Quebec breaks Canadian federal criminal law and allows advance requests for MAiD

While the Criminal Code of Canada prohibits advance requests for MAiD, as of 30 October Quebec has implemented a law allowing people to make early requests for MAiD, specifying a date in the future to be killed by a doctor.

Quebec adopted the law last year for people with a serious and incurable illness, such as Alzheimer's disease, to make early requests for MAiD. The law means that people can arrange in advance to receive doctor-assisted suicide when their condition worsens, be it months or years in the future. Previously, people who received MAiD had to be able to consent right up until the last moment.

Eerily, "the provincial government says it's ready to meet the expected demand brought on by expanding the programme," according to The Montreal Gazette .

As GWU! explains below, doctors are concerned that this new law puts patients and physicians at risk of mistakes and abuse. It also raises questions about the legality of euthanasia as Canadian statute prohibits consenting to be killed by another person.

Doctors in Canada MAiD to Murder by Government By Rafe S. Klinger as published by GWU! on 7 November 2024

The government of Quebec has quietly greenlit provincial doctors to begin arranging "advanced directives" for MAiD (Medical Assistance in Dying).

Under the provinces Bill 11 , Quebec patients can now give prearranged permission for the government to kill them. The idea being, if you happen to fall into a coma or lose your mind – don't worry the government's got your back in taking your life, provided you have filled in a form.

"Outrageous," fumes one dissenting doctor from Montreal to GWU! "This idea of a person agreeing to MAiD in advance is against all medical ethics. The potential for mistakes to be made and patients to not fully understanding what they're signing up for is frightening."

Euthanasia, or MAiD as it is innocuously called in Canada, is legal under federal law with the caveat being that the patient must give full informed consent at the time of the procedure. Doctors may legally administer MAiD for any adult with a "grievous and irremediable medical condition."

As it stands now, patients must be of sound mind at the time they are killed using "medical sedatives" – which essentially drowns the patient to death . Those in comas or with serious dementia or cognitive difficulties cannot give consent and the very concept of "advance notice of consent" for MAiD had been unheard of in Canada until it appeared in a Quebec bill.

Canadian government statistics show 13,241 people as having died from MAiD in 2022 with higher numbers expected when stats for 2023 become public. The disturbing trend of Canadians taking their own lives has become normalised in the country in television ads and is now viewed by some as a desperate escape route from poverty caused by Justinflation.

Doctors Say The Paperwork Is Murder At issue with this is the not-so-minor fact that under federal law, this is considered murder. Canadian statute clearly stipulates that a person cannot consent to have another person kill them. Furthermore, aiding and abetting suicide is also illegal. The only exception to these laws is when there has been an approval of MAiD through proper procedures and authorities.

Confused? You should be.

Quebec is skirting the pesky issue of the criminal code (which it cannot technically alter) and just saying doctors can kill their patients anyway. No biggie. The province has ordered its Ministry of Justice to not charge any doctor who performs "prearranged MAiD" and ignores federal homicide laws. The federal government has responded by saying it will not challenge the new Quebec law but vaguely warned other provinces not to get any ideas.

Minister of Justice Arif Virani has said that there will be "discussions with all provinces and territories, roundtables and online surveys" to look at expanding MAiD eligibility to include advance directives. The toothless, non-death stare warning continued: "We are launching a national conversation and will not be initiating a challenge of Quebec's Bill 11."

The disgusted doctor who performed an examination of the issue to GWU! said that the changes to Quebec law put both physicians and their patients in danger.

"Suppose the next federal government decides to actually enforce the laws. A lot of my colleagues who go along with looking the other way will go to jail for murdering their patients."