Send an urgent message to Canadian legislators urging them to stop expanding assisted suicide
TORONTO (LifeSiteNews) –– A coalition of Canadian disability advocacy groups have banded together to file a “Charter Challenge” against the federal government for allowing the euthanasia of people who are not terminally ill but suffer from chronic illness or disability.
The coalition said its legal challenge, which is before the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, “is about protecting the equality and human rights of all people with disabilities in Canada,” as set out in the nation’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
“Instead of providing the support and resources we need to live, our government is offering death. It’s unacceptable, and we won’t stand for it,” noted National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians with Disabilities (CCD) Heather Walkus in a press release for the coalition released on September 27.
The coalition is made up of the CCD, Inclusion Canada, Indigenous Disability Canada (IDC/BCANDS), DAWN Canada, and two people who were harmed by Canada’s so-called “Track 2 MAiD” allowances.
The group said it “opposes” Track 2 of Canada’s Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) law, “which provides assisted suicide to people with a disability who are not dying, or whose death is not ‘reasonably foreseeable.'”
The group is claiming in its court challenge that making MAiD available to people who are not dying but may have a serious medical condition is a violation of their “fundamental rights” to liberty and security of the person.
According to Inclusion Canada’s Executive Vice-President Krista Carr, people in Canada “are dying” as a consequence of the current law.
“We are witnessing an alarming trend where people with disabilities are seeking assisted suicide due to social deprivation, poverty, and lack of essential supports,” noted Carr.
“This law also sends a devastating message that life with a disability is a fate worse than death, undermining decades of work toward equity and inclusion. It’s time to put an end to helping people with disabilities commit suicide and start supporting them to live.”
When MAiD was first legalized by the Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in 2016 it was restricted to those whose death was considered “reasonably foreseeable.” While euthanasia is tantamount to murder and thus gravely immoral even in cases of terminal illness, as taught by the Catholic Church, the law was loosened further in 2021 with the allowance of “Track 2” cases.
In its press release, the coalition noted that “Track 2 MAiD” has resulted in “premature deaths and an increase in discrimination and stigma towards people with disabilities across the country.”
“While they are not challenging MAiD Track 1 in this case, they recognize that it too can pose significant problems for people with disabilities. Track 2 MAiD has had a direct negative impact on the lives of people with disabilities.”
The coalition, which supports “Track 1” cases, is “urging the court” to “strike down Track 2 of Canada’s MAiD law, arguing that providing assisted death solely on the basis of disability is unconstitutional.”
Despite the immorality of euthanasia in general, and the extra threat posed by Canada’s additional allowance of “Track 2” cases, euthanasia advocates continue to insist the laws be further expanded.
LifeSiteNews recently reported how the Quebec government said it will soon allow early “advance” requests for euthanasia despite it being disallowed by current federal law. If such a practice were allowed, it would mean a person in Quebec could “agree” to be killed at some point in the future, and thus would not have to give consent at the time of their actual death.
Beyond current “Track 2” cases, Trudeau’s Liberal government has even tried to expand euthanasia to those suffering solely from mental illness.
In February, after pushback from pro-life, medical, and mental health groups as well as most of Canada’s provinces, the federal government delayed the mental illness expansion until 2027.
Overall, the number of Canadians killed by lethal injection under the nation’s MAiD program since 2016 stands at close to 65,000, with an estimated 16,000 deaths in 2023 alone. Many fear that because the official statistics are manipulated the number may be even higher.
Send an urgent message to Canadian legislators urging them to stop expanding assisted suicide