Assisted suicide is now the 5th leading cause of death in Canada

In just over a decade, assisted suicides in Canada have risen 1,200%, becoming the fifth leading cause of death in the country.

Only deaths from cancer, heart disease, COVID-19 and accidents are more common.

The research conducted by Cardus, a Canadian Christian think-tank, found that since its legalization in Canada in 2016, Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) has accounted for a thirteen-fold rise in deaths among Canadians, from 1,018 assisted suicides in the first year of legalization to 13,241 in 2022, the last year for which data is available.

The report notes that MAiD was sold to Canadians as a “last resort” option for terminally ill individuals, with Canadian courts emphasizing that it be a “stringently limited, carefully monitored system of exceptions.”  

Cardus quotes then-Minister of Justice and Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould as stating, “We do not wish to promote premature death as a solution to all medical suffering,” with the Canadian Medical Association agreeing that MAiD was meant to be employed only in rare situations. 

However, notes Cardus, “MAiD assessors and providers do not treat it as a last resort. The percentage of MAiD requests that are denied continues to decline (currently it is 3.5%). … 

“Almost no MAiD requests are denied by clinicians, and the median time between written request and death from MAiD in 2022 was merely 11 days. Despite judges’ and policymakers’ claims or expectations, MAiD is no longer an option of ‘last resort.’” 

To make matters worse, reports the Cardus study, some Canadian provinces do not even include MAiD as a cause of death in their reporting, “instead recording the underlying condition that led to the MAiD request and subsequent death.” In fact, while Health Canada reports on the number of MAiD deaths, Statistics Canada does not report MAiD as a cause of death, which leads to inaccurate official reporting on MAiDs and deaths in general in Canada. 

As reported by The Guardian, MAiD laws “initially permitted only terminally ill Canadians to be eligible for the procedure. But in 2019, a Quebec judge ruled that restricting access to those who had a ‘reasonably foreseeable death’ was unconstitutional, forcing federal lawmakers to amend and expand the existing laws.” 

The Guardian cited a survey of 13,102 of the Canadians who ultimately ended their lives under MAiD in 2022, with a majority citing the “loss of ability to engage in meaningful life activities” as the reason for their decision. “But other responses have troubled healthcare experts,” reported The Guardian. “More than one-third of respondents said their decision was, in part, informed by a feeling they were a perceived burden on family, friends or caregivers. The surge means Canada has one of the highest rates of euthanasia in the world, with 4.1% of deaths aided by doctors.” 

Writing in The American Spectator, Mary Vought, a Senior Fellow at the Independent Women’s Forum, pointed to Canada’s socialized, single-payer medical system as a possible driver of the nation’s dramatic increase in assisted suicide.  

“Persistent under-funding means that over 1.2 million Canadians are waiting for various treatments – some for more than a year,” wrote Vought. “With obtaining appropriate medical treatment difficult due to government rationing, some Canadian patients may lose hope and turn to assisted suicide in the absence of an alternative. In some cases, physicians may try to promote this outcome by persuading patients of the futility of their cause. Talk about a macabre – not to mention immoral – way to lower healthcare costs.” 

Noting that states like California and Washington have joined Canada in introducing assisted suicide, Vought expressed her deep concern for the most vulnerable members of society. “In promoting assisted suicide,” she wrote, “we are sending a very clear message to those with disabilities or in pain that their lives have little meaning and are not ‘worth it.’” 

Vought added that those who understand the inherent evil in assisted suicide must “work to build a culture that values all human life, from conception to natural death, to promote the inherent worth of all Americans.”