religious freedom.
In court filings, the Archbishop stated that forcing Catholic institutions to participate in assisted dying “violates freedom of conscience and religion”, and that institutions should not be compelled to act directly against the beliefs that define their mission. That case remains before the courts.
Advocacy groups such as Dying With Dignity Canada argue that exemptions create inequitable access, particularly in areas where faith-based hospitals are the only available providers. The organisation estimates that more than 100 patient transfers related to MAiD occur annually across the country. Critics say this places an additional burden on patients and families at the end of life.
Supporters of religious exemptions counter that faith-based hospitals are not preventing access to MAiD, but declining to perform the procedure themselves, while still cooperating with health authorities to facilitate transfers where required. They argue that eliminating exemptions would undermine institutional conscience and reduce diversity within the healthcare system.
The debate is further complicated by the scale of faith-based healthcare in Canada. There are more than 100 religious hospitals nationwide, accounting for approximately 13,000 beds. In provinces such as Alberta, Catholic providers continue to expand capacity, raising questions about how end-of-life services should be delivered in publicly funded but religiously operated settings.
John Deighan, SPUC’s CEO, says, “The assisted suicide regime in Canada is an international embarrassment, and every proposition made to widen it or weaken safeguards proves our point more. Suicide will never be safe, and suicide will never be caring. We hope that the right for Christian hospitals to object to killing their own patients is preserved, but the fact that calls for this are coming from such mainstream sources should be a warning to the United Kingdom: safeguards to assisted suicide don’t last when you open the floodgates to the culture of death.”
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