Health Canada’s new annual report about medical assistance in dying (MAiD) revealed that euthanasia now accounts for nearly five per cent — 15,343 people — of the nation’s total fatalities (326,571) in 2023. 

Rebecca Vachon, health program director for the non-partisan think tank Cardus, declared the report “reconfirms that Canada has one of the fastest growing euthanasia and assisted suicide programs in the world. The dramatic rise in MAiD deaths since 2016 is far faster than the federal government, the courts or pro-euthanasia activists ever publicly predicted before or since legalization.”

The data patently reveals that Vachon is over the target with her argument. Consider that it took the Netherlands, for decades viewed as a leading nation in the medical-killing department, until 2021 — 40 years after euthanasia was legalized — for the procedure to account for at least 4.7 per cent of all deaths. Canada reached that dubious threshold in just seven years. 

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Even the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, the group that filed the Carter v. Canada constitutional challenge that ultimately legalized MAiD, is now heralding the guardrail gospel. Liz Hughes, the association’s executive director, told the National Post the group is “aware of concerning reports of people being offered MAiD in circumstances that may not legally qualify, as well as people accessing MAiD as a result of intolerable social circumstances.” Hughes affirmed that “governments must put in place, actively review and enforce appropriate safeguards to ensure that people are making this decision freely.”

Alberta wrapped up a process on Dec. 20 that invited the public to weigh in on the province’s euthanasia policies. 

Mickey Amery, Alberta’s minister of justice and attorney general, urged Albertans in November to participate in the process because she said the governing United Conservative Party recognizes “that medical assistance in dying is a very complex and often personal issue and is an important, sensitive and emotional matter for patients and their families. It is important to ensure this process has the necessary supports to protect the most vulnerable.”

Depending on the survey results, some of the possible changes to Alberta’s euthanasia-related “processes, procedures, oversight and protections” that could arise in the coming months include:

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• Creating a new agency and legislation to provide assisted suicide oversight;
• Forming a mechanism to empower families or other eligible individuals to dispute MAiD cases;
• Enacting a framework to allow for “appropriate sharing of confidential medical information related to MAiD determinations”; and
• Introducing new criteria that limits MAiD eligibility.

Along with conducting the survey, the government canvassed various academics, advocacy groups, public bodies, religious organizations and regulatory organizations.

Nicole Scheidl, executive director for Canadian Physicians for Life (CPL), shared via email some of the actions CPL hopes Danielle Smith’s government will take. Foremost is that the government decrees assisted suicide be a patient-only decision.

“Mandate that MAiD must only ever be at the initiative of the patient,” wrote Scheidl. “Raising euthanasia with vulnerable patients is tantamount to a recommendation. Suggesting patients consider MAiD when they have not mentioned any interest is coercive and devaluing. It also ruptures the doctor-patient relationship and destroys trust.”

In September, the Register reported the UCP is exploring the prospect of transferring control of some hospitals from Alberta Health Services to faith-based health facilities, such as the Catholic provider Covenant Health. Scheidl advocated these operators, guided by Christian ideals, not be coerced into providing procedures, such as MAiD, that violate its core tenets. 

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“Many people do not want to receive health care in a facility that provides euthanasia, and many medical professionals and donors do not want to contribute to such institutions,” wrote Scheidl.

Other CPL desired outcomes for the process include strengthening clarification regarding reasonably foreseeable deaths, ensuring MAiD assessments are independent, creating a review board for family and other parties to file their concerns and refining MAiD assessment training.