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Nearly 1-in-20 Canadians who died in Canada in 2023 passed on by means of assisted suicide. These were the findings of Health Canada’s recently released Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) report, the fifth of its kind, which compiles and summarizes data on the nation’s euthanasia practices.
There were about 320,000 deaths in Canada in 2023 and of these some 15,300 (nearly 5%) of them were deaths sought by the patient through MAiD. The average age of a MAiD patient was 77 and the overwhelming majority of them were deemed to be facing “reasonably foreseeable” deaths by at least two doctors. The remaining minority of MAiD patients were not terminally ill, but qualified due to what were considered longstanding and complicated illnesses that have negatively impacted quality of life.
Canada’s MAiD program is considered one of the broadest and most easily accessible in the world. While it was initially only offered to terminally ill patients, in the years since it was introduced it has been expanded to include those with chronic, debilitating conditions as well. In 2024, legislators attempted to broaden the scope again to qualify those with mental illnesses, but this has been delayed twice, pending debate and further study to see if the system could accommodate such an expansion.
It was this tendency of Canada’s leaders to move towards expanding MAiD criteria that gave some UK MPs pause when voting on its own euthanasia measures. The Canadian system was negatively cited several times as an example of a failure of safeguards. This was further highlighted by the UK bill’s wording, which also included the “reasonably foreseeable” description. Leaders in opposition argued that the UK is following the same slippery slope as Canada.
In total, the number of MAiD deaths in Canada rose by 16% from 2022, while it rose by 31% from 2021 to 2022. The report did not give an explanation as to why the rate of increase has faltered.
As far as location, Quebec medical facilities accommodated a plurality of assisted deaths, accounting for 37%, while the province only holds about 22% of Canada’s population.
This year’s report also measured MAiD deaths by ethnicity, for the first time, finding 96% of them to have identified as white. This introduces another disparity, as white people only make up about 70% of Canada’s population. The second most identified group that sought MAiD was East Asian, at 1.8%, but this group accounts for nearly 6% of Canadians.
