The disturbing remarks made by Canadian physician Dr. Ellen Wiebe, suggesting that inadequate housing may justify seeking euthanasia, strike at the heart of what it means to uphold the sanctity of life. From a pro-life standpoint, such reasoning dangerously conflates social adversity with irremediable suffering, reducing vulnerable individuals to decisions born of desperation rather than dignity.
SPUC have long warned of the slippery slope inherent in legalised assisted dying and has documented how Canada’s MAiD program has expanded far beyond its original confines and increasingly comes to account for a significant proportion of all deaths, approximately 4.7% in 2023. Crucially, SPUC argues that normalising euthanasia in even non-medical hardship, such as poor living conditions, erodes society’s commitment to care for its most vulnerable
Rather than offering euthanasia as a response to poverty or substandard housing, justice demands that we fight for systemic reforms that ensure dignified living conditions, comprehensive palliative care, and robust social supports. SPUC’s position, rooted in both medical ethics and the Hippocratic tradition, insists that life must be defended irrespective of circumstance and that no person should feel compelled toward death because life’s essentials go unmet.
Moreover, SPUC highlights how MAiD can undermine palliative care. In Canada, clinicians have found themselves in ethically fraught situations, where optimal symptom control risked disqualifying patients from MAiD eligibility. The introduction of euthanasia as a substitute for meaningful care not only deepens suffering but weakens society’s moral resolve to uphold life.
Society must renew its commitment to life-affirming responses: building safe homes, expanding palliative services, supporting those with disabilities, and cultivating a culture in which every life, even amid hardship, is cherished.
Pro-life advocates call on legislators and health professionals alike to resist expanding MAiD beyond genuine medical necessity. They urge us instead to invest in humane solutions that uphold dignity, relieve suffering, and honor life, no matter the housing, health, or social status of the person.
