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MAiD

People with disabilities are vastly overrepresented in Canada’s latest assisted suicide figures

Published

12 months ago

7 minute read

From LifeSiteNews

By Alex Schadenberg of Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

In 2023, Canada recorded over 15,300 euthanasia deaths, with disabilities, poverty, and loneliness driving decisions. Assisted suicide represented 4.7 percent of all deaths in Canada last year.

On February 6, 2024, after obtaining the euthanasia data from Alberta, Ontario, and Québec, the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition published an article stating that there were approximately 15,300 euthanasia (MAiD) deaths in Canada in 2023.

On July 8, 2024 we published an article with links to the euthanasia data from Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Ontario, and Québec. We again predicted that there were about 15,300 euthanasia deaths in 2023.

READ: Canadian seniors say they were offered euthanasia when faced with increased hospice costs

On December 11, 2024, Canada’s Ministry of Health released the Fifth Annual Report on Medical Assistance in Dying which indicates that there were 15,343 reported euthanasia deaths representing 4.7 percent of all deaths in 2023.

Why did Canada’s Ministry of Health wait until December 2024 to release the 2023 euthanasia data when the report essentially concerns numbers and data while lacking information on the actual reason for people wanting to be killed by euthanasia?

Interesting data in the report:

  • Of the 15,343 reported euthanasia deaths: 95.9 percent were Track 1 deaths (the person was deemed to have a terminal condition); 4.1 percent were Track 2 deaths (the person was deemed as not having a terminal condition).
  • People with disabilities accounted for 33.5 percent of the Track 1 euthanasia deaths and 58.3 percent of the Track 2 euthanasia deaths. In 2022, 27 percent of Canadians were people with one or more disabilities. People with disabilities are over-represented in Canada’s euthanasia statistics.
  • 95.8 percent of those who died by euthanasia were Caucasian (White) while fewer than 1 percent were First Nations people. In 2022, 69.8 percent of Canadians euthanized were Caucasian and 5 percent were First Nations people.

What is happening in British Columbia, Ontario and Québec?

When analyzing the Fifth Annual Report we question, “What makes British Columbia, Ontario and Québec different than the rest of Canada?” In 2023, euthanasia deaths increased by 36.5 percent in Québec, 30.3 percent in Ontario, and 18 percent in British Columbia. When examining the data from the other seven provinces, the next highest rate of increase was Alberta with a 6.4 percent increase in euthanasia deaths.

Québec has the highest euthanasia rate with 5601 reported euthanasia deaths – this represents 7.3 percent of all deaths and 36.5 percent of all Canadian euthanasia deaths. Canada’s 2021 Census indicated that 23 percent of Canadians live in Québec.

The analysis of the Québec Commission on End-of-Life Care Eighth Annual Report (April 1, 2022 – March 30, 2023) by Amy Hasbrouck indicated that there were 190 euthanasia deaths that may not have been reported by the doctor or nurse practitioner who carried out the death. 190 unreported euthanasia deaths is serious.

Euthanasia for frailty was listed as a reason in 1,392 deaths, representing more than 9 percent of all euthanasia deaths. In 92 euthanasia deaths, frailty was listed as the only reason.

Euthanasia for chronic pain was listed as a reason in 933 deaths, with 23 of the deaths listing chronic pain as the only reason.

Euthanasia for dementia was listed as a reason in 241 deaths, with 106 of those deaths listing dementia as the only reason.

Similar to other jurisdictions, the reason for seeking euthanasia was highly oriented to the person’s social condition.

  • 96 percent listed “Loss of ability to engage in meaningful activities,”
  • 87 percent listed “Loss of ability to perform activities of daily living,”
  • 70 percent listed “Loss of dignity,”
  • 55 percent listed “Inadequate pain control.”

It is important to note that loneliness and isolation was listed in more than 21 percent of all euthanasia deaths representing more than 3,200 people.

People with disabilities should be concerned that more than 50 percent of those who died identified “loss of independence” and almost 50 percent listed being a perceived burden on family, friends, or care givers.

People with disabilities should also be concerned that “other conditions” was the highest identified factor for euthanasia. For people with disabilities, 46.2 percent of the Track 1 deaths were based on “other conditions” and 62.9 percent of the Track 2 deaths were based on “other conditions.” “Other conditions” is not further defined and indicates a serious concern with discrimination of people with disabilities.

We recognize another concern related to the difference in income levels for Track 1 and Track 2 euthanasia deaths. People who died by Track 2 euthanasia were more likely to have a lower income than the Track 1 deaths.

More analysis of the Fifth Annual Report needs to be done. The report includes more information than previous years’ reports but it does not examine why people are asking for euthanasia nor does it uncover deaths that may be outside of the parameters of the law.

In October 2024 the chief coroner of Ontario released a report from the Ontario MAiD Death Review Committee reporting that between 2018 and 2023 there were euthanasia deaths driven by homelessness, fear, and isolation and that poor people are at risk of coercion, indicating that Canadians with disabilities are needlessly dying by euthanasia. The data from the Ontario Death Review report indicates that in the reported time period there were at least 428 non-compliant euthanasia deaths and 25 percent of the euthanasia providers violated the law.

The Ontario MAiD Death Review report has three parts (Part 3) (Part 2) (Part 1).

The federal government needs to do a complete review of Canada’s experience with euthanasia.

Reprinted with permission from the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition.

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Trump admin wants to help Canadian woman rethink euthanasia, Glenn Beck says

Published on December 10, 2025

By

From LifeSiteNews

By Anthony Murdoch

Jolene Van Alstine, approved for state-sanctioned euthanasia after enduring long wait times to receive care for a rare parathyroid disease, is in need of a passport to enter the U.S.

Well-known American media personality Glenn Beck says he has been in touch with the U.S. State Department to help a Canadian woman in Saskatchewan reconsider euthanasia after she sought assisted suicide due to long medical wait times to address her health problems.

As reported by LifeSiteNews on Tuesday, Canadian woman Jolene Van Alstine was approved to die by state-sanctioned euthanasia because she has had to endure long wait times to get what she considers to be proper care for a rare parathyroid disease.

Van Alstine’s condition, normocalcemic primary hyperparathyroidism (nPHPT), causes her to experience vomiting, nausea, and bone pain.

Her cause caught the attention of Beck and many other prominent Americans and Canadians on X.

In an update today on X, Beck said, “Jolene does not have a passport to gain legal entry into the U.S., but my team has been in touch with President (Donald) Trump’s State Department.”

“All I can say for now is they are aware of the urgent life-saving need, and we had a very positive call,” he added.

Beck had said before that he was in “contact with Jolene and her husband” and that he had “surgeons who emailed us standing by to help her.”

As of press time, neither the State Department nor other officials have not yet confirmed Beck’s claim that he has been in touch with them.

As a result of Van Alstine’s frustrations with the healthcare system, she applied for Canada’s Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) and was approved for January 7.

A new Euthanasia Prevention Coalition report revealed that Canada has euthanized 90,000 people since 2016, the year it was legalized.

As reported by LifeSiteNews recently, a Conservative MP’s private member’s bill that, if passed, would ban euthanasia for people with mental illness received the full support of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition.

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Health

US podcaster Glenn Beck extends a lifeline to a Saskatchewan woman waiting for MAiD

Published on December 9, 2025

By

From LifeSiteNews

By Anthony Murdoch

Jolene Van Alstine was approved for euthanasia after tiring of waiting years for surgery in Canada

A Canadian woman is looking to die by state-sanctioned euthanasia because she has had to endure long wait times to get what she considers to be proper care for a rare parathyroid disease.

The woman is Jolene Van Alstine, whose condition, normocalcemic primary hyperparathyroidism (nPHPT), causes her to experience vomiting, nausea, and bone pain.

As noted in a recent CBC report, Van Alstine claims she is not able to get proper surgery to remove her parathyroid in her home province of Saskatchewan, as there are no surgeons in that province who can perform that type of surgery.

She has said her “friends have stopped visiting me” and she is “isolated” and living “alone lying on the couch for eight years, sick and curled up in a ball, pushing for the day to end.”

“I go to bed at six at night because I can’t stand to be awake anymore,” she said.

As a result of her frustrations with the healthcare system, Van Alstine applied for Canada’s Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD). She was approved for the procedure on January 7, 2026.

Saskatchewan Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill met with Van Alstine last month to try to see if he could help her, but what they talked about remains confidential.

“The Government of Saskatchewan expresses its sincere sympathy for all patients who are suffering with a difficult health diagnosis,” the government said.

As reported by LifeSiteNews, over 23,000 Canadians have died while on wait lists for medical care as Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal government is focused on euthanasia expansions.

Americans offering Jolene surgery help now say they have made contact with her

Van Alstine’s story has gone viral on the social media platform X, catching the attention of well-known American personalities, some who have claimed they can help her.

“If there is any surgeon in America who can do this, I’ll pay for this patient to come down here for treatment,” Glenn Beck wrote Tuesday on X.

“THIS is the reality of ‘compassionate’ progressive healthcare. Canada must END this insanity and Americans can NEVER let it spread here.”

According to Beck in a subsequent X post, he has had “surgeons who emailed us standing by to help her.”

“We are in contact with Jolene and her husband! Please continue to pray for her health,” he wrote on X.

“Will update more soon.”

As reported by LifeSiteNews recently, a Conservative MP’s private member’s bill that, if passed, would ban euthanasia for people with mental illness received the full support of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition.

Lobby groups have pushed for MAiD to be expanded to minors.

Desiring to expand the procedure to even more Canadians, former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government sought to expand from just the chronically and terminally ill to those suffering solely from mental illness. The current Liberal government appears to want to continue with the MAiD regime.

However, in February, after pushback from pro-life, medical, and mental health groups as well as most of Canada’s provinces, the federal government delayed the mental illness expansion until 2027.

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