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 [...]
Tamara Jansen, Special to The Interim: Unless this Parliament chooses a different path, Canada will allow MAiD for people whose only condition is mental illness. That means men and women struggling with depression, trauma or overwhelming psychological pain could be steered toward death by a system that too often cannot offer timely treatment, consistent follow-up or even basic support. This is why I [...]
Paul Tuns: Andrew Lawton stands up to speak in the Chambre during Question Period. © HOC-CDCCredit: Bernard Thibodeau, House of Commons Photo Services On Dec. 5, the House of Commons debated C-218, Tamara Jansen’s private member’s bill that would put an end to the planned March 2027 expansion of euthanasia to people suffering solely from mental illness. C-218, An Act [...]
Mary Zwicker: The citizens of a European country have halted the advancement of euthanasia legislation in a recent referendum. On Nov. 23, Slovenian citizens rejected a pro-euthanasia bill through a binding referendum that banned their government from revisiting the topic for another 12 months. Following the pro-life victory, conservative politician, activist, and primary leader of the referendum campaign, Aleš Primc, declared that [...]
Paul Tuns: Health Canada released its Sixth Annual Report on Medical Assistance in Dying in Canada on Nov. 28, providing data regarding Canada’s euthanasia and assisted-suicide regime in 2024, the most recent year for which there is completed data. According to the report, 16,499 Canadians were killed by euthanasia, an increase of seven per cent compared to 2023 when there were 15,427 [...]
Rory Leishman: The United States Declaration of Independence famously asserts: “We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” As originally understood in 1776, the phrase “all Men” in this context referred to all humans. In [...]
Paul Tuns: In October, Quebec Premier François Legault and Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette introduced Bill 1, a proposed constitution for the province which would constitutionally guarantee access to abortion and euthanasia. The bill, if passed, “enacts the Constitution of Québec, the Act respecting the constitutional autonomy of Québec and the Act respecting the Conseil constitutionnel,” and it would have “primacy over any [...]
Paul Tuns The CBC and Sudbury Star reported that Cleo Gratton, 84, was approved for Medical Assistance in Dying after he received terrible medical care at Health Sciences North in Sudbury. Gratton told family that after receiving poor care caused by “hallway healthcare” at the Sudbury hospital, he would rather die than go back to Health Sciences North. His daughter, Lynn, told [...]
Paul Tuns: On Oct. 30, Quebec’s 2024-2025 Report on the Commission of End-of-Life Care was released, revealing that 1 in 15 deaths in the province is through Medical Assistance in Dying. “The Commission notes that MAiD is in increasing demand and occupies an important place in the public sphere in Quebec,” the report states. The report covers April 1, 2024 to March [...]
Canadians divided on abortion, euthanasia, not so much on divorce, contraception Paul Tuns: On Oct. 16, Research Co. released the results of their online poll on what behaviours Canadians find morally acceptable from abortion and euthanasia to marital affairs and gambling. With the exception of pedophilia, there was significant support for most immoral behaviours and majority support for many of them. While [...]
Josie Luetke: Last month, I shared how Campaign Life Coalition, with the help of the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, is legally challenging the rules barring abortion victim photography or any “signs or banners that display explicit graphic violence or blood” on Parliament Hill. Our hearing date, originally scheduled for Oct. 2, has been postponed, but since I last wrote, the respondents, [...]
From the editor’s desk: From the editor's desk On pages 14 and 15 of this issue we have book reviews of three giants of mid-20th century conservatism: William F. Buckley, Frank S. Meyer, and James Burnham. All three were at the founding of National Review, a magazine that has shaped U.S. conservatism since its founding 70 Novembers ago in 1955. [...]