On June 20, the British House of Commons delivered another devastating blow to respect for the sanctity of human life, by adopting a bill to legalize euthanasia on a vote of 314 to 291. However, it is noteworthy that, in comparison to Canada’s Medical Assistance in Dying legislation, this British bill is, for now, far more restrictive and contains much more stringent [...]
Paul Tuns: The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition launched a postcard and petition campaign demanding the complete review of Canada’s euthanasia law, a project it launched with the Delta Hospice Society. Gordon Friesen, president of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, said announcing the campaign, that the federal government vowed to conduct a thorough review after five years when it legalized euthanasia in 2016. Friesen said, [...]
Paul Tuns: Conservative MP Tamara Jansen (Cloverdale-Langley City) introduced a private member’s bill, Bill C-218, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (medical assistance in dying). In 2021, Parliament passed Bill C-7 broadening Canada’s euthanasia law, with one of the provisions being expanding Canada’s Medical Assistance in Dying regime to patients suffering solely from mental illness. Other so-called safeguards that were lifted [...]
Donald DeMarco: Charles E. Rice, in his book, The Winning Side, offers a cogent case for the connection between abortion and euthanasia. He points out that contraception and abortion have reduced the numbers of taxpayers in the United States who could pay for the elderly and disabled. It is predicted that by the year 2050 one American in 20 will be 85 [...]
Paul Tuns: The Toronto Sun headline “Another combat vet who says he was offered medical suicide comes forward” is the story of David Baltzer, likely the first Canadian Armed Forces soldier offered Medical Assistance in Dying, in December 2019. The April 25 article by Bryan Passiffiume begins, “He came seeking help, but he says he was instead offered death.” Baltzer served two [...]
Don’t Be Canada: How One Country Did Everything Wrong All at Once: Tristan Hopper (Sutherland House, $22.95, 126 pages) National Post writer Tristan Hopper has written a recent history of Canada that serves as a warning for the rest of the world. Recently, Canadians have enjoyed a splurge of patriotism in reaction to U.S. President Donald Trump, but Hopper says we should [...]
Paul Tuns Catholic Bishops of Saskatchewan (CBS) released a pastoral letter, “Dying with Hope: Living and Walking Together,” on March 25 calling for a Christian response to so-called Medical Assistance in Dying. In 2017, the CBS released a pastoral letter, “On Living through our Dying,” in response to the legalization of euthanasia the previous year. The bishops said in its latest letter, [...]
Paul Tuns: On March 21, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities condemned Canada’s euthanasia regime, urging the repeal of amendments to the country’s so-called Medical Assistance in Dying law that allows the killing of non-terminally ill individuals. In remarks published by the Committee, the UN urged Canada to repeal its 2021 MAiD expansion legislation that allowed those [...]
The Interim went to press days before the April 28 federal election and whatever the results, there does not appear to be much good news for pro-lifers. As we report on page 10, the Conservatives and Liberals are both committed to the abortion and euthanasia status quo which kills more than 100,000 preborn children and 15,000 vulnerable patients annually. It is a [...]
Paul Tuns, Commentary: Pope Francis died on April 21 at the age of 88, after leading the Catholic Church for 12 years as its 266th pope. There were numerous articles and essays exploring his legacy. One cannot help but think of the apocryphal comment by Zhou Enlai, the Chinese Communist revolutionary, in the 1970s, when asked what he thought of the French Revolution: [...]
Paul Tuns: During a podcast interview with Olivier Primeau released on April 9, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre said a Conservative government would not legislate on abortion or euthanasia. During the French-language interview, Poilievre said of abortion, “We will defend women’s freedom of choice.” He elaborated, “we will never change the law on abortion, we have already adopted … a policy for the [...]
At what point will the size of Canada’s so-called “Medical Assistance in Dying” program become cause for alarm? What percentage of our vulnerable, elderly, infirm, or disabled fellow citizens need to choose death (or have it chosen for them) before we feel chastened by our outrageous indifference, and our national conscience is, at long last, pricked? The statistics for 2023—which, curiously enough, [...]
Paul Tuns Numerous organizations from Canada submitted concerns about Canada’s euthanasia regime to the United National Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), including worries expressed by the Canadian Human Rights Commission that some people will choose so-called Medical Assistance in Dying because they cannot access adequate medical care, housing, or other supports. Canada ratified the UN Convention on the [...]
Danielle Smith outraged about euthanasia Alberta Premier Danielle Smith appeared on the John Bachman Now Show on Newsmax in January. Toward the end of the interview, Bachman said that the increase in doctor-assisted suicide in Canada was frightening, and asked Smith for her opinion. Smith agreed that “one of the things that the federal government was allowing was a potential for [...]
Alex Schadenberg, Special to The Interim: When a jurisdiction is debating an assisted suicide bill, many organizations and individuals present information about the necessary safeguards that the jurisdiction must implement to “safely” legalize assisted suicide. The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition knows that it is not possible to “safely” legalize assisted suicide and once legal the law will inevitably expand. Great Britain is currently debating [...]