A UN committee has called for the repeal of assisted suicide in Canada for people who have no terminal illnesses, especially the disabled which, a report concluded, is discriminatory towards disability.
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Committee published its report last month and recommended that Canada repeal “Track 2” of its Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) that grants assisted suicide to people without terminal illness.
The Committee said it was “extremely concerned about the 2021 amendments to the State Party’s Criminal Code through Bill C-7 that expanded the eligibility criteria… by removing the ‘foreseeable death’ criteria”.
The report noted “with concern” that “disability is not a reason to endorse medical assistance in dying”, yet Canada nonetheless established “medically assisted dying for persons with disabilities based on negative, ableist perceptions of the quality and value of the life of persons with disabilities, including that ‘suffering’ is intrinsic to disability rather than the fact that inequality and discrimination cause and compound ‘suffering’ for persons with disabilities”.
A damming addendum stated that “the concept of ‘choice [advanced by MAiD] creates a false dichotomy by setting up the premise that if persons with disabilities are suffering, it is valid for the State Party to enable their death, with safeguards not guaranteeing the provision of support”.
As well as “deemphasising the myriad of support options for persons with disabilities to live dignified lives”, MAiD was also found to be part of “the systemic failures of the State Party to address the social determinants of health and well-being, such as poverty alleviation, access to healthcare, accessible housing, prevention of homelessness, prevention of gender-based violence, the provision of community-based mental health supports and employment supports”.
The Committee also recommended that Canada should cancel the proposed 2027 extension of MAiD to include mental illness as a sole reason to die.
Responding to the report, Alex Schadenberg, the executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition in Canada, said: “Social supports are not adequate to ensure that people with disabilities can at least live and have adequate housing and the necessary supports…
“These recommendations are important but limited to Track 2 concerns. Very similar concerns exist for people being approved for Track 1 euthanasia deaths.”
Over 15,000 people were killed by MAiD in 2023. 47.1% of people who died via Track 2 that year cited social isolation or loneliness as a reason to die.
Earlier this year, a disabled Canadian man, who had already “faced neglect, verbal abuse, and denial of essential care”, said he had been “told by healthcare staff to consider opting for Medical Aid in Dying”, which was a warning to other nations: “I believe my own experience is a cautionary tale of how well-intended laws go very wrong.”
Proposed assisted suicide laws are currently threatening the UK. The Leadbeater Bill for England and Wales proposes to legalise assisted suicide for terminally ill adults given six months to live.
There are concerns that such a law, if passed, could be expanded within a few years, as MP Kim Leadbeater recently admitted.
During the Committee stage hearing into the Leadbeater Bill, disability expert Dr Miro Griffiths warned that the proposed law “coalesces with the systemic injustices faced by the disabled people’s communities in the UK”.
Dr Griffiths went on to explain to the Committee that “Section 6 of the Equality Act 2010 states that a disabled person is somebody who has a ‘physical or mental impairment’ and the impairment ‘has a substantial and long-term adverse effect’ on their ‘ability to carry out… day-to-day activities’.
“If you have a terminal illness, it is likely that you will be defined within the terms of what is outlined in Section 6, so it is a fundamental flaw, because disabled people will be incorporated within this.”
A second vote on the Leadbeater Bill at Third Reading is expected to take place in May.
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