Quebec euthanasia rally could mark turning point

OTTAWA - A major demonstration against euthanasia in Quebec City planned for May 18 could mark a turning point in the province’s plans to introduce euthanasia as a form of health care, some pro-life leaders believe.

“The Quebec government must realize people do not support it,” said Euthanasia Prevention Coalition executive director Alex Schadenberg.

The Springtime March is being organized by a group called The Quebec Rally Against Euthanasia. Organizers are protesting against the Quebec government’s “medical aid in dying” law expected to be tabled this spring.

Schadenberg expects the rally will be big because of the vast number of groups that have signed up to support it. These range from the grassroots Living with Dignity and the Physicians’ Alliance for the Total Refusal of Euthanasia, to groups advocating care for people with disabilities and social justice, he said. Schadenberg noted the Knights of Columbus in Quebec are also mobilizing support on the Catholic side.

The family oriented rally is being organized und er the theme: “Euthanasia, in our province? No thanks!”

“It is essential that Canadians committed to the cause of life work together to forestall the current move in Quebec to redefine euthanasia and assisted suicide as forms of medical care,” said Catholic Organization for Life and Family (COLF) director Michele Boulva Supporting “the Springtime March” will “send a clear message” to the Quebec government that “killing is not care,” she said.

The rally begins on May 18 at noon on the Plains of Abraham. As crowds gather, they will march to the Quebec National Assembly to hear speeches outside the parliament building.

The organizers have listed nine reasons why euthanasia is “always wrong” on its web site (www.lamarcheprintaniere.org). The organizers point out that when patients and their families get the support they need, demand for euthanasia “disappears.” Even complex cases can be treated without euthanasia; changing the law will put people who have not asked to die in danger; decriminalization of euthanasia is a slippery slope that could extend to the euthanasia of even the young with mental health problems; the right to die is really the right of doctors to kill; euthanasia ends up promoting suicide; and it undermines the more than 2,000 years of Hippocratic tradition in the medical profession against doing harm.