Quebec to authorize ‘early requests’ for assisted suicide without Criminal Code exemption

The Government of Québec is expected to approve state-sanctioned euthanasia requests for those with degenerative conditions that will soon render them incapable of giving consent. The province contends it could no longer wait for a Criminal Code exemption.

In June 2023, Québec passed legislation to allow patients with "serious and incurable diseases" like Alzheimer's to request MAID [Medical Assistance in Dying] while they remained of sound mind. That follows a 2016 court ruling in the province to expand access beyond those facing imminent death.

Québec’s commission on end-of-life care reported that 15 of 3,663 deaths since 2021 were non-compliant with provincial or federal laws. At the time, Ottawa permitted anyone with "a serious and incurable illness, disease or disability" in "an advanced state of irreversible decline" to access MAID—not including the mentally ill. 

To be eligible for MAID, a person must be 18 years of age and mentally sound under current federal legislation. Each patient attempting to access the procedure must be assessed by two doctors or nurse practitioners before they can access assisted suicide. 

Sonia Bélanger, spokesperson for the Québec Seniors Minister, told CTV News the federal government has refuted their request multiple times. Health Canada "continues to collaborate with Quebec on this matter," it says.

Rebel News' @SheilaGunnReid joined Fox News' Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) to discuss Canada's alarming expansion of the medical assistance in dying program (MAID).https://t.co/PoHbG4kDxW

— Rebel News Canada (@RebelNews_CA) December 13, 2022

On February 2, 2022, Health Minister Mark Holland introduced Bill C-39, An Act to amend An Act to amend the Criminal Code (medical assistance in dying), but delayed the expansion of MAID to Canadians whose sole underlying condition is a mental disorder. It received royal assent but faces delays until next year.

Earlier this year Conservative and NDP MPs on a special parliamentary committee released a report urging pause on the amendment pending sufficient provincial and expert consultations.

Nearly half (47%) of Leger survey respondents endorsed pausing the policy in place of more comprehensive consultations. Thirty-seven percent disagreed with the delay.

Two-thirds of Canadians (65%) believe that people suffering from an illness that can affect their cognitive ability should be able to request the procedure in advance. This proportion is higher among Quebecers (77%) and people aged 55 and over (69%). 

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

Those who perform the procedure on eligible patients commit a "non-culpable" form of homicide. That is not considered an offence, wrote Christopher Lyon, a Canadian social scientist who teaches at the University of York. He penned a report arguing independent oversight into MAID is needed.

Euthanasia "is fundamentally homicide by lethal injection," wrote Lyon. 

Lyon contends there should be a "standardized script" for presenting MAID to patients. "It should be transparent — transparency around providers, their numbers, the kinds of patients they administer to and how the assessments were done."

Trudeau's health minister is mad!

Conservative MP Michael Cooper grills Mark Holland over a lack of safeguards in the Medical Assistance in Dying program before Holland erupts.https://t.co/Zs4Fyf8jXt pic.twitter.com/PrwLQaeNln

— Rebel News Canada (@RebelNews_CA) February 15, 2024

According to an earlier Angus Reid poll conducted with Cardus, 61% of Canadians support current MAID legislation. Another three in five (56%) endorsed the first MAID law.

Leger respondents say most Canadians (77%) support the regulations as they are. Only 42% want the program to include people suffering only from mental illness—up from 31% in the Angus Reid poll

According to the federal government’s 2023 report on MAID, "there were 13,241 MAID provisions reported in Canada, accounting for 4.1% of all deaths in Canada."

The number of cases in 2022 represents a growth rate of 31.2% over 2021. All provinces except Manitoba and the Yukon continue to experience steady year-over-year growth in 2022.