As some may know, Canada has in the past couple of years allowed the practice of Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD), a law that reportedly enables non-terminally people to have their lives ended by a government-sanctioned doctor.
According to the government’s self-reported statistics, the new law is responsible for the deaths of 31,664 Canadians, or 3.3% of deaths in 2021 alone.
Canada’s government website notably states that 12.4% of patients killed via MAiD had their deaths justified due to having “neurological conditions.” Another stat that stands out is the 27.7% increase in written requests for the process from 2020 to 2021.
Canada is now looking into letting kids access assisted suicide, including in cases where parents do not consent.
As The Daily Mail reported, the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) put out a report suggesting that ‘mature minors’ whose deaths are deemed ‘reasonably foreseeable’ should be able to terminate their lives, even without parental consent.
The outlet noted that the report and its 23 recommendations will be deliberated on in the House of Commons throughout the next few months.
Conservative Member of Parliament for St. Albert-Edmonton Michael Cooper spoke out in opposition to the practice.
Today the MAID Committee's report was tabled in the HoC.
The report recklessly recommends expanding MAID.
It even recommends MAID for minors.
I presented the CPC dissenting report. Conservatives will fight this radical expansion to Trudeau’s already disastrous MAID regime. pic.twitter.com/WzcOOiQwOT
— Michael Cooper, MP (@Cooper4SAE) February 16, 2023
Currently, the Committee is not pushing for minors with mental health problems to be allowed assisted suicide. Instead, they are only focusing on those with incurable physical ailments.
The Justice Minister's arrogance is on full display. He is so eager to expand MAID to people with mental illness that he thinks that 32 of Canada's leading law professors are wrong and he's the only one who's right. pic.twitter.com/2c0DCd4TbL
— Rob Moore (@RobMoore_CPC) February 15, 2023
RedState pointed out that the practice of MAiD as described in Canada is technically not a “suicide,” but in reality a “homicide.”
Brittanica defines homicide as “the killing of one human being by another.”
Amy Hasbrouck, who serves on the board of an anti-MAiD group called Not Dead Yet, stressed that the brain of a teenager is not developed enough to make such an extreme and quite literally life-ending decision.
I think it’s horrible,” she said. “Teenagers are not in a good position to judge whether to commit suicide or not. Any teenagers with a disability, who’s constantly told their life is useless and pitiful, will be depressed, and of course, they’re going to want to die.”
