Data on how many Canadians were euthanized in 2022 still has not been released, as the end of 2023 nears. Health Canada pledged to keep Canadians up-to-date with statistics, with millions of dollars assigned to the program each year. Canada’s controversial Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) allows an individual to end their life with medical help, removing criminal responsibility from the physician. It can “be achieved in one of two ways,” the government website reads. “Physician-assisted suicide. Voluntary euthanasia."There were 10,064 Canadians euthanized in 2021, 3.3% of the total deaths that year, with “nearly four in five (79%) written requests” approved for euthanasia. For the last three years, Statistics Canada has released the data by July, and was anticipated to do the same in 2023. Lawyer and political commentator David Freiheit (Viva Frei) raised the issue on Twitter ("X") Sunday. “We are now nearing the end of 2023 and the euthanasia statistics for Canada for 2022 have not yet been released,” he said. “The projected number for 2022 is over 13,500, which represents over 4% of all deaths in Canada,” he continued. “And I think that projection is a wild underestimate.“And now, after hard drugs have been decriminalized in parts of Canada, Trudeau wants to expand state-sanctioned murder to drug addicts and the mentally ill. This is @JustinTrudeau’s ‘progressive’ Canada.”.MAiD was first introduced in 2016 with specific eligibility criteria such as a 'reasonably foreseeable' illness, which was amended to include anyone in chronic pain in 2021. The law is on track to be amended again as of March 17, 2024. People “suffering solely from a mental illness” will be eligible for euthanasia, as per Bill C-39, a date that has already been delayed one year.The mental illness category allows people struggling with drug addiction, according to the lead physician at Addictions Medicine at Nova Scotia Health Dr. David Martell. On Thursday Conservative MP Ed Fast proposed Bill C-314, a bill that would render those with mental illness ineligible, blocking the broadening of eligibility, with 167 members voting against and 150 in favour. .A 2022 Health Canada news release announced the Trudeau Liberals were giving $3.3 million in funding to the Canadian Association of MAiD Assessors and Practitioners (CAMAP) for an accredited MAID curriculum and $2.6 million per year “ongoing to ensure MAiD is implemented in a consistent and safe manner.”The money will give “greater insight” into why people seek MAiD, “supplement the federal monitoring system,” and “help to identify any systemic inequalities.”Health Canada also said it was amending the 2018 Regulations for the Monitoring of MAiD “to improve reporting to Canadians.”“This will support transparency, provide insight into how the legislation is working, and maintain public trust in how MAiD is accessed and delivered in Canada.”Though Health Canada has not been forthcoming with the data, the CBC published an article in August where Quebec Dr. Michel Bureau said “we're now no longer dealing with an exceptional treatment, but a treatment that is very frequent.” He cited provincial data already available from 2022, with 6.1% of deaths in Quebec were from MAiD, and in B.C. 5.5% — and “as of June 30, MAID deaths represented 6.2% of deaths in that province.”
Data on how many Canadians were euthanized in 2022 still has not been released, as the end of 2023 nears. Health Canada pledged to keep Canadians up-to-date with statistics, with millions of dollars assigned to the program each year. Canada’s controversial Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) allows an individual to end their life with medical help, removing criminal responsibility from the physician. It can “be achieved in one of two ways,” the government website reads. “Physician-assisted suicide. Voluntary euthanasia."There were 10,064 Canadians euthanized in 2021, 3.3% of the total deaths that year, with “nearly four in five (79%) written requests” approved for euthanasia. For the last three years, Statistics Canada has released the data by July, and was anticipated to do the same in 2023. Lawyer and political commentator David Freiheit (Viva Frei) raised the issue on Twitter ("X") Sunday. “We are now nearing the end of 2023 and the euthanasia statistics for Canada for 2022 have not yet been released,” he said. “The projected number for 2022 is over 13,500, which represents over 4% of all deaths in Canada,” he continued. “And I think that projection is a wild underestimate.“And now, after hard drugs have been decriminalized in parts of Canada, Trudeau wants to expand state-sanctioned murder to drug addicts and the mentally ill. This is @JustinTrudeau’s ‘progressive’ Canada.”.MAiD was first introduced in 2016 with specific eligibility criteria such as a 'reasonably foreseeable' illness, which was amended to include anyone in chronic pain in 2021. The law is on track to be amended again as of March 17, 2024. People “suffering solely from a mental illness” will be eligible for euthanasia, as per Bill C-39, a date that has already been delayed one year.The mental illness category allows people struggling with drug addiction, according to the lead physician at Addictions Medicine at Nova Scotia Health Dr. David Martell. On Thursday Conservative MP Ed Fast proposed Bill C-314, a bill that would render those with mental illness ineligible, blocking the broadening of eligibility, with 167 members voting against and 150 in favour. .A 2022 Health Canada news release announced the Trudeau Liberals were giving $3.3 million in funding to the Canadian Association of MAiD Assessors and Practitioners (CAMAP) for an accredited MAID curriculum and $2.6 million per year “ongoing to ensure MAiD is implemented in a consistent and safe manner.”The money will give “greater insight” into why people seek MAiD, “supplement the federal monitoring system,” and “help to identify any systemic inequalities.”Health Canada also said it was amending the 2018 Regulations for the Monitoring of MAiD “to improve reporting to Canadians.”“This will support transparency, provide insight into how the legislation is working, and maintain public trust in how MAiD is accessed and delivered in Canada.”Though Health Canada has not been forthcoming with the data, the CBC published an article in August where Quebec Dr. Michel Bureau said “we're now no longer dealing with an exceptional treatment, but a treatment that is very frequent.” He cited provincial data already available from 2022, with 6.1% of deaths in Quebec were from MAiD, and in B.C. 5.5% — and “as of June 30, MAID deaths represented 6.2% of deaths in that province.”