In letters to Prime Minister Mark Carney and all Members of Parliament from the Toronto area, Cardinal Frank Leo is asking that they “choose life and not death” and build a civilization that cares when voting on Bill C-218.

C-218, the Right to Recover Act introduced last year by Conservative MP Tamara Jansen, is a private members’ bill that would restrict the expansion of MAiD (medical assistance in dying) to individuals solely living with a mental illness, set to come into law March 17, 2027. Parliament was supposed to debate the legislation earlier this month, but its order of precedence in the House has been pushed back. No date for debate has been set.

In his April 20 letters, Leo reminds the PM and Parliamentarians that a society “is rightly judged” by its care for its most vulnerable members, and that many Canadians are “increasingly troubled” by the expansion of MAiD since legislation was passed legalizing the practice in 2016. Since then, 100,000 lives have been ended through a medically assisted death as Canada has blown through the original safeguards that would have seen MAiD administered only for someone facing an imminent death.

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“Our Catholic faith opposes the taking of any life and it is with great disappointment and anguish that we have seen our country expand (MAiD) at a rapid and alarming rate,” he wrote. 

Assisted suicide and euthanasia, the Cardinal tells Carney and MPs, are “contrary to the dignity of the human person.”

Leo and the Archdiocese of Toronto are the driving force behind the nationwide Help Not Harm campaign, launched last month. This campaign calls for a letter-writing drive to MPs to vote in favour of Bill C-218.

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“We are encouraging parishes and faithful to continue their efforts through the month of April and until a date for the vote is announced,” Neil MacCarthy, director of public relations and communications, told The Catholic Register earlier this month. 

By mid-April, some 5,000 letters had been sent through the Help Not Harm portal. 

“There is growing anxiety that the normalization and expansion of assisted suicide risks undermining a culture of compassion, weakening investments in palliative support and diminishing the collective commitment to accompany those suffering,” wrote Leo.

The Cardinal is also calling on Carney to allow Liberal MPs a free vote when C-218 comes before Parliament.

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“This legislation raises profound questions of conscience that transcend partisan alignment and touch on deeply held moral, ethical and spiritual convictions,” wrote Leo. “I ask you to choose life and not death; to help build a civilization that cares for those suffering and does not eliminate them, but instead surrounds them with dignity, compassion and love.”

He also asks of the Prime Minister and Minister of Justice Sean Fraser that they “consider measures that restrict any further expansion of assisted suicide in our country and instead prioritize investments in palliative care, mental health support and resources for those who are increasingly marginalized and isolated, especially seniors and Canadians living with disabilities.”