(Euthanasia Prevention Coalition) – Two Windsor Ontario women are facing murder charges for assisting with the death of a family member. Windsor Police began an investigation in January and have now laid charges against two women who are not named.
A pair of Windsor women are facing murder charges after police say they assisted with the suicide death of a 79-year-old female family member.
Last month the major crime unit began an investigation after becoming aware of the assisted suicide death of the woman.
Two adult females were identified as being involved in assisting the woman’s suicide, police said Friday.
Two Windsor women, aged 23 and 49, are facing charges of first-degree murder and aid suicide.
The names of the victim and the accused are not being named to protect the integrity of the investigation, police said.
The particulars of the case are not known but the investigation was probably based on a family member who told the police about the irregularities related to the death.
Euthanasia and assisted suicide are legal in Canada, providing it is performed by a doctor or nurse practitioner.
However, this particular case is important because the outcome could change the criteria for who is able to participate in euthanasia and assisted suicide in Canada. There are many euthanasia activists who believe that anyone should be able to carry-out the act, and will potentially be lobbying to widen the law.
The 2020 Canadian euthanasia report indicated that the number of reported assisted deaths increased by 34% in 2020, from 5,660 in 2019 to 7,595 in 2020. 2019’s figures were themselves up more than 26% from 4,478 in 2018.
Euthanasia deaths represented 2.5% of all Canadian deaths in 2020.
While the federal government has not released data for 2021, based on the Ontario data for 2021, I predict that there were almost 10,000 Canadian euthanasia deaths in 2021 and there have been approximately 31,000 Canadian euthanasia deaths from legalization to December 31, 2021.
Reprinted with permission from the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition