Dying with Dignity Canada (DWDC), a "national human-rights charity" committed to "improving quality of dying, protecting end-of-life rights, and helping people across Canada avoid unwanted suffering," is lobbying for medical assistance in dying (MAID) for minors.

DWDC advocates for MAID for "mature minors," citing that in many Canadian jurisdictions, these minors can already consent to or refuse life-saving treatment. The organization told the Western Standard, "Neither suffering nor capacity is related to age."

According to an article on MAID for minors, a "mature minor" is an individual under 18 who comprehends treatment decisions and their reasonably foreseeable consequences.

Current eligibility requires being at least 18 and having a chronic condition causing physical or psychological suffering.

DWDC contends it is "unfair" to deny a 17-year-old with terminal cancer the peaceful death option granted to a 70-year-old with the same prognosis, noting minors can already refuse life-prolonging treatment.

Their charity status, revoked in a 2015 CRA audit for "selectively informing the public in support of its political purpose to expand choice in dying," was reinstated in 2019.

The lobby group has long advocated extending MAID to mature minors, including those aged 12 and up, believing the "grievous and irremediable medical condition" eligibility should apply to them, as per a 2021 blog post.

According to the Department of Health's fifth annual report on MAID, 15,343 people accessed assisted suicide in 2023, marking a 15.8% increase from the previous year. An additional 915 applicants were deemed ineligible.

Almost all MAID recipients, with a median age of 78, had a terminal illness, most often cancer. In 2022, assisted suicides were the sixth-leading cause of death in Canada.

Canada introduced MAID in 2016 (Bill C-14) for the terminally ill, when DWDC lobbyists met with Ottawa public officials four times. By 2020, DWDC was a federally registered lobby group.

The 2021 addition, Track 2 (Bill C-7), permits MAID for those with irreversible, non-terminal illness or disability causing unbearable suffering. A later parliamentary review considered expanding MAID to "mature minors" and those whose sole condition is a mental disorder.

The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) clarified that MAID is currently unavailable in Canada for those whose sole condition is mental illness, a restriction extended until at least 2027. 

In May, Rebel News obtained internal documents from Health Canada that expose disturbing conversations about whether children with severe autism should qualify for MAID.

A Health Canada official, Heather Davids (Indigenous End-of-Life Care team), asked MAID Unit bureaucrats Ian Gillies and Richard Martin how to answer public inquiries regarding severe autism's eligibility for MAID.

A draft reply stating, "Your position will be carefully considered as the government advances with MAID legislation," was removed, but the underlying premise was not discounted.

Poilievre takes aim at Trudeau for pushing MAID onto Canadians whose sole underlying condition is mental illness.

"Justin Trudeau has once again pursued a radical agenda." https://t.co/sQ4CRURfsm pic.twitter.com/uExuAud1IM

— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) February 8, 2024

Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre stated on April 12 that a Conservative government would maintain the current assisted suicide law, not expanding MAID beyond its existing parameters.

The Official Opposition was initially divided on Bill C-14 but largely opposed expanding MAID in Bill C-7 to include cases where death was not reasonably foreseeable, DWDC wrote in a recent press release.

In 2023, then-Conservative MP Ed Fast tabled Bill C-314 to prevent the Liberal government's expansion of assisted suicide to those with mental illness, specifying that "grievous and irremediable medical condition" in Canada's MAID regime excludes mental disorders. It never completed a Second Reading.

PETITION: Help Not Homicide!

32,036 signatures

Goal: 40,000 signatures

Canadians need help, not homicide. Physician-assisted suicide has received a rebrand to end the stigma. It’s now called MAID (Medical Assistance In Dying) in an attempt to appear less sinister. What's worse, medical homicides are not only happening because someone faces imminent death due to a painful chronic illness. Now, Canadians can apply for many reasons, including mental health, poverty, debt, and even eating disorders. Canadians need proper care, not prompt dispatching at the hands of some overly eager medical professional. If you agree that medical assistance in dying is not a cure for depression, poverty, or despair, please sign this petition.

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