Blog post by Augustin Hamilton (Quebec Life Coalition) — Photo: Freepik

"Mental health: offering medical assistance in dying to prevent suicide" is the title of an opinion piece published in Le Soleil. The paradox it presents would be laughable were it not for the fact that this is an extremely serious matter.

Just think about it: proposing death to prevent people from killing themselves! Offering suicide to prevent suicide...

This is the proposal of Dr Chantal Descoteaux and Dr Claude Gagnon, who are thankfully currently retired. Their piece is riddled with contradictions from start to finish.

It is said that people who take their own lives are either experiencing a temporary crisis or have been receiving long-term healthcare and have tried all the suggested solutions. Driven by despair, they chose to end their lives. The doctors then go on to say, "Turning a blind eye to this reality does not save any lives." A strange line of thinking, since how exactly does killing suicidal people save lives?

While it is true that this would reduce suicide rates, since assisted suicide is not counted as a suicide, this is a fundamental error since in both cases the person wishes to end their own life.

Blog post by Augustin Hamilton (Quebec Life Coalition) — Photo: Serhii/Adobe Stock

Joey St-Jean has been in a long-term care facility for four years. He suffers from spinal muscular atrophy, a genetic disorder that causes progressive muscle weakness and loss of control. He is severely disabled and needs assistance with daily tasks.

Before moving into the facility, he lived with his grandparents. "Before moving into the facility, I was happy, motivated, and determined. I had plans for my life, my education, and my career. I had dreams", he told La Presse.

However, placed in an "intermediate care facility", he does not feel happy there. The staff does not have time to tailor care to patients’ preferences. "We have to constantly adapt to the staff because they don't take the time to talk with us about our situation, preferences, and needs."

In this situation, he feels dehumanised and alone. "I feel like a number. I don’t feel loved, and I don’t feel alive".

In an attempt to escape this situation, Joey launched a fundraising campaign on GoFundMe, managing to raise $22,000. Despite this, his efforts to pay for an apartment outside the government system and hire someone to care for him have been unsuccessful.

Blog post by Augustin Hamilton (Quebec Life Coalition) — Photo: Pixel-Shot/Adobe Stovk

Of the 900,000 calls to the Suicide Crisis Helpline (9-8-8) from individuals with suicidal thoughts, nearly 7% (or 70,000 calls) mentioned considering assisted suicide.

Dr. Allison Crawford, the helpline's medical director, presented these figures to the "Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying," adding that "when people mention MAID [euthanasia], they exhibit a significantly higher level of suicidal tendencies than those who call or text without mentioning MAID."

Are we really going to extend euthanasia to people suffering from mental illness alone? As pro-life advocates have said from the beginning, once euthanasia is legalized, the barriers will fall one by one.

Notably, 90 organizations supporting people with disabilities or mental illness have signed a letter urging Mark Carney’s Liberal government to repeal the extension of euthanasia to individuals with mental illness alone, which is set to take effect on March 17, 2027.

Blog post by Augustin Hamilton (Quebec Life Coalition) — Photo: lightfield studios/Adobe Stock

In an open letter published in Le Quotidien, Georgia Vrakas, a psychologist and associate professor in the Department of Psychoeducation and Social Work at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, explains why the extension of euthanasia to people suffering solely from mental illness, which is due to come into force on March 17th, 2027, is a bad idea.

Having suffered from bipolar disorder herself, she describes the difficulties that people with mental illness face in accessing housing, employment and adequate care. She is surprised by the push to extend euthanasia to these people under the pretext of “equality”, given that so much work still needs to be done to reduce the discrimination they face in daily life. According to Le Quotidien:

"They are among the most stigmatised, discriminated against, and marginalised groups in society. This leads me to wonder: we go to great lengths to ensure that people living with mental illness are not discriminated against when facing death, but who goes to such lengths when we are discriminated against on a daily basis while still alive? Do we really want medical assistance in dying to become our default option?"

Praising the work of suicide prevention organisations, from which she has previously benefited, she expresses concern about the impact this extension will have on suicide prevention. She rightly points out that there is no real difference between ‘assisted suicide’ (or euthanasia) and suicide. She also questions whether there is a real difference in suffering between someone who takes their own life and someone who undergoes euthanasia:

"Let’s use the right words. In both cases, it involves intentionally ending suffering through death."

"The difference lies in who is taking the action. Is the suffering the same or different in each case? We do not know because, to date, there has been no validated tool to distinguish between the suffering of a person with a mental illness who wishes to die by suicide and that of a person with a mental illness who wishes to die with medical assistance."

"In my view, providing medical assistance in dying for people with mental illness issues runs directly counter to suicide prevention efforts. What will happen if the law changes? Will people who are suicidal turn to MAID instead of suicide prevention centres? I don’t know. Given our current knowledge and collective responsibility, we should not make medical assistance in dying the default option for people living with mental illness. In reality, it is not a choice."

From left to right: Georges Buscemi of Quebec Life Coalition, Jack Fonseca, Josie Luetke, Pete Baklinski, and Brandan Tran of Campaign Life Coalition, and Aleš Primc of the Movement for Children & Families.

Georges Buscemi, President of Campagne Québec‑Vie — English reference version

Ladies and gentlemen, good day.

My name is Georges Buscemi. I am the president of Campagne Québec‑Vie.

In 2025, Quebec officially became the world champion of euthanasia. 6,268 Quebecers died by "medical assistance in dying" last year — 7.9% of all our deaths. Thirty‑six percent of all MAiD deaths in Canada take place in our province, even though we make up only twenty‑two percent of the Canadian population. And in March 2027, this "assistance" will be extended to people suffering solely from mental illness.

How did we get here?

Let me first recall two Quebec voices — voices that are not my own. Denise Bombardier, shortly before her death, was struck by the fact that the only political consensus that ever forms in Quebec forms around a law about death, and she put the question bluntly: "Is the weight of a culture of death pressing down on us?" Patrick Lagacé, writing in La Presse this past April, stated in black and white that Quebec is the "world champion" of MAiD, and he called this "a blind spot" that must be confronted.

Why us, and not the others?

In 2010, I submitted to the Quebec government's Special Commission on the Question of Dying with Dignity a brief titled A False Freedom: 50 Years of Euthanasia in Quebec. In it, I predicted a scenario: institutionalized despair, a vicious cycle, a society that would end up eliminating poverty by eliminating the poor, and illness by eliminating the sick. I was called an alarmist. Fifteen years later, I'll let you judge for yourselves.

Blog post by Augustin Hamilton (Quebec Life Coalition) - Photo: aijiro/Adobe Stock

The Quebec government will allow advance requests for euthanasia for people with serious illnesses, such as Alzheimer's, starting this autumn, even though Ottawa has not changed the Criminal Code in this regard.

On 7 June 2023, Quebec passed a law authorising advance requests. Since then, it has asked Ottawa on several occasions to change the Criminal Code, but Ottawa still hasn't done so and doesn't appear to be doing so. Despite this, the Quebec government is still preparing to authorise doctors to apply advance requests. Léa Fortin, the media relations officer for the Seniors Minister, Sonia Bélanger, said: "We're going to be ready, we're going to move forward. What we want is for [the federal government] to change its Criminal Code, but if it doesn't, we'll work on our options in parallel," reports La Presse.

According to Léa Fortin, there is a broad consensus in Quebec on advance requests for euthanasia: "There is a consensus in Quebec. It's a transparent process, with patients, parliamentarians and professionals all agreeing to go ahead with MAiD". Not me, certainly. The Quebec government will be making announcements this autumn.

According to Patrick Taillon, constitutionalist and law professor at Université de Laval, Quebec can move forward on the issue of advance requests, reports La Presse :

"Who files the charges? It's the State of Quebec. And if the Quebec State says, by way of a directive, [...] when it respects our laws, we never file charges, then there won't be a problem," he explains.

The constitutionalist asserts that "Ottawa could not prosecute doctors" in Quebec who administer MAiD as part of an advance request.

Québec solidaire MPs Ruba Ghazal and Christine Labrie even wrote a letter arguing that Quebec could ignore Ottawa, as it did in 2015 with its first euthanasia law.

Like in 2015? At that time, the Carter decision decriminalising euthanasia had just been handed down and Ottawa had not yet passed legislation. The Supreme Court of Canada had given Ottawa one year to do so, suspending the application of its ruling. So Quebec was in breach of the Criminal Code when it passed its euthanasia law. And Ottawa did nothing, letting Quebec kill its citizens before it had even given the go - a deplorable precedent of inaction on the part of the federal government. Because I don't think Ottawa has no means of dealing with a province that doesn't comply with its Criminal Code. What the Quebec government is really counting on is undoubtedly, once again, Ottawa's inaction on an issue on which Ottawa itself is more than willing to move forward.

We can be sure that some other provinces will follow Quebec's example if Ottawa does not intervene.

Young African influencers would be encouraged to reduce their own population at the International Conference for Family Planning  —Photo : Pexels.com 

By Joanne of Arc for Quebec Life Coalition

The International Conference on Family Planning (ICFP) was a 4-day event which happened in Thailand this year.

The ICFP took place between November 14 and November 17 in Pattaya City, Thailand at the Pathaway Exhibition and Convention Hall (PEACH). It is said to be the “largest scientific conference on family planning” in the world. The conference was organized by John Hopkins University on behalf of its Bloomberg School of Public Health, Bill & Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health Institute. 

 Although minors could not attend in person, it was available for anyone who would like to participate virtually as there was no age restriction for online attendance if a parent or guardian would sign a waiver. Their website advertised the event as more than a conference, but a “platform, movement & community”. According to their site, more than 125 countries participated and their community counts over 40 000 active members. 

Amongst the ICFP’s main sponsors we could find the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Health Organization(WHO), IPPF, Pathfinder, Women Deliver, United Nations and the government of Canada. 

Their opening ceremony started with a dance show depicting demons, quite literally. The host for the ICFP 2022 opening session was Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health. She explained that this “incredible performance” was “an episode from the play on the epic of Ramekin. It depicts the  royal battle between Rama and Laksman on the one side and the Tosca & the demon of king Lanka on the other.” She explained a short story about the battle and concluded “Tosca retreats into Lanka with his army of demons.” and proposed a round of applause for this play. 

 This performance was followed by a promotional video that promoted the coming of “another world” where “women and men can choose whether & when to have children”, “adolescents and youth have access to contraceptives”, “childbirth is safer for women & babies” and “everybody deserves access to family planning services & products”, in other words abortion and contraception. The belief that was reinforced throughout their promotional video of the opening ceremony and the entire conference was that “without family planning there is no universal healthcare” as their theme for this year was uniting family planning and universal health coverage as “human rights”.

                  Conference on euthanasia at St-Simon Catholic Church --Photo: Facebook/Brigade Verte 

By Joanne of Arc for Quebec Life Coalition

A conference on euthanasia was organized in a Catholic church in Rimouski on November 6th, 2022, a Sunday afternoon. 

A conference on "MAID" or "Medical Aid In Dying" was organized at St-Simon's church in Rimouski with the neurosurgeon and president of the Quebec Association for the Right to Die in Dignity (AQDMD)Dr. Georges l'Espérance. The conference was organized by La Brigade Verte de Saint-Simon which is a secular organization that describes itself as a "beautification project for the municipality of Saint-Simon-de-Rimouski", according to their Facebook page. 

Dr. Georges l'Espérance in conference on "MAID" --Photo: Facebook/Brigade Verte

La Brigade Verte works on the embellishment of the exterior of the St-Simon church for example by planting roses around the cemetery. When asked about the group's participation in the organization of a conference on euthanasia in a Catholic church, one of the leaders, Ms. Chantale, explained: "We facilitated contacts between Mr. Beaudoin, the person in charge of the church, and Dr. l'Espérance, who is part of the brigade. It was to help the church so that there would be a little money coming in, as you know the churches in Quebec are struggling financially... all the contributions that people gave were for the church. This information was later confirmed in conversation with the head of the church and president of the Fabrique, Beaudoin Gagnon.

By Joanne of Arc (Quebec Life Coalition) - Photo: Rawpixel.com/Adobe Stock

Catherine Levesque published an article on October 11, 2022 in the National Post. She reports that the Quebec College of Physicians is being criticized by advocacy groups for proposing that euthanasia for critically ill newborns be made legal.

So far, Canada has refused to extend assisted dying to children under the age of 18, although consideration has been given to making it available to "mature minors". Then, in a recent presentation made by Dr. Louis Roy for the Quebec College of Physicians to the House of Commons Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID), the federal government of Canada was urged to adopt a protocol to allow euthanasia of seriously ill infants.

Levesque states: Dr. Roy's organization believes that MAID may be appropriate for infants up to one year of age, who are born with "severe malformations" and "severe and life-threatening syndromes" for which their "prospective of survival is virtually null".

In the same article, Krista Carr, Executive Vice-President of Inclusion Canada, expressed being alarmed at Roy's recommendation that Canada legalize euthanasia for children with disabilities under the age of one.

Mrs. Carr added: "Canada cannot begin killing babies when doctors predict there is no hope for them. Predictions are far too often based on discriminatory assumptions about living with a disability. "

She also said: "An infant cannot consent to their own death. That isn't MAID, it's murder. And providing MAID to a person who cannot consent is a standard that is wildly dangerous for all persons with intellectual disabilities in Canada."

By Georges Buscemi, president of Quebec Life Coalition — Photo: Freepik

Subject: Brief ─ Special Joint Committee on "Medical Assistance in Dying"

+JMJ+
May 9, 2022
BY EMAIL: [email protected]
Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying
Parliament of Canada

Dear Committee Members:

Quebec Life Coalition is pleased to provide the following comments to the Special Joint Committee to assist them in fulfilling their mandate to conduct a comprehensive review of the "medical assistance in dying" (MAID) provisions of the Criminal Code as set out in Bill C-7.

We are fundamentally opposed to the introduction and any expansion of MAID, particularly because MAID violates the spirit of the preamble to the Canadian Constitution: "Whereas Canada is founded on principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law." We believe that this preamble needs to be re-emphasized in our law schools in particular and in the culture in general, so that our society can reverse the strong tendency for the laws of our country to increasingly reflect the interests of the powerful rather than the expression of truth, justice and the defence of the weak.

Quebec Life Coalition is a Quebec association that works in concert with any individual or association of good will to establish a Christian society that protects faith, family and life from conception to natural death. Like the framers of the Constitution Act of 1982, we, as an organization, acknowledge that a just society requires the recognition of God ─ by individuals as well as by the authorities responsible for the common good ─ as the ultimate author and guarantor of laws.

Unfortunately, the preamble to the Constitution Act, 1982 is now considered obsolete by some, in a so-called increasingly "secular" age. Madam Justice Southin, in her 1999 decision in R. v. Sharpe, characterized the preamble as a "dead letter". An appeal of that decision and its ruling in the Supreme Court never challenged that characterization. The 1991 O'Sullivan v. Canada (M.N.R.) decision weakened the meaning of this preamble by explaining that it now has only one function: to prevent Canada from becoming officially atheist, as the USSR was and Communist China is today.