Harold Albrecht's private member's motion would punish those who counsel suicide over the internet.
MP Harold Albrecht (C, Kitchener-Conestoga) says that his recent effort to outlaw the use of the internet to counsel for suicide, was inspired by his close following of the case of Nadia Kajouji, a young woman who committed suicide last year after being goaded to do so in an online chat room.
Albrecht told LifeSiteNews.com that his private member’s motion, M-388, tabled in May, and that would make internet counseling for suicide a criminal offense, is simply a matter of protecting the vulnerable. The motion, he said, is aimed at curtailing the work of organizations that, through internet websites, promote euthanasia and assisted suicide for vulnerable persons suffering from serious depression.
“The reality is,” he said, “that groups do exist to promote suicide and if we as a society place any value on human life, then we must resist these voices and work to protect those individuals who are vulnerable.”
Kajouji, an 18 year-old Carleton University student, was reportedly severely depressed when she had a conversation on an internet chat group with a man who, posing as a teenage girl, allegedly encouraged her to commit suicide. She died after jumping into the frigid Rideau River in March 2008.
“It is stories like this one that make it absolutely necessary to clarify our laws to eliminate any doubt surrounding the issue of counselling to commit suicide,” Albrecht said in an email to LifeSiteNews.com. “Internet predators who, for their own twisted reasons take advantage of this vulnerability should be given a very clear message to deter them and if they choose to follow through they need to face consequences of criminal charges.”
Anti-euthanasia activists have long pointed to the danger of euthanasia-promoting groups who maintain websites giving information on suicide. On the website of the Euthanasia Research and Guidance Organization, Derek Humphries, founder of the Hemlock Society, includes links to the infamous suicide manual Final Exit that gives detailed instructions on how to commit suicide “painlessly.”
In Switzerland, Ludwig Minelli, the founder of the Dignitas suicide facility that caters to increasing numbers of British and Germans, said recently that people suffering from depression or who are “tired of life” should be able to legally use the facility to end their lives.
Albrecht said that it is precisely these people whom his private member’s motion is meant to protect. “For those who struggle with long-term depression,” he said, “it is absolutely essential that every resource is deployed to counteract the overwhelming helpless feelings These people need to be offered hope and encouragement, not advice to end their lives.”
A version of this article originally appeared June 4 at LifeSiteNews and is reprinted with permission.
