Charles Lewis: Smile said it all about our culture of death

This is about a single newspaper photograph. The Canadian Press took it on Dec. 10 on the day the House of Commons passed Bill C-7, which expands euthanasia to include more victims.

The bill has yet to pass the Senate, and the federal government was given a two-month extension on its deadline to do so on Dec. 17 by a Quebec Superior Court judge. But the gist of it is that dying is no longer a requirement. What is deemed to be suffering, a subjective notion, will be enough to get a lethal dose of poison. It will also allow those who are suffering and also have mental illness to be included.

I saw the photo in question in the National Post over breakfast. I felt like retching, so offensive did I find it. It was truly obscene.

The picture showed federal Justice Minister David Lametti, grinning and giving himself a big thumbs-up after the passage of Bill C-7.

Why was Lametti smiling? What was there to be happy about? Why are some of his Liberal colleagues seen applauding as if they just watched a clever magician?

The photo told me everything I needed to know about the culture of death our federal government is promoting. It confirmed for me how easily Canadians are fooled in the name of secular progress and how cheap life is becoming.

Last year I met someone who was involved in writing the original euthanasia legislation that was passed in June 2016. I was not thrilled by what he had done and let him know it. But what he said was worth noting. He believed that certain Canadians, those dying and in pain, should have the right to die. Then he added this: Every time euthanasia is used it is a failure.

This was not the last time I heard this sentiment expressed. I have spoken to palliative physicians who have said much the same thing: euthanasia is a failure of our health-care system.

The government was pressured by some to allow for mental illness alone as the sole issue but Lametti decided to wait on that … for now.

On Nov 24, as reported in the National Post, the justice minister assured Canadians it will happen:

“Lametti also said he hopes the medical assistance in dying (MAiD) regime will eventually be further expanded to people who are suffering solely from mental illness, but the government doesn’t have enough time to do it before a court-ordered deadline of Dec. 18 for this bill to pass.”

He added that a study would be launched soon.

There are already those who believe that denying mental illness as the sole reason for euthanasia is unconstitutional. They say that with proper safeguards killing the mentally ill could work.

Safeguards? Like what? Making sure the person who is mentally ill is actually of sound mine? Who will decide this?

A fundamental tenet of the original 2016 bill was that the person requesting death must be capable of making such a grave decision and whose death is reasonably foreseeable. Those promises have gone up in smoke.

There are some who say I am being extreme when I compare what is happening in Canada today to Nazi Germany in the 1930s and 1940s. But this is not hyperbole.

To be clear, I am not saying the members of this government or Lametti are Nazis or Nazi sympathizers.

However, in the 20th century it was the Nazis who made euthanasia a significant part of its way of governing. They billed it as ending unnecessary suffering of the patient as well as ending the burden on the family who must take care of such a person.

Of course, the Nazi euthanasia program eventually expanded to all kinds of people who were not considered “whole.” Little children were often murdered for having birth defects or handicaps.

No, we are not in Nazi Germany but in many ways we are emulating those policies. And that is a disgrace.

Now the worst part of all: We let this happen. Not just secular society but religious society too. We were too passive and we are now seeing the fruits of that passivity.

So now ask yourselves: Are you OK with killing the mentally ill? The government said it would soon study the killing of teens. Are you OK with that, too?

If not, then for God’s sake do something. Not tomorrow — now. Let your MPs know. Let the prime minister know. Let your priest and those in your parish. Let your neighbours know and your relatives and friends. Get angry.

Stop hiding your heads in the sand. It is killing us.

(Lewis is a Toronto writer and regular contributor to The Register.)