Donald DeMarco: When Dante entered the vestibule of Hell, he witnessed the dreary souls “who lived without blame, and without praise; but were for themselves.” These were the apathetic souls whom both Heaven and Hell rejected. Dante was struck by sheer number of these lost souls. “So long a train of people,” he said to Virgil, his guide, “that I should never [...]
From the editor’s desk: Radical pro-abortion NDP MP Leah Gazan (Winnipeg Centre) was complaining about the Carney government’s lack of funding to support “MMIWG2SLGBTQQIA+” people. The Alphabet People’s acronym is a fluid construction, with endless amendments and additions to ensure that everyone is included, except for, apparently, white males, Christians, and conservatives. That plus sign at the end is supposed to represent [...]
Paul Tuns: On March 20, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre appeared on the Joe Rogan podcast during which the host brought up his concerns about euthanasia in Canada, including the fact it is responsible for five per cent of all deaths in the country. Poilievre responded by saying he supports euthanasia “choice” for Canadians. Poilievre said he has concerns with expanding euthanasia to [...]
Mary Zwicker, European Correspondent: On Feb. 25, France’s National Assembly approved a bill to legalize assisted suicide despite the Senate’s previous rejection of it. The bill has since returned to the Senate where it will undergo another review before returning once more to the National Assembly. “Legalizing assisted dying is not simply a technical adjustment of the law: it is in reality an [...]
Mary Zwicker, European Correspondent: Pro-lifers are celebrating a massive win for life following Scotland’s rejection of proposed assisted suicide legislation. On March 17, the feast of St. Patrick, the Scottish Parliament defeated the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults Bill in a 69-57 vote with one abstention. If passed, Scotland would have become the first country in the United Kingdom to legalize assisted [...]
Josie Luetke: I derive a perverse satisfaction from horrifying Americans with tales of Canada’s death spiral. I asked one, “Did you know we are considering euthanizing babies here? Like ones with severe deformities or disabilities,” when I realized we already do that. Canada doesn’t directly report on the reasons women procure abortions, but we know as we better diagnose congenital conditions in [...]
Mary Zwicker, European Correspondent: The United Kingdom is in the midst of an ongoing battle to legalize assisted suicide. In October 2024, Labour party MP Kim Leadbeater introduced the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, a Private Member’s Bill, which proposes to legalize assisted-suicide in England and Wales for terminally ill adults under certain conditions. The bill is now stalled in the [...]
Mary Zwicker, European Correspondent: Several lobbying groups are pushing the Canadian government to expand its Medical Assistance in Dying laws to include mature minors, citing various European countries as examples of how it could be done. “Sadly, once killing by euthanasia becomes a legal option the law will continue to expand,” said Alex Schadenberg, executive director for the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition. “There is [...]
Paul Tuns: On March 18, Alberta Minister of Justice Mickey Amery introduced Bill 18, the Safeguards for Last Resort Termination of Life Act, which, if passed, will restrict euthanasia in the province. Bill 18 would require individuals to have a 12-month terminal prognosis, thus limiting euthanasia in the province to Track 1 approval (those with a reasonably foreseeable death). By banning Track [...]
Paul Tuns: The Ontario coroner’s MAiD Death Review Committee revealed that a woman in her 80s identified as Mrs. B was killed by euthanasia even though the elderly woman changed her mind about the procedure. The woman had complications resulting from a coronary artery bypass graft surgery. Her condition worsened and she opted for palliative care. She was sent home with palliative [...]
Why do right-wing populist governments vote with the left at the EU? This is a question that has perplexed many. Why is it that conservative countries like Hungary, Italy, and Poland almost uniformly stand with the rest of the European Union countries in supporting far-left measures? Are they strong-armed, bullied, afraid of losing friends, afraid of losing trade opportunities, afraid of retaliation [...]
From the editor’s desk: In the United Kingdom, the House of Lords is debating whether to legalize euthanasia. We have a report on it in “And then there was this” on p. 17. I wanted to highlight one part of the on-going debate on that side of the lake, namely Lord Falconer’s comment during the third committee stage debate that the Terminally [...]
Josie Luetke: Officially, in Canada, there were 326,571 deaths in 2023. If you add the abortion volume for that year to that number, you’re looking at 428,124 recorded deaths. Tallying up abortion (101,553), “MAiD” or “medical assistance in dying” (15,427), (legally recognized) homicide (778), and suicide (approximately 4,447), 28.5 per cent of deaths were not tragic accidents or the sad succumbence to [...]
In their university philosophy classes, undergraduates are sometimes asked to grapple with thought experiments. The so-called “trolley problem,” for example, places an observer in view of an out-of-control locomotive. This on-looker is also, somehow, located at a switch which will divert the runaway train’s course and reduce the number of casualties—at the cost of the moral agent making a direct intervention. What [...]
Paul Tuns: On Jan. 6, Margaret Marsilla, shared a post on her Facebook account mourning the euthanasia death of her 26-year-old son Kinao Vafaiean on Dec. 30. Marsilla wrote on Facebook: “Four years ago, here in Ontario, we were able to stop his euthanasia and get him some help. He was alive because people stepped in when he was vulnerable and not [...]