A protest against medically assisted suicide on Parliament Hill, Ottawa, Ontario. October 2020. CNS photo/Art Babych

Most people when they think of Canada visualize something like Northern Exposure, with quirky moose and vast rugged wilderness of pristine forest, the maple leaf, and chivalrous Mounties dressed in red, with the motto: “Maintiens le Droit.” 

But recent clashes with a seemingly new authoritarian state freezing personal bank accounts, and mounted police trampling old ladies, you have to ask, what is happening in Canada these days? 

Canadian, Christine Gauthier, said she was recently offered state-assisted death after years of trying to get a wheelchair lift installed in her home, after telephoning Veterans Affairs Canada for help. 

Christine Gauthier in the Women’s KL2 Canoe Sprint during the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Matthew Murnaghan/Canadian Paralympic Committee.

In a shocking example of how casual assisted death has become, offering state-assisted suicide instead of a chair lift, Christine contacted Trudeau, stating: “I have a letter saying that if you’re so desperate, madam, we can offer you MAID, medical assistance in dying.” 

She is a five times champion paracanoeist, who competed in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Paralympics, losing her legs in military training in 1989, and still leads a fulfilling life. 

Additionally, Veterans Minister Lawrence MacAulay testified that other veterans had also been offered euthanasia equipment by a veteran’s affairs official. 

The Spectator, in April, asked: “Why is Canada Euthanizing the Poor?”  

She simply “couldn’t afford to keep on living.”

The Spectator

Asking what kind of government policy pushes Canadians to kill themselves, rather than spend money to allow them to live? Importantly, why wasn’t the media questioning the open social murder of citizens? Furthermore, why has Canada got the lowest social care spend of any industrialized nation? 

In a chilling set of dystopian tales targeting the poor, a woman in Ontario said she had been forced into assisted death as her housing benefits were too low to get better housing to alleviate her “crippling allergies.” Another disabled woman applied because she simply “couldn’t afford to keep on living.” The disabled in care homes suffering neglect, applied rather than continue, “lying in their own filth.”  

Testifying before the Standing Committee of Justice and Human Rights, hospital patient Roger Foley, 45, born with spinocerebellar ataxia, accused medical staff of threatening to bankrupt him or withhold water if he didn’t take up their offer to die. 

Amir Fasoud in Ontario, interviewed by City News.

By October, Amir Farsoud, aged 54, was shared on Twitter sitting in his kitchen in Ontario, explaining that he applied to die as he feared eviction. He said he didn’t want to die but couldn’t live on the streets severely disabled facing an agonizing slow death. Leaving horrified Canadians to create a Go Fund Me, headlined: Choose 2 Live! Which crowd-funded Amir $60,000 Canadian dollars, to find a new home.  

The organizer wrote: “We need Humanity to win,” stating he just had to help. 

Farsoud, who suffers from acute obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and liver disease, said he knows several others considering it: “I’m not suicidal. Sometimes it’s a choice between burning to death and jumping out of a high-rise building.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mkk6xtTfewg&ab_channel=WokeMadness

Taking advantage of glamourizing and making death seem trendy and desirable, an upmarket Canadian fashion house called La Maison Simons, recently launched an advertising campaign with a video presenting assisted death as: “The Most Beautiful Exit.”  

Centering on 37-year-old Jennyfer Hatch, she was assisted to commit suicide in October, which was widely shared across Twitter. 

“It is far easier to let go than keep fighting.”

Jennyfer Hatch

Shot on a beach, the imagery is spectacular as she addresses the camera, saying: “Dying in hospital is not what’s natural, it’s not what’s soft, and in these kinds of moments you need softness.” Referring to the drugs that place you in a coma, and take your life. 

“I spent my life filling my heart with beauty, with nature, with connection. I choose to fill my final moments with the same… Last breaths are sacred,” she said. “When I imagine my final days, I see music. I see the ocean. I see cheesecake.” 

Peter Simons, former CEO La Maison Simons, Quebec. Canada’s oldest family owned department store. Dolce Magazine.

Peter Simons the former CEO, applauded himself for placing the message central to his brand image, calling Jennyfer’s story: “Something that inspired hope, optimism, and generosity.” 

However, it materialized that earlier in May 2022, Jennyfer had given an interview to CTV in Canada, saying that she wanted to live, but couldn’t access the medical care she needed, and couldn’t afford to keep on going.

Jennyfer Hatch surrounded by friends near Tofino, BC, a month before her death. Submitted by Tama Recker

“I feel like I’m falling through the cracks so if I’m not able to access health care am I then able to access death care? And that’s what led me to look into medical assistance in dying (MAID).

“From a disability and financial perspective as well, I can’t afford the resources that would help improve my quality of life. Because of being locked in financially as well as geographically, it is far easier to let go than keep fighting.”

MAID has been legal in Canada since 2016, aimed at people with end-of-life illnesses, which was updated with Bill C-7, adding psychological suffering, under mental illness, which extends to people suffering from depression, disability, homelessness, and the poverty-stricken.  

Consequently, as the cost of living continues to rise, hitting the poorest element of society with food and rent insecurity, you must wonder––will it get easier to die? 

Dying with Dignity Canada wants further amendments that include mature children unhappy with life, from the ages of 12 to 14 years old.

While, Dr Louis Roy, from the Quebec College of Physicians, addressing Commons’ Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD), said he would like to see babies from a year old, allowed the opportunity if severely disabled. Plus, seniors “tired of being alive.” 

Coming into effect, March 2023, the amended Act is expected to result in a net reduction in healthcare costs–– in excess of $149 million Canadian dollars, with more patients expected to seek MAID sooner, rather than later. 

Moreover, cost projections conducted in 2020, by the Canadian government, calculated the cost of assisted dying to the taxpayer, at only $2,327 a head. Far less than the cost burden of long-drawn-out, and protracted medical care. 

So far, between 2016 and 2021, nearly 32,000 have taken medically assisted death, which could soon rise. 

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By JP

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