Canada: Group that led push to legalize euthanasia warns of abuse of system

The advocacy group that led the push to legalize medical aid in dying (MAID) in Canada is now warning that additional government safeguards are needed to combat reports of abuses of the program.

Liz Hughes, executive director of the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA), told the National Post that the organization has become “aware of worrying reports about people being offered MAID in circumstances that may not legally qualify, as well as people accessing MAID as a result of intolerable social circumstances.”

The BCCLA was a key figure in the legalization of euthanasia in Canada, having brought the Carter v. Canada which led to the Supreme Court of Canada overturning the government’s ban on the procedure.

In the nearly nine years since euthanasia became legal in Canada in 2016, the practice has become increasingly popular. The latest government figures, released this month, showed another double-digit year-on-year increase in the procedure, with 15,343 Canadian citizens euthanized by medical officials in 2023, representing 1 in 20 deaths in that country.

However, a explosive report revealed in November that of hundreds of violations of the country’s controversial euthanasia law over several years, none of them have been reported to authorities, and whistleblowers warned in the report of numerous “compliance issues.”

Hughes told the National Post that the country’s federal and provincial governments “must implement, actively review and enforce appropriate safeguards to ensure that people make this decision freely.”

The civil rights organization “will continue to hold the government accountable” for its oversight of the euthanasia program, he said.

At its inception, the country’s euthanasia regime was presented as an option of last resort for terminally ill adults suffering terrible suffering. However, campaigners have since called for it to be expanded to include much broader categories of applicants.

An activist group sued the federal government earlier this monthcalling for an immediate expansion of the country’s euthanasia program to allow physician-assisted suicide for those suffering from mental illness.

The federal government had previously planned to expand the program to people with mental illnesses; that measure was delayed earlier this year and is now projected to come into effect in 2027.

Last month, the Quebec provincial government began allowing assisted suicide for people who cannot give consent at the time of the procedure, allowing “advance applications” from those “who have been diagnosed with a serious, incurable illness that leads to disability,” such as Alzheimer’s disease.

Meanwhile, the federal government is actively soliciting citizen input on a proposal to legalize “advance applications” nationwide.

Translated and adapted by the ACI Prensa team. Originally published in CNA.