On May 4 the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition was in Saskatoon with some extraordinary speakers. Alex Schadenberg, executive director of the EPC, welcomed Wesley Smith and Rita Wolfe who wowed the audience with their inspirational words.

Schadenberg kicked things off with a short but informative speech on the history on euthanasia in Canada, including how the media sways Canadians on the issue and why we as citizens must remain informed. Schadenberg concluded by expressing his gratitude toward the disability movement.

Next on the agenda was Smith, legal counsel for the International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide. Smith shook the crowd and also fellow speakers with his powerful words. “We are talking about abandoning the most vulnerable instead of providing them with necessary medical care” he began. Later he discussed the Futile Care Theory and how more and more physicians are resorting to the lethal idea. FCT leads to euthanasia because it enables doctors to deny care which would ordinarily heal or save the patients life. Physicians justify denying such care by claiming that the patient is elderly, disabled or could even die because of their condition anyhow, so what’s the use?

Smith went on to deflate some of the popular misconceptions surrounding euthanasia including that it is the same thing as pulling a plug, that it is the same thing as giving pain control and that euthanasia is only for the terminally ill.

Smith also displayed the always-notorious “exit bag,” which is being illegally produced by the Canadian Right to Die Society.

Also speaking was Rita Wolfe who left the audience craving more and wanting to make a difference in this world. Wolfe talked about love, and the heartbreaking illness that struck two of her daughters.

When Wolfe talked about the Latimer case, however, she hit close to home because she has witnessed, first hand the suffering of her own children. She left the stage with words for all to ponder: “Tracy Latimer was killed because love ran out. Love never ever gives up.”

With files from Marcy Millette