According to a Canadian government report, assisted suicide accounted for 3.3% of all Canadian deaths in 2021. The country’s assisted suicide program, Medical Assistance in Dying [MAID], killed 27.2 people per 100k in 2021.
Meanwhile, Canada’s suicide rate has remained consistent at around 12 per 100k each year. Death by assisted suicide in Canada is far higher than death by suicide, but it has not replaced suicide.
On March 17, 2024, MAID will begin euthanizing people solely for mental health reasons.
Canada’s socialist health care service is widely accused of encouraging assisted suicide to people to cut costs.
The special joint committee on Medical Assistance and Dying [AMAD] consists of five members of the Canadian Senate and ten members of the Canadian House of Commons. AMAD just published a list of recommendations concerning MAID.
They want to make assisted suicide available to minors in cases where “natural death is reasonably foreseeable.” They also want to let “mature minors” consent to their own death. No parental approval would be needed. They call for a list of guidelines to be created for determining if a minor is “mature” enough to give consent.
They also call on MAID to begin consultations with “minors with terminal illnesses, minors with disabilities, minors in the child welfare system, and Indigenous minors.”
Other recommendations include making MAID more accessible for prisoners and allowing them to die in a non-prison environment.
