While assisted dying is on the rise in Canada, the country still lags behind the Netherlands, where euthanasia accounted for about 5% of total deaths last year.
British MPs late last month voted to pass a similar bill to give terminally ill adults in England and Wales the right to assisted dying, although it faces months of further scrutiny before it becomes law.
As British MPs debated the legislation, some called Canada a cautionary tale because of the perceived lack of safeguards.
Like the UK, Canada initially legalized assisted dying only for those whose death was “reasonably foreseeable”.
However, in 2021, Canada expanded access to people who may not have a terminal diagnosis but want to end their lives because of a chronic debilitating illness.
Earlier this year, there were plans to expand access to people with mental illness again.
But it was delayed a second time after Canadian provinces that oversee health care delivery raised concerns about whether the system could handle such an expansion.
Health Canada defended the procedure on Wednesday, saying the criminal code has “strict eligibility criteria.”
But Cardus, a Christian think tank, said the latest figures were “disturbing” and showed Canada has one of the fastest-growing euthanasia programs in the world.
A report released in October by Ontario – Canada’s most populous province – has since shed light on controversial cases of people receiving assisted dying when they were not close to their natural death.
One example was a woman in her 50s with depression and suicidal thoughts who had severe chemical sensitivities.
Her request for euthanasia was granted after she was unable to secure housing that could meet her medical needs.
Another case that has made headlines in recent months involves a Nova Scotia cancer patient who said she was asked if she knew about assisted dying as an option twice when she underwent mastectomies.
The question “came up in all the wrong places,” she told the National Post.
Canadian news agencies have also reported cases of people with disabilities considering assisted dying due to lack of housing or disability benefits.
Dec. 12 Clarification: The introduction to this article has been amended to more clearly state that these figures refer to voluntary euthanasia and to more clearly and clearly explain the rationale for the data on the two groups who successfully sought medical assistance in dying.
