Death on demand

Re: Senators vote to loosen assisted dying limits, Feb. 18 Quietly, contrived by a very few individuals, most recently under the cover of a pandemic, the heart of our country has been deeply wounded. It began in 2015 when a group of unelected judges ordered euthanasia to be available for the dying; it continued in 2019 when a lower court extended it to those suffering but not dying; and now in 2021 the unelected Senate has added the mentally ill to the list of those who must be eliminated upon request. In this very short time, and with the unquestioning obedience of a government that has made euthanasia an “essential medical service” but failed to enhance our limited palliative care services, these few individuals have changed not so much the direction of the country, but our very identity.

While the COVID contagion will dissipate, the effects of this humanitarian cliff jump will not. Many lives are set to be sacrificed: those of the disabled and stigmatized, of the anxious and depressed, of the lonely and isolated, those not able to afford the social services they need, and the many who are convinced they are a burden on others; nor will there be healing for our medical profession who are forced to be complicit in killing and forego the trust of their patients; nor will there be a cure for the deep poisoning of our communal life by the misguided belief that suffering can be acceptably answered by death, instead of by such compassionate measures as remedial services, palliative care and improving how we all look after our elderly.

Canada, having taken a huge backward step in permitting one citizen to kill another, is now about to lead the world in offering death on demand. And most of its citizens are completely unaware of it.

Dr. Richard R. J. Smyth,

West Vancouver