(LifeSiteNews) — On February 5, pro-life MP Garnett Genuis tabled a private member’s bill to protect Canadian patients from coercion to commit assisted suicide. Bill C-260, titled the “Preventing Coercion of Persons Not Seeking Medical Assistance in Dying Act,” is narrow in scope:
This enactment amends the Criminal Code to make it an offence for certain persons in certain circumstances to initiate a discussion with a person about the availability to them of medical assistance in dying, knowing that they have not specifically requested to have such a discussion.
Genuis’ bill seeks to amend the Criminal Code by adding the following after section 241.3:
241.301 Every person who, being an officer or employee of the Government of Canada or of a province, other than a medical practitioner or a registered nurse, including a nurse practitioner, initiates a discussion with a person about the availability to that person of medical assistance in dying is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction if they
- (a) by virtue of their profession, are in a position of trust or authority towards that person; and
- (b) know that the person has not specifically requested to have such a discussion with them.
“Medically facilitated death (often called Medical Assistance in Dying or MAID) is legal in Canada and available for those who meet certain criteria,” Genuis wrote on a website promoting the bill. “Care Not Coercion.”
“But troubling stories have emerged recently of people seeking unrelated services from government bureaucrats and having those bureaucrats tell them to pursue death instead. People who are not asking for MAID should not have it pushed on them.”
Care Not Coercion features several stories of Canadians who were pressured to consider euthanasia. David Baltzer, a Canadian Armed Forces veteran from St. Catherines who served two tours in Afghanistan, contacted Veteran Affairs Canada for assistance with PTSD — and they suggested he consider euthanasia.
Baltzer is not the only veteran who received this treatment. CAF veteran and Paralympian Christine Gauthier, who was injured in the military, was offered euthanasia twice after she requested a ramp for her home from Veterans Affairs.
Another story: “Tracy Polewczuk lives with a condition that leaves her in constant pain and she relies on daily home care visits. Unfortunately, the quality of care she receives has gotten worse, with the care workers not even bothering to learn her name. Without being prompted, Tracy has been offered MAID twice by the people who are supposed to be helping her.”
Heather Hancock, an author who lives with cerebral palsy, had euthanasia suggested to her during treatment for muscle spasms. Staff suggested “that she was being selfish by continuing to live.”
British Columbian Kathrin Mentler, who was studying to become a counsellor, reached out for help during a crisis in 2023, and counsellors “told her there was no help and that she should consider MAID.”
“We have heard extensive committee testimony about people — veterans, the elderly, people with disabilities — seeking completely unrelated government services and being told by bureaucrats and administrative staff that they should pursue death instead,” Genuis wrote.
He is asking Canadians to get involved by signing up to show their support for the bill, sharing the website with friends and family, and contacting their MPs to ask that they support the bill in Parliament.
Bill C-260 is the second private member’s bill tabled by Conservative MPs to address the horrors of Canada’s euthanasia regime. Bill C-218, the “Right to Recover Act,” would ban euthanasia for those suffering solely from mental illness. You can find ways to support that bill here.
