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.