Canada looks set to face another record-shattering year of euthanasia deaths in 2023 after a reported 35 percent rise to some 13,500 state-sponsored suicides in 2022, an analysis of official data shows.
Regional health chiefs won’t release their formal tally for some weeks, but data from Ontario, Alberta, Quebec, and Nova Scotia already show steep rises in euthanasia deaths last year right across Justin Trudeau’s Canada, the Daily Mail reports. The data claim was shared with the outlet.
Based on already available state-level figures, the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition assessed MAID (Medical Assistance in Dying) cases rose from just over 10,000 in 2021 to around 13,500 in the next year, a 34 percent increase nationwide.
That number is forecast to rise again before this year is out with euthanasia already the 3rd leading cause of death in Quebec — seven percent of all deaths.
Canada legalized assisted suicide in 2016.
File/Original caption/Michael Fraser sits in his apartment on June 30, 2022 in Toronto, Canada. He will end his life via medically assisted suicide on Saturday July 2. He chose to end his life at the age of 55, and as described his decision was prompted by “a constellation of factors — intractable disease, poverty, childhood sexual trauma, mental health challenges and the option of an assisted death.” (Richard Lautens/Toronto Star via Getty)
Euthanasia was initially limited to patients over the age of 18 suffering from a terminal illness — but, as critics predicted, the standards have been relentlessly loosened with every passing year.
Canada is one of only seven countries that allows medical professionals to administer lethal drugs to patients, rather than providing suicide formulations and requiring the patient to inject themselves. It is the only country that allows nurse practitioners to kill their patients.
Anti-euthanasia activists point to the “heavy promotion” of assisted suicide and the relative ease of access for the steep rise.
Daniel Zekveld, an analyst with ARPA Canada, a Christian advocacy group, said the country had created “one of the most permissive euthanasia regimes in the world” where deaths “steadily rise.”
“Safeguards continue to be relaxed and euthanasia is increasingly offered as an easy solution to suffering,” Zekveld told DailyMail.com.
“Instead of normalizing euthanasia and accepting the deaths of thousands of Canadians, Canada needs to promote suicide prevention and life-affirming care for all.”
Alberta, Ontario, and Quebec are among Canada’s most populous provinces and all recorded big increases in adults with a serious illness, disease, or disability opting for euthanasia last year.
Quebec alone saw a 51 percent uptick in MAiD deaths from 2,427 in financial year 2021 to 3,663 in 2022.
File/Dutch designer Alexander Bannink explains how the “Sarco” euthanasia pod works as a woman experiences sitting in the device by wearing virtual reality glasses, on April 14, 2018 at the Amsterdam Funeral Expo. Called the “Sarco”, short for sarcophagus, the 3D-printed machine comes with a detachable coffin mounted on a stand that contains a nitrogen canister. (JAN HENNOP/AFP via Getty)
That means some seven percent of all deaths in Quebec are state-sanctioned, making it the third top cause of death in the province after cancer and heart disease.
Vancouver Archbishop J. Michael Miller said in 2022 Canada’s assisted suicide laws are “morally depraved.”
“In six years, Canada has gone from totally banning euthanasia to one of the most permissive euthanasia regimes in the world — and even more access could be coming, including allowing ‘mature minors’ to request it,” Miller said.
Montreal Rabbi Berel Bell agreed.
“From our viewpoint, every life has equal value … but when a life should end is not something that should be left up to human beings,” Bell said.
“Our Creator knows how and when to end lives, and He does it every day. And if a person that is alive, whatever the reason why they need to be alive is something beyond human comprehension,” Bell added.
Euthanasia is currently legal in only seven countries—including Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Spain—as well as a few states in Australia.
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