Gordon Friesen, president of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, on Quebec as a surprising stage for some good news about critiques of medical homicide.

We have some very good news to report from the cultural front in Quebec. This good news concerns the recent production of a stage play which might not actually condemn — but does seriously criticize — the practice of medical homicide in that province. The arrival of Club Sandwich Mayonnaise by Manuelle Legare is encouraging for a number of reasons.

Legare is the daughter of local performance icon Pierre Legare, and was thus born into the Quebec cultural aristocracy, a status she has successfully built upon through her own efforts in television and documentary cinema. Furthermore, the participating dramatic production company, Porte Parole, was the first group to pioneer what has become the dominant Quebec stage formula of  “dramatic documentary” and remains a leading reference in this style. For these reasons, the Quebec opinion establishment had no choice but to take this phenomenon seriously. They have done so in spades. For after each (sold out) performance from April 8 to 18, leading authorities participated in audience question and answer sessions beginning, on opening night, with none less than Véronique Hivon, the veritable Queen of euthanasia in Quebec, political Godmother and author of the original Law Concerning End of Life Care. 

Quebec does not have the same litigious, political division seen elsewhere. Quebec politicians, journalists and influencers share certain crucial positions which they consider a universal social “consensus” and which it is assumed no “serious” thinker might oppose (including) unfailing support of medical homicide. Indeed, Manuelle Legare states that the dramatic stage has become the only remaining public space in which any questioning of the medical homicide consensus might still be permitted. 

However, as history shows, apparent (and rigorously enforced) unanimity of opinion often blocks the evolution of real and necessary criticisms, which subsequently explode in people’s faces. This fact explains the enthusiasm of both pro- and anti-medical homicide factions in embracing Club Sandwich Mayonnaise along with the indirect opportunity of discussion which it provides. For the first time, after 10 years of lockstep support, it would appear that there is some political willingness to entertain the thought that mistakes might have been made or, failing that, to concede some small improvements might be desirable to limit unforeseen harms. 

Returning to the author’s description of her own intentions, Legare lends official credence to the consensus of medical homicide as “social progress,” but then speaks of “blind spots in the mirror.” In her case, that meant the profound psychological distress of hearing her father joke one day that he could order up his death as easily as “a club sandwich with mayonnaise,” and then actually seeing his corpse laid on a slab 48 hours later... 

To be realistic, of course, there is no scenario in which one might imagine Quebec decision-makers ever showing sufficient humility to actually admit that they were simply wrong about the practice of medical homicide. And it may well be that pro-euthanasia forces will succeed in co-opting this first criticism as a positive opportunity of “healthy” adjustment. However, a definite breach in messaging unanimity has indeed been made. As our ally Catherine Ferrier, president of the Physicians Alliance Against Euthanasia has described it: “... all came out in the play. Rushed assessments, lack of access to other options, psychosocial suffering, priority of MAiD over palliative care, etc. It mentioned the opposition of disability groups and the UN recommendation against MAID for people not at the end of life.”

In short, the public airing of such concerns... can only be a good thing. And although the wheels turn slowly, and although no open admission of error will ever be made, Quebec politicians have also shown themselves to be extremely adroit in making 180-degree policy changes while firmly pretending to stay the course. Let us all hope that we will eventually see that skill masterfully displayed with regards to medical homicide.