Canada is on its way to recording 100,000 deaths from assisted suicide as pro-life advocates are voicing strong objections to the practice.
The nation is approaching its 10th anniversary, June 17, of “legal assisted suicide” in regard to its Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) law, the National Post reported February 26.
“The 100,000 figure has recently been popularized by Canadian anti-MAID activist Kelsi Sheren. She stated in a recent op-ed that her country is ‘about to kill its 100,000th citizen through Medical Assistance in Dying,'” the outlet stated, adding that the number was in line with the official trajectory of those particular deaths.
“In Health Canada’s most recent update on MAID deaths, the agency stated that 76,475 Canadians had died via assisted suicide as of Dec. 31, 2024,” the article continued. “At the time of the report, new MAID deaths were coming in at a rate of 45 per day; the annual number of deaths charted in 2024 came to 16,499. Thus, even if MAID approvals have plateaued in the interim months, Canada would be on track to pass its 100,000th MAID death by the first week of June.”
A report in 2024 said Canada was expected to lead the world in assisted suicide deaths under MAID as 2025 approached.
The Breitbart News article said, “MAID can be administered one of two ways: either by a physician or nurse practitioner or self-administration after being prescribed a substance by a physician or nurse practitioner, according to Dying with Dignity Canada, a pro-assisted suicide organization.”
The Canadian government’s website said the MAID law was meant to support “freedom of choice.”
The site also stated, “On February 29, 2024, legislation to extend the temporary exclusion of eligibility to receive MAID in circumstances where a person’s sole underlying medical condition is a mental illness received royal assent and immediately came into effect. The eligibility date for persons suffering solely from a mental illness is now March 17, 2027.”
Meanwhile, Canadian doctors have been urged to mention medically assisted dying before their patients do, while the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) asked the government to scale back its MAID program in 2025.
However, MAID has become so popular practitioners have been struggling to meet demand, Breitbart News reported in August.
Canada-based Alex Schadenberg of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition recently told EWTN News “Euthanasia is literally homicide. It is killing,” adding that the predicted 100,000 death mark will be “a very sad thing to mourn.”
Schadenberg said there is currently a bill in parliament to “reverse the euthanasia for mental illness part of the law” but it is facing an uphill battle.
“The most important thing we can do is recognize the importance of caring for people, being with people, recognizing that family members, friends, etc. that when they are going through illness they are not feeling alone, they’re not feeling lonely, they’re not feeling that their life lacks meaning, purpose, or value and that someone actually cares about them,” Schadenberg explained.
“Because most people are dying of euthanasia, not because they’re in extreme pain, that’s almost not even on the radar even though that does exist. Usually it’s because they feel their life lacks meaning, purpose, or value and they’re having their lives ended. They’re being killed,” he said.