Each day in her role as executive director of Canadian Physicians for Life (CPL), Nicole Scheidl is energized and inspired by “seeing the impact of the education we’re doing” and “talking to physicians in the trenches actually making a difference.”

CPL is an Ottawa-based non-profit championing life-affirming medical practice, a bold contrast to a Canadian health-care system increasingly normalizing a culture of death.   

The organization, which will commemorate its 50th anniversary during its annual conference Oct. 24-26 in Toronto, is stepping up to support physicians and students with educational resources, particularly on subjects not broached in medical school.

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“One of our big focuses and where we, I think, make a difference in the medical landscape is our bioethics education because they don't teach bioethics really any more in medicine,” said Scheidl.

There are a bevy of bioethical courses on the CPL website that provides interested parties with the “101” and sometimes the “102” on significant bioethics topics, including abortion, euthanasia, eugenics and sterilization and referrals. 

In June, CPL hosted its fifth bioethics symposium since 2022, attracting talent from across the country to bolster their humanistic formation and to discuss their respective experiences navigating a medical landscape that routinely confronts them with ethical dilemmas. The next symposium is slated for May 2026 with a focus on mental health.

Advocacy in the public square for better health policy, especially concerning medical assistance in dying (MAiD), has also emerged as a strong pillar of CPL’s work during its first half century. Scheidl said inroads are being made in gaining public support against further assisted suicide expansion.

“I would say that there is a real sense in the Canadian public that euthanasia should not be expanded to mental illness as a sole criteria,” said Scheidl. “I also see that there is a lot more concern, and it's starting to percolate up to the levels of the governments. We see this happening in Alberta where they (realize) we actually need an oversight body. We actually need to follow up on what's happening because it's been completely unregulated in the terms of whether criteria are being met or not.”

The Government of Alberta gathered public feedback in late 2024 on MAiD processes and regulation. The results of this survey are still under review.

As for halting the expansion of MAiD to individuals solely experiencing a mental illness, CPL is rooting for Bill C-218, tabled by Conservative MP Tamara Jansen, to succeed at second reading in the House of Commons. Debate and a vote on the bill are expected before the end of 2025.

Meanwhile, the organization is also tracking Bill S-231 and the threat it poses. Sponsored by Senator Pamela Wallin, it would expand euthanasia into advanced directives.

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“People who have dementia in particular could say ‘okay, today I've just got this diagnosis, when I'm at this state in five or 10 years, I want you to euthanize me without my consent,’ ” said Scheidl. “That's a big problem. I think that's something that maybe people don't recognize how challenging that will be for individuals to decide when the time comes and without consent.

“I know that there are physicians in Quebec who provide euthanasia, and they have said, ‘we will not do this. This is too far. We will not euthanize people without their final consent.’ ” 

CPL advocates via workshops, online communications, speaking engagements, the video profiles produced by the organization’s ethics education and cultural engagement lead Amanda Achtman, and even by intervening in court cases.

“We often lose, but I think it's really important that we're there, that we're speaking, that we're saying, ‘these are the kinds of things that you have to be concerned about’ and that not every physician has bought into euthanasia is okay,” said Scheidl. “It's important to have that voice there that says, ‘actually, there's lots of concerns.’ ”

The historical roots of CPL is set be honoured during the annual conference, which is themed “Sources of our Flourishing: Encounter and Presence” with multiple initiatives. One is honouring the ongoing legacy of Dr. Will Johnston, a board member who has contributed to the CPL mission since 1990. Another is awarding another recipient with the Dr. Paul Adams Award, named after a Winnipeg pro-life obstetrician and gynaecologist who joined CPL in its early years, recognizing “exceptional initiative, professionalism and generosity within the pro-life medical community.”

The 2025 recipient is Jaro Kotalik, a physician-bioethicist who founded the Centre for Health Care Ethics at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ont. He was also a bioethics consultant to Health Canada, the Public Health Agency of Canada, Swiss National Bioethics Commission and a number of other health-care organizations in Canada and the U.S.

In addition to honouring Kotalik, another draw of the annual conference is its slate of speakers. Scheidl spotlighted Dr. Paul Scherz of Notre Dame University, who is delivering an opening night talk titled “Beyond the Sequence: Does Genetic Testing Promote Flourishing?” She also highlighted Steven Umbrello, a Catholic AI expert who will present on how design choices in medical AI can positively affect human health.

One of the last major speakers on Oct 26 is Alicia Duncan, who will share her personal testimony of suffering as her mother Donna was euthanized on Oct. 29, 2021.

“(Alicia) sharing the fallout of what's happened in her family and just her drive to speak out about that gives doctors and medical professionals a real sense of who are the people that are suffering behind this use of euthanasia,” said Scheidl.

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Interested professionals who will not be able to attend the in-person conference can register for the online event scheduled for Nov. 14-16. They will get to listen to the recorded presentations from the live event and then participate in three facilitated online discussions in reaction to various speakers’ insights and teachings. Pro-life activist, author and speaker Stephanie Gray Connors will deliver a presentation during the digital conference.

To learn more about CPL, visit physiciansforlife.ca.