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CV NEWS FEED // As one of Canada’s provinces has recently allowed for making requests in advance for euthanasia — despite such requests remaining an offense in the country’s Criminal Code — the government of Canada is launching a “national conversation” on “advance requests.” However, pro-life Canadians are voicing concerns about the conversation’s process, with one leader even describing it as “a sham.”
In the province of Quebec, a law that went into effect Oct. 30 paved the way for persons who have been diagnosed with illnesses such as dementia to be “eligible” for so-called “advance requests” for euthanasia. If the request is filled out and they later exhibit the pre-specified signs, they do not have to provide consent immediately before being killed.
Canadian pro-life activist Amanda Achtman told CatholicVote in November that persons with dementia were “the intended demographic of this particular euthanasia expansion.”
Committing euthanasia following an advance request remains an offense under the country’s Criminal Code. Quebec’s Bill 11, however, allows for the advance requests. Quebec’s government has expressed interest in amending the Criminal Code to allow for Quebec’s residents to partake in advance requests, according to an Oct. 28 statement from Health Canada.
In the statement, Canada’s Minister of Health Mark Holland, and Arif Virani, who is the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, said they would not be challenging Quebec’s advance request bill.
In the same statement, they announced: “On the complex and serious topic of advance requests, it is important to hear the full range of perspectives. That is why the Government of Canada will launch a national conversation in November 2024 on the topic of advance requests.”
According to the Canada Health website, the conversation will be accomplished through a public online questionnaire and a “virtual regionally focused roundtables to hear from a broad range of representatives”.
According to the B.C. Catholic, Vancouver-based Dr. Will Johnston, leader of the Euthanasia Resistance Coalition of B.C., has called the public input period merely “a sham” that serves to prop up support for further expansion of euthanasia access.
The B.C. Catholic also reported that Euthanasia Prevention Coalition Executive Director Alex Schadenberg “believes Health Canada has ‘stacked the deck’ to ensure a pro-advance-requests outcome.”
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Canada Health’s webpage on the “national conversation” states that the questionnaire and roundtables will take place from late November of this year to late January 2025. As of Dec. 11, neither have started.
CatholicVote reached the Government of Canada Senior Media Relations Advisor Tammy Jarbeau by email asking about the “national conversation” and how participants of the roundtables are selected.
“The Government of Canada is working with provincial and territorial officials, as well as key stakeholder groups, to develop the participant lists for these meetings,” Jarbeau told CatholicVote Dec. 10, regarding how participants are selected. Planning for the roundtables is still in progress, and invitations have not yet been sent to participants, she noted.
When asked what steps the government is taking to include anti-euthanasia viewpoints in the discussions, Jarbeau said: “The Government of Canada is working closely with all partners to ensure that the roundtable participants represent a diversity of views.”
“Participants will include provincial and territorial officials, practitioners, Indigenous Peoples, persons with disabilities, experts in bioethics and law, persons with lived experiences and their caregivers,” she continued. “The goal is to understand the full spectrum of views with respect to advance requests, including those held by people who do not support medical assistance in dying.”
As of Dec. 11, the questionnaire is not yet available on the website. Jarbeau told CatholicVote, “Although the exact date has not yet been confirmed, we anticipate that the online questionnaire will be available soon at: Medical assistance in dying: National conversation on advance requests – Canada.ca.”
Jarbeau said that the questionnaire will be available for 60 days.
The questionnaire is also an avenue for citizens to offer their perspectives, she said, adding, “The Government of Canada will work with partners to encourage wide dissemination of the questionnaire to allow for as many individuals as possible to participate and contribute to this discussion.”
According to the Oct. 28 statement from Virani and Holland, after the public input period, there will be a report published in the spring of 2025 about “key themes and findings.”
