Canada has often led the way in North America when it comes to progressive policies and laws. The country has stricter regulations for firearms than the U.S. does and also has a more equitable health system. In 2016, Canadian lawmakers once again surged forward in what was considered a very progressive move by legalizing medical assistance in dying, also referred to as euthanasia, for people with serious, life-threatening illnesses. Since 2016, an estimated 30,000 people in Canada have requested and received medical assistance in dying in Canada. For Canada’s Christians, euthanasia is posing a critical religious dilemma.
What Is Euthanasia/Medical Assistance in Dying?
The term euthanasia has gone out of fashion among health advocates and medical practitioners, and medical assistance in dying (MAID) has come to replace it. MAID is a process that allows people with serious health conditions to work with nurses and doctors to stop living. When a request for MAID is approved, the person suffering from illness receives prescription drugs, including sedatives, at high dosages that lead to death.
Sometimes referred to as assisted suicide, advocates who promote MAID believe that people have a right to die with dignity and a right to avoid needless suffering at the end of life. However, Canada’s MAID laws are vague and have made it very challenging for Christian doctors and medical practitioners to work within the system to help people to die.
Who Can Ask for MAID in Canada?
In 2016, when MAID was fully legalized in Canada, only people with serious conditions who had a diagnosis where death was “reasonably inevitable” in the short term could request assisted dying. Two patients with degenerative diseases contested the law in 2021, and the government expanded the language of the law to include people who have serious illnesses even if the disease isn’t life-threatening or terminal.
As of 2023, the Canadian government is struggling with how to include or exclude people with mental illnesses from this law. Advocates for MAID argue that any person who has agency and is capable should be able to decide to die in order to avoid undue and cruel suffering. However, Canadian Protestants and Catholics, who have generally felt uneasy with this law, feel that Canada’s policies are too broad and will result in needless death.
Is Euthanasia a Religious Issue for People in Canada?
Euthanasia is a complex topic that is regularly brought up in religious communities and churches in Canada. Catholics believe that taking one’s own life is a sin because only God can decide when life ends. Protestants also see death by suicide as a very serious issue, but they don’t believe that the person who died is unworthy of salvation. MAID is a hot-button issue for Christians and Christian doctors who face difficult questions when it comes to the value of life. Is it better to follow religious tradition and allow people to suffer during terminal illness? Or is it worthwhile to consider MAID a compassionate solution for people who are already dying?
The Christian community was already finding it difficult to accept Canada’s initial 2016 law that legalized assisted dying, and now that the language of the law has become even broader, Christians are raising the alarm. The current language of the law seems to suggest that people who are suffering from mental illness can request and receive MAID quite easily. Christians and other concerned religious leaders worry that this puts already vulnerable people into even worse situations, essentially allowing society to reduce the burden of caring for those less fortunate by letting them take their own lives in hospitals.
As the parameters for assisted dying begin to expand beyond terminal illness, conversations about euthanasia in religious communities are heating up. Canada’s courts and policymakers will be weighing the arguments for and against these proposed changes in the months to come.
