Canadian group that led push to legalize euthanasia warns of abuse of system

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CNA Staff, Dec 27, 2024 / 12:10 pm (CNA).

The activist group that led the push to legalize medical aid in dying (MAID) in Canada is now warning that additional government safeguards are needed to combat reports of abuse of the program. 

Liz Hughes, executive director of the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA), told the National Post that the organization has become “aware of concerning reports of people being offered MAID in circumstances that may not legally qualify as well as people accessing MAID as a result of intolerable social circumstances.”

The BCCLA was a key figure in Canada’s legalization of euthanasia, having filed the suit Carter v. Canada that led to the Supreme Court of Canada’s striking down the government ban on the procedure. 

In the roughly nine years since euthanasia became legal in Canada in 2016, the practice has become increasingly popular. The latest government figures, released this month, showed another double-digit year-over-year increase in the procedure, with 15,343 Canadian citizens euthanized by medical officials in 2023, accounting for 1 in 20 deaths there. 

Yet a bombshell report in November revealed that out of hundreds of violations of the country’s controversial euthanasia law over the course of several years, none of them have been reported to law enforcement, with whistleblowers warning of numerous “issues with compliance” in reportage. 

Hughes told the National Post that the country’s federal and provincial governments “must put in place, actively review, and enforce appropriate safeguards to ensure that people are making this decision freely.”

The civil rights organization “will continue to hold the government accountable” for its policing of the euthanasia program, she said. 

At its launch, the country’s euthanasia regime was billed as a last-resort choice for terminally ill adults undergoing terrible suffering. In the years since, however, activists have called for its expansion to include much broader categories of applicants. 

An activist group sued the federal government earlier this month, calling for an immediate expansion of the country’s euthanasia program to allow physician-assisted suicide for those suffering from mental illness.

The federal government had earlier been set to expand the program to those with mental illnesses; that measure was delayed early this year and is now projected to take effect in 2027. 

The provincial government of Quebec last month began allowing assisted suicide for individuals who cannot consent at the time of the procedure, permitting “advance requests” by those who have “been diagnosed with a serious and incurable illness leading to incapacity” such as Alzheimer’s disease.

The federal government, meanwhile, is actively soliciting citizen input for a proposal to legalize “advance requests” at the national level.