Quebec became the first Canadian province to legalize assisted suicide in 2014. Since then, however, the Canadian Supreme Court has ruled it legal for all Canadians.
After multiple expansions, Canadian law includes some of the world’s most permissive policies on assisted suicide. Since 2021, a patient does not have to be terminally ill to receive the drugs in Canada, but rather may be experiencing a long and complicated condition – including disability alone – that impacts their quality of life. The law there also allows a provider to directly administer the drugs rather than require the patient self-administer. (When a provider administers the drug, it’s called euthanasia.) Some opponents have called these expansions part of a so-called slippery slope.
The practice has exploded there. Assisted dying now represents roughly 1 in 20 Canadian deaths, according to an annual report released in December by Health Canada with data from 2023, the most recent available. That’s 15,300 deaths, or 4.7% of deaths in the country. Most – roughly 96% – had a terminal illness, but a small minority – around 4% – fit into the category of illness with a natural death not “reasonably foreseeable.” The median age was 77.7.
In recent years, Canada’s assisted-suicide policies have garnered criticism for disproportionately being used by the poor and disabled.
An Associated Press investigation in October found that the highest numbers of assisted deaths for patients not facing terminal illness came from the poorest areas. The AP also found medical providers expressing deep discomfort carrying out some of their assisted-dying requests, some of which were avoidable deaths. Additionally, the investigation told the story of someone who was euthanized even after their doctor concluded their suffering was mostly because they were homeless, in debt, and unwilling to accept long-term care, as well as someone who specifically told their doctor that the government’s small amount of disability support for their ankle and back injury left them no choice but to request medical aid-in-dying, among others. However, the AP concluded poverty doesn’t seem disproportionately prominent among recipients with terminal diseases, which would be the only recipients allowed in New Hampshire under its proposal.
A Spectator thought piece entitled “Why is Canada euthanizing the poor?” and an article from The Guardian, “Are Canadians being driven to assisted suicide by poverty or healthcare crisis?”, both from 2022, delved into the same concerns.
In 2020, Roger Foley, a man with a neurodegenerative disease testified to the Canadian Parliament that medical providers attempted to coerce him into assisted suicide by threatening high rates for the care he needed or to forcibly discharge him.
“Assisted dying is easier to access than safe and appropriate disability supports to live,” Foley said.