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Demand a Complete REVIEW of Canada's Euthanasia Law

Demand a Complete REVIEW of Canada's Euthanasia Law
petition author imageEuthanasia Prevention Coalition started this petition to Federal and Provincial Governments - 2025/05/12

We call on the federal and provincial governments to provide a complete review of Canada’s medical assistance in dying (euthanasia, or “MAID”) regime.


We are demanding a complete review by the federal and provincial government out of concern with the direction of Canada’s MAID law.


We oppose killing people.


We oppose MAID being considered a form of medical treatment.


We believe that MAID is incompatible with and must be separate from palliative care.


We support the traditional definition of palliative care that, “intends neither to hasten nor postpone death.”


We support health care sanctuary as a human right in Canada.


On March 17, 2021, Parliament passed Bill C-7. The bill expanded Canada’s MAID law by removing both the “terminal illness” requirement and the ten-day reflection period for people who are “terminally ill”. It created a 90-day reflection period for people who are approved for MAID but not “terminally ill,” and it enabled a MAID death to occur even after the person had become incompetent, when they had already been approved. It also approved MAID for mental illness alone. Parliament delayed MAID for mental illness alone until March 17, 2027.


On March 21, 2025, Canada received a critical review by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) of the MAID law. Among other concerns, the CRPD urged Canada to repeal Track 2 MAID, including the planned expansion to persons whose “sole underlying medical condition is a mental illness,” and reject proposals to expand MAID to “mature minors” and through advance requests.


On October 17, 2024, the Office of the Chief Coroner of Ontario released a report from the Ontario MAiD Death Review Committee (MDRC) indicating that some MAID deaths were driven by homelessness, fear, and isolation. The report also indicated that people living with poverty were at risk of coercion, that people with disabilities were needlessly dying by MAID, and that there were at least 428 non-compliant MAID deaths in Ontario.


The MDRC report proves that the Supreme Court of Canada’s Carter decision, which led to the legalization of MAID, is being violated. Carter required “a carefully-designed system” that imposes strict limits that are scrupulously monitored and enforced.


On June 11, 2023, the Québec government approved MAID by advanced request. Québec’s Justice Minister told the Crown’s Prosecution Office not to lay charges when a doctor or nurse practitioner kills a person by euthanasia based on an advanced request, beginning on October 30, 2024. On October 28, 2024, Canada’s Health Minister announced that the federal government was launching a “national conversation” on MAID by advance request.


On December 11, 2024, Canada’s Ministry of Health released the Fifth Annual Report on Medical Assistance in Dying, which reported that there were 15,343 MAID deaths in Canada in 2023 representing 4.7% of all deaths.


The many stories published in the media and the MDRC report show that the law is not being effectively monitored and enforced.


Furthermore, the pressure from medical practitioners who support MAID has led to complaints from people who were offered MAID, and even pressured to ask for it. Some people have expressed alarm when they were offered MAID on several occasions even though they never expressed interest in it. There are many stories of people who are living with disabilities, poverty, homelessness, and/or loneliness who have felt pressured to “choose” MAID.


Hospice is being confused with MAID; many of the provincial governments have instituted MAID within the hospice/palliative care system. We respect the World Health Organization’s definition of palliative care that states, “Palliative care intends neither to hasten nor postpone death.” MAID must be separate from hospice.


Canada’s MAID law is discriminatory. After Bill C-7 passed, the law became specifically oriented to people with disabilities who live with a “grievous and irremediable medical condition”. The law approves death for one group of people while another group are offered suicide prevention.


We call on the federal and provincial governments to provide a complete review of Canada’s MAID law. The review must examine the actual practise of MAID by individual physicians and by provincial MAID services while considering the actual experiences of people with disabilities, people living in poverty, people requiring treatment for mental health issues, and more. How many people are pressured to “choose” MAID and then die by it?


It is unacceptable that the MDRC identified 428 MAID deaths that contravened the law yet no attempted prosecutions occurred and no medical licenses were suspended.


A complete review requires input from all perspectives without prejudice.


We call on the federal and provincial governments to do a complete review of Canada’s MAID law.


References:


Joint Letter to Members of Federal and Provincial Parliaments

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    Jasmine B. CANADA

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    Arlene N. CANADA

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    Terri Styles-MacKinnon S. CANADA

We call on the federal and provincial governments to provide a complete review of Canada’s medical assistance in dying (euthanasia, or “MAID”) regime.


On March 21, 2025, Canada received a critical review by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) of the MAID law. Among other concerns, the CRPD urged Canada to repeal Track 2 MAID, including the planned expansion to persons whose “sole underlying medical condition is a mental illness,” and reject proposals to expand MAID to “mature minors” and through advance requests.


On October 17, 2024, the Office of the Chief Coroner of Ontario released a report from the Ontario MAiD Death Review Committee (MDRC) indicating that some MAID deaths were driven by homelessness, fear, and isolation. The report also indicated that people living with poverty were at risk of coercion, that people with disabilities were needlessly dying by MAID, and that there were at least 428 non-compliant MAID deaths in Ontario.


Canada’s MAID law is discriminatory. After Bill C-7 passed, the law became specifically oriented to people with disabilities who live with a “grievous and irremediable medical condition”. The law approves death for one group of people while another group are offered suicide prevention.


The review must examine the actual practise of MAID by individual physicians and by provincial MAID services while considering the actual experiences of people with disabilities, people living in poverty, people requiring treatment for mental health issues, and more. How many people are pressured to “choose” MAID?


A complete review requires input from all perspectives without prejudice.