Canada’s Medical Assistance In Dying Program Is An Express Train To Hell
MAID eligibility is expected to expand on March 17, 2027, to allow medically assisted euthanasia for those who only suffer mental illness.MAID eligibility is expected to expand on March 17, 2027, to allow medically assisted euthanasia for those who only suffer mental illness.Priest breaks hip — now Canada apparently wants him dead
Rev. Lawrence Holland fell in his bathroom on Christmas Day and suffered a hip fracture. While the 79-year-old Catholic priest went to a nearby hospital in search of help, health care workers at the facility apparently had a final solution in mind: state-facilitated suicide.
Since the Canadian federal government under ex-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau legalized medically assisted suicide nationwide in 2016, the so-called Medical Assistance in Dying program has been grossly liberalized.
'The moment you lose hope, the devil comes in.'
Initially, MAID applicants had to be 18 or older and suffering from a "grievous and irremediable medical condition" causing "enduring physical or psychological suffering that is intolerable" to them. Now, persons struggling with anxiety, autism, depression, economic hardship, PTSD, and other survivable issues appear to be fair game.
Next year, persons suffering solely from a mental illness will also be eligible.
MAID — which Canada's Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer boasted in October 2020 would, with expanded access, "result in a net reduction in health care costs for the provincial governments" — is now among the leading causes of death in Canada, accounting for over 5% of all deaths in Canada in 2024.
"It's a false compassion," Rev. Holland told the B.C. Catholic, the Archdiocese of Vancouver's biweekly publication.
The hobbled priest claimed that a doctor and a nurse at Vancouver General Hospital, directly affiliated with the British Columbia Ministry of Health, offered him MAID while he was recovering from his hip fracture, which is hardly a terminal condition. The priest further claimed that both medical professionals knew he is a Catholic priest.
"I think I was very shocked," said Holland. "It is such a sensitive subject."
Rev. Larry Lynn, pro-life chaplain for the Archdiocese of Vancouver, said, "This must surely be among the most appalling examples of Canada’s coercive and insensitive euthanasia regime."
RELATED: Euthanasia and the lie of the 'good death'
Although he was left "kind of silent" for a moment when the topic of assisted suicide was first apparently broached, Rev. Holland emphasized to the doctor that he, a Catholic priest, was morally opposed to the practice.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that direct euthanasia is "morally unacceptable"; that such actions constitute "a murder gravely contrary to the dignity of the human person and to the respect due to the living God, his Creator; and that "even if death is thought imminent, the ordinary care owed to a sick person cannot be legitimately interrupted."
The Catholic Church has long campaigned against assisted suicide.
The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops noted in 2023, for instance, that "euthanasia and assisted suicide (MAID) have always been, and will always be, morally unacceptable because they are affronts to human dignity and violations of natural and divine law."
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has similarly and repeatedly condemned the practice, affirming that "we are dealing here with 'a violation of the divine law, an offense against the dignity of the human person, a crime against life, and an attack on humanity.'"
Just last month, Catholic bishops in New York published a guidebook reiterating the church's moral teaching "that this practice is objectively immoral and must be avoided, despite the false veil of compassion with which it is sold." The state was apparently in need of a reminder given its recent adoption of a law legalizing doctor-assisted suicide.
Even when dealing with a patient from a "faith community" that's opposed to MAID, the Canadian Association of MAID Assessors and Providers still recommends that Canadian health care professionals make the pitch for assisted suicide.
After informing his doctor that he was opposed to assisted suicide, Rev. Holland recalled the doctor explaining that he "just wanted to make sure that, if a [terminal] diagnosis came up or not ... I knew the different services I had access to."
Rev. Holland told the B.C. Catholic that weeks later, a nurse also raised the matter of MAID with him.
A spokesman for Vancouver Coastal Health, which runs the hospital, told the B.C. Catholic that "staff may consider bringing up MAID based on their clinical judgment, provided they possess the necessary knowledge and skills to do so."
Staff are also "responsible for answering questions when patients bring up the topic of MAID," added the spokesman.
Rev. Ronald Sequeria, the Catholic chaplain serving at Vancouver General Hospital, suggested there was something demonic about how MAID-pushers prey on suffering patients' despair — especially when suffering can be redemptive.
"The moment you lose hope, the devil comes in, in different personalities, and says, 'Do you want MAID? I don’t want people to suffer,'" said Rev. Sequeira.
"God makes us more pure, more strong, through the suffering when we offer it up," said the chaplain. "So we give hope — help them not to lose hope."
Rev. Holland drove home this point, stressing that enduring pain "can encourage growth."
"It can motivate you, it can open up new worlds, new vistas, new opportunities," added the priest.
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Euthanasia and the lie of the 'good death'
The term euthanasia literally means “good death.” The word is constructed from the Greek eu (good) and thanatos (death) — the same root that inspired the name of the Marvel villain Thanos, whose vision of “balance” required mass death.
The language itself tells you everything. Dress death up as “good,” and you can begin to sell it to failed socialist medical systems as a desirable cure-all.
Euthanasia, often called “doctor-assisted suicide,” has been thrust back into public view by developments in countries like Canada and Spain. What we are seeing is not compassionate medicine. It is the quiet normalization of despair.
A culture that cannot tell its weakest members, 'Your life is worth living,' will eventually tell them, 'Your death is preferable.'
Consider the case of Noelia Castillo in Spain.
Castillo, just 25 years old, had endured profound suffering. As a minor, she was in mental health care. As an adult, she was the victim of sexual assault multiple times. After a suicide attempt following the second assault, she was left paralyzed from the waist down. In that condition, she requested euthanasia.
Her father pleaded with the courts to deny the request, arguing that her mental health made such a decision unsound. The courts disagreed. The state approved her death.
A young woman, failed repeatedly by those entrusted to care for her, was ultimately offered death as the solution.
Even more troubling, British pianist James Rhodes publicly appealed to her to reconsider, offering to cover her medical costs. His plea underscores what the system refused to admit: Castillo did not need death; she needed care.
And Castillo herself admitted as much. In an interview, she essentially asked: If I cannot access health care, am I then entitled to access death care?
That question exposes the entire moral collapse. She was denied meaningful treatment in her socialist system but granted state-funded death as the solution to her suffering.
The Canadian example
If Spain reveals the logic of euthanasia, Canada demonstrates its trajectory. In Vancouver, Miriam Lancaster went to the emergency room for back pain. Instead of being treated, she was offered medically assisted suicide.
Death does cure back pain. It cures everything by eliminating the patient. Failed socialist medicine jumped at the chance to raise its cure statistics.
Thankfully, Lancaster refused. She later received proper treatment and went on to continue traveling the world. Had she accepted the offer, a solvable medical issue would have become a state-sanctioned death and she would have been “cared for” right into the grave.
Then there is the case of Jennyfer Hatch, a 37-year-old Canadian woman suffering from Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a painful connective tissue disorder. Hatch became the face of a euthanasia promotional campaign titled "All Is Beauty," a three-minute film celebrating her final days before medically assisted death.
Let that sink in: a commercial for suicide.
And yet Hatch admitted privately that she chose euthanasia not because her condition was untreatable but because obtaining adequate medical care in Canada’s system was too difficult.
The myth of 'compassionate' systems
We have long been told by progressives that socialized medicine would deliver universal care, eliminate wait times, and treat every patient with dignity. Instead, it is increasingly offering a different solution: eliminate the patient.
The logic is brutally simple. If you cannot heal the sick, you can always reduce the number of sick people. These socialists saw the story of Thanos as a “how to.”
People have always been capable of taking their own lives. A system that merely facilitates suicide adds nothing of value. It does not heal; it does not restore; it simply institutionalizes despair. It admits it offers no meaning in life to those who suffer.
RELATED: The judgment behind the abortion numbers
What is a good death?
At the heart of this debate is a deeper question: What do we mean by a good death?
For modern secular societies, the answer is increasingly clear: a good death is a painless one. It is an escape from suffering.
But this definition collapses under scrutiny.
First, it ignores the most basic philosophical question, one raised memorably by Hamlet: “What dreams may come when we have shuffled off this mortal coil?” If death is not the end, if judgment awaits, then euthanasia is not an escape but a gamble of the highest stakes. It the solution urged by demons looking forward to claiming another soul.
Second, it misunderstands the nature of a good life.
A life free from all pain is not a noble life. It is not the life we admire, nor the life we aspire to. Our stories, our heroes, and our deepest intuitions all tell us the same thing: Meaning is forged through suffering.
Imagine a hero who, one-third of the way through the story, says, “This is too hard. I think I’ll end my life to avoid the suffering ahead.” That is not a hero. It is a failure.
Suffering, rightly understood, is not meaningless. It teaches perseverance, discipline, and faith. It refines character.
As Scripture teaches, “Add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance …” (2 Peter 1:5-6).
A pain-free life is not the highest good. A life shaped by truth, virtue, and endurance aimed at eternal life of knowing God is our chief and highest good.
The real crisis
The rise of euthanasia is not ultimately about medicine. It is about worldview.
Societies that reject God are left with no ultimate purpose, no transcendent hope, and no reason to endure suffering. When affluence fails and suffering remains, the only consistent answer left is escape.
A culture that cannot tell its weakest members, “Your life is worth living,” will eventually tell them, “Your death is preferable.” From hating God, the culture naturally moves to hating neighbors. It is a moral collapse described in Romans 1:31. The people become heartless and ruthless.
A better hope
The answer to suffering is not death. It is redemption.
Only a worldview grounded in the reality of God can make sense of suffering without surrendering to it. Only Christ offers not merely relief from pain, but restoration, meaning, and eternal hope. He can heal our physical pain, but more importantly, he can forgive our sin and restore our communion with God.
The growing acceptance of euthanasia should force us to confront the emptiness of the alternatives.
If death is our only answer, then we have already lost. But if life has meaning, then suffering is not the end of the story.
And that is the difference between despair and hope.
Around The World, Assisted Suicide Laws Are Losing Support
Last week, Scotland resolutely rejected assisted suicide. Alberta announced major new legislation to protect individuals from the practice.After Massive Loss To USA, Entire Canadian National Hockey Team To Be Euthanized For Being ‘Sad’
Following reports of being “sad” after their massive Olympic loss to the United States of America, the entire Canadian national hockey team is set to be euthanized, according to a joint statement from the country’s Ministry of Suicide and Ministry of Hockey. “Hey, look, I’m sorry, but, a loss like this is tough to handle, […]Canadian Doc ‘Coached’ 26-Year-Old To Qualify For State-Sponsored Suicide, Says Family
Vafaeian's family is now pushing for the reversal of the MAID provision that qualifies individuals whose deaths are not 'reasonably foreseeable.'Canada’s assisted suicide program may soon include infants
Canada has been euthanizing an increasing number of its own citizens under its Medical Assistance in Dying program, or MAID — and it's no longer just the terminally ill receiving the treatment.
Canadian commentator and BlazeTV contributor who goes by the name Black Horse tells BlazeTV host Auron MacIntyre that in 2024, “over 16,000 people were killed via MAID” and notes that it’s a “radically expanding program.”
“It is a very significant part of mortality,” he adds.
And while most would assume that MAID is only for those who need it or at least want it, the expansion of Track 2 MAID opens the program up to individuals whose natural death is not reasonably foreseeable but who experience severe suffering that may have no end.
And now a topic of debate between doctors is whether or not babies should be added to the list.
“Now I know that due to abortion and the incredibly permissive levels and, you know, times in which abortion are allowed in many areas, that people might say, ‘Oh well, there’s not a huge difference,’ but I think there is a huge difference,” MacIntyre says.
“The fact that the baby has been born, has been alive and out of their mother’s womb for a considerable amount of time, removes pretty much all discussions over is it a life, you know, who has agency, these kinds of things and puts us squarely in a situation where, you know, we’re no longer talking about somebody who is consenting because they’re in a high degree of pain or even someone who’s consenting because they’re just miserable or don’t want to continue on in a specific state,” he continues.
“We’re now just paying the government to murder someone’s child for them because they don’t want to take care of them,” he adds.
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‘Culture of death’ comes to Illinois with new MAID program: Glenn Beck exposes the TRUTH
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker has signed a bill legalizing “medical assistance in dying” for terminally ill adults with a prognosis of six months to live or less — making Illinois the 12th U.S. state to allow assisted suicide.
The legislation was narrowly approved by the Illinois Senate in October after the Illinois House passed it in May.
“First, do no harm,” Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck comments. “I’m having a hard time with that. Doctors, maybe you can tell me how you get around this. First, do no harm. That is a very important concept that our doctors are to buy in to and that we all believe.”
“This is the 12th state in the country that is allowing assisted suicide. And there are about 25 others that are standing in line for it. What a surprise: Illinois is the first of this batch of them coming in to say, ‘I want to kill people.’ It is a culture of death, and that’s what we are battling,” he says.
“When you look at what people are saying about global warming, what is the solution? Fewer people. How do you do that? Well, culture of death takes care of that, right? When you look at, you know, just about anything now — health care, abortion: culture of death. Islam: culture of death. Marxism, honestly, it is a culture of death,” he continues.
However, supporters of this culture of death like Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) argue for it as a humane option — and a rare one.
“Western world, you’re being played. This is not compassion. I’m going to be real clear with you. This is preparation for when the system can no longer afford to fulfill its promises. That's what this is. ... They are preparing you so you look at this as compassion,” Glenn explains.
“And so when it gets worse and worse up until the very end, you don’t recognize it. I mean, they’re beginning to, a little bit in Canada, to see what’s coming their way. And why is it happening? Because they can no longer afford socialized medicine,” he says.
“Can America afford to fulfill its promises that it’s made for generations on all of this socialized everything? No," he states.
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Husband of woman failed by Canadian health care system thanks Glenn Beck for intervening: 'You've opened up a lot of doors'
Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck and his team, now working in conjunction with elements of the Trump administration, are in the process of rescuing a Canadian woman failed by her country's socialist health care system and led into thinking the only remedy for her painful living-nightmare might be state-facilitated suicide.
The day after Canadian state media did its apparent best to frame the American intervention as "political posturing" and a "distraction from the real issues," the Saskatchewan woman's husband expressed his profound gratitude to Beck for his efforts to help Jolene Van Alstine.
'If it was me, I think I would have had a gun to my head long ago.'
Miles Sundeen, speaking on Thursday to Beck in what became a tear-filled episode of "The Glenn Beck Program," said at the outset, "First of all, I just wanted to say thank you so much. Apparently you're a very popular guy. You've opened up a lot of doors."
"It's been a long and very arduous journey. It's been over eight years now that Jolene has been very ill. We've gone through very tough times trying to get help through our health care system; long, long wait times both to see specialists, to get a diagnosis initially, and then, of course, to wait times for surgeries as well," said Sundeen. "The problem is, of course, as this disease continues to devastate her body, it becomes worse and worse as time goes on."
Van Alstine has a rare parathyroid disease called normocalcemic primary hyperparathyroidism, which causes nausea and vomiting and draws calcium from the bones into the blood, resulting in extreme bone pain, weakened bone density, and fractures. According to Sundeen, Van Alstine's immobilization by the disease has also resulted in other conditions, namely diverticulitis and osteoporosis, not to mention "mental damage."
While she has undergone multiple surgeries in hopes of addressing the disease, she still requires a specialized procedure to remove her overactive parathyroid gland.
The trouble is that there is presently no surgeon in her province able to perform the operation. While she could potentially receive the surgery elsewhere in Canada, Van Alstine has indicated that she must first obtain a referral but cannot secure one as none of the endocrinologists in her region are accepting new patients.
Sundeen suggested that the endocrinologists and specialists aren't necessarily to blame, noting that the Canadian health care system is "just absolutely overwhelmed."
While Sundeen suggested that mismanagement is the system's top problem, he noted that the system has also been "completely devastated" by underfunding and the huge influx of immigrants into the country.
According to the 2021 census, 23% of people living in Canada were foreign-born and 2.5% — over 924,000 — were nonpermanent residents. A government report released on Nov. 26 indicated that the 2021 census actually missed 38% of nonpermanent residents in that count. The top three national origins of the immigrants flooding into Canada under the Trudeau Liberal regime were India, Philippines, and China. Pakistan and Iran also made the top-10 list of national origins.
The sudden surge in demand on citizen resources helped strain a system that was already set for a reckoning with a graying population.
The apparent failure of the health care system is especially frustrating for Sundeen, who told Beck that "with this surgery, the parathyroid symptoms will disappear."
"She can get back to an almost-normal life as far as the parathyroid hormone goes," added Sundeen.
'We'll get it done.'
After years of pain and little evidence that her nation's strained health care system will get around to helping her, Van Alstine started the process of joining the tens of thousands of other Canadians who'll be killed under the government's Medical Assistance in Dying euthanasia program, which has in recent years become one of the top five causes of death in Canada.
George Carson, a MAID approval doctor, confirmed this week that he assessed Van Alstine and provided her with his approval.
Sundeen stressed to Beck, however, that "she wants to live."
"But when your life is absolutely stolen from you — stolen from you for eight years, and you suffer so much pain, depression, and anxiety — I love her with all my heart," said Sundeen.
"She's a strong girl. If it was me, I think I would have had a gun to my head long ago."
— (@)
Beck emphasized to Sundeen that neither he nor his wife was alone.
"We'll find a way to make this happen if it is at all possible. We pray for you. There are millions of people who are praying for you now, and we'll do everything we can," added Beck.
Beck indicated that he has been in contact with elements of the Trump administration, and there appears to be some movement on getting Van Alstine help in America.
He noted that a "very high-level administrative official just called and said, 'Let's save her life. We'll get it done.'"
Beck has personally volunteered to fly her down, put her up, and set her up to meet some doctors.
Visibly moved by his conversation with Sundeen and fighting back tears, Beck noted that he hopes to be able to call him back with some "good news."
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!Glenn Beck works to save pain-racked Canadian woman left at euthanasia dead end by broken socialist health care system
Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck and his team are desperately trying to save a woman in the Canadian prairie province of Saskatchewan who has been failed by her country's socialist health care system.
Jolene Van Alstine of Regina has for eight years suffered from a rare parathyroid disease called normocalcemic primary hyperparathyroidism, which causes nausea and vomiting and draws calcium from the bones into the blood, resulting in extreme bone pain, weakened bone density, and fractures.
'I've been alone lying on the couch for eight years, sick and curled up in a ball, pushing for the day to end.'
Van Alstine has undergone three surgeries but still requires a specialized procedure to remove her overactive parathyroid gland.
The problem, according to Canadian state media, is that there is presently no surgeon in the province able to perform the operation. While there are apparently capable and available surgeons elsewhere in Canada, Van Alstine has indicated that she must first obtain a referral — and cannot secure one, as none of the endocrinologists in her region are accepting new patients.
Until this week, Van Alstine was running short on hope.
"My friends have stopped visiting me. I'm isolated. I've been alone lying on the couch for eight years, sick and curled up in a ball, pushing for the day to end," she told state media.
Glenn Beck noted Wednesday on his show, "She's riddled with pain. Yesterday, we found out that she was in the ER because she's having all kinds of complications because of this. And she can't take it any more."
"This one is so grotesque," continued Beck, "because the state would rather have her die."
'We expect to see more than 16,500 "medical assistance in dying" or euthanasia deaths.'
The prospect that her treatable disease might go untreated prompted Van Alstine to contemplate state-facilitated suicide, which is euphemistically referred to in Canada as Medial Assistance in Dying.
RELATED: 'Pro-death legislators' want euthanasia in Illinois — Canada reveals why that's a terrible idea
"I understand how long and how much she's suffered, and it’s horrific, the physical suffering, but it's also the mental anguish," Miles Sundeen, Van Alstine's partner, said late last month. "No hope — no hope for the future, no hope for any relief. I don't want her to do it, but I understand where she's at."
George Carson, a MAID approval doctor, indicated this week that he assessed Van Alstine and provided her with his approval. Since she has apparently also received approval from a nurse practitioner, she now requires only one more approval in order to secure a spot among the tens of thousands of Canadians who will be snuffed out in the new year by their socialist health care system, which was originally founded by the eugenicist Tommy Douglas.
MAID is among the top five leading causes of death in Canada and accounted for 4.7% of all deaths in the country in 2023.
Rebecca Vachon, health program director at the Canadian think tank Cardus, recently told Blaze News that "based on current reporting from the most populous provinces, we expect to see more than 16,500 'medical assistance in dying' or euthanasia deaths in 2024, which is an increase from the 15,343 deaths reported in 2023. This will likely result in MAID deaths constituting 5% of total deaths in Canada that year."
MAID — which Canada's Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer boasted in October 2020 would, with expanded access, "result in a net reduction in health care costs for the provincial governments" — appears to be fast becoming a relief valve for a health care system that has come under great strain in part because of an aging population but largely because of the immigration-driven population gains overseen by the Trudeau Liberals.
'Imagine saving a woman's life for Christmas.'
Average annual immigration from 2000 to 2015 was 617,800. Under the Trudeau Liberals, average annual immigration was 1.4 million from 2016 to 2024.
As of April 1, 2025, Canada had an estimated population of just over 41.5 million people. According to the 2021 census, over 8.3 million people — 23% of the total population — "were, or had ever been, a landed immigrant or permanent resident in Canada." This, however, appears to be a gross undercount.
A new government report revealed that 38% of non-permanent residents — roughly another 576,000 — were potentially "missed" by the 2021 census.
According to the Canadian Institute for Health Information, there were 2.41 physicians per 1,000 people. The United States, by comparison, reportedly has at least 3.6 doctors per 1,000. An estimated 5.9 million Canadians — around 14% — don't have regular access to a primary care provider.
"This is your socialized health care, gang," Beck said on Wednesday of Van Alstine's case.
"This is the reality of compassionate, progressive health care. Canada has to end this insanity. And Americans must never let it spread here."
After Van Alstine's last-ditch plea for help to Canadian lawmakers and officials failed to immediately produce the desired results, an American got involved.
"If there is any surgeon in America who can do this, I'll pay for this patient to come down here for treatment," Beck wrote Tuesday on X.
RELATED: JD Vance to Canada: Stop blaming Trump for your decline
Beck revealed in a series of announcements first, that multiple surgeons reached out with an interest in helping; second, that his team made contact with Van Alstine and Sundeen; and third, that his team had connected with the U.S. State Department after discovering that Van Alstine lacked a passport to gain legal entry into the United States.
"I'll fly her down. I'll put her up. I'll get her the doctors," Beck said on his show. "We need to get her the surgery."
"Imagine saving a woman's life for Christmas," added Beck.
"Is there anything better that we could do?"
Sundeen told Canadian state media after Beck's team spoke with him, "For us to have it done in the States would be financially impossible otherwise."
An Ipsos poll conducted last year for Global News found that 42% of Canadians would travel to the U.S. and personally pay for more routine health care if needed — up 10 percentage points over the previous year — and 38% would travel to the U.S. and pay out of pocket for emergency care — up 9 points over the previous year.
Sean Simpson, vice president of Ipsos Public Affairs, noted, "I think the increase is happening because of the increasing level of frustration that Canadians have in the health care system."
"It's not the quality of care that people are upset about; it is the timely access to care, meaning wait times in emergency rooms, wait times to see specialists, to get appointments, for screening," continued Simpson. "As a result, we have a significant chunk of the population say if they can get that service elsewhere, such as the United States, they may consider doing so."
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