Numerous Canadian veterans have been pressured by Veterans Affairs Canada caseworkers to choose euthanasia with the Medical Assistance in Dying program (MAID), according to a recent report by journalist Sheila Gunn Reid.
Reid followed a paper trail of 2,200 pages from the Veterans Affairs Ministry documenting veterans’ cases, and found that caseworkers repeatedly suggested euthanasia to ailing veterans, and Veteran Affairs Canada covered up the cases when they caused a scandal. According to Reid, the recurrence of Canadian case workers offering assisted suicide when veterans reach out for unrelated assistance “appears to be systemic.”
“Nearly a dozen veterans experiencing acute post-traumatic stress disorder or asking for aids to daily living to deal with their service-related injuries came forward over recent years to say that their Veterans Affairs Canada case workers suggested a medically assisted death to them,” Reid reports.
In 2022, Veterans Affairs Minister Lawrence MacAulay was compelled to order an internal investigation after four cases in which veterans were offered MAID by a caseworker were uncovered. At that time, MacAulay claimed only one caseworker was involved. “We remain confident that this is all related to one single employee, and it’s not a widespread or a systemic issue,” he said.
After MacAulay claimed the issue wasn’t systemic, more veterans came forward to share that they, too, had been offered MAID, and it became evident that multiple offices and caseworkers were pushing euthanasia on veterans instead of simply providing the care that veterans needed.
READ: Doctors in Canada pressured to push assisted suicide to save government money
Several Canadian veterans testified in court about how their caseworkers thrust the idea of suicide upon them. One of the veterans to testify is Mark Meincke.
“I was asking for a completely separate service and supports for neurological injuries and she said, ‘Oh, just by the way, if, up the road, you have suicidal thoughts… [MAID is] better than blowing your brains out against the wall,’” Meincke said.
Another veteran who came forward is Retired Corporal Christine Gauthier. According to Reid, “When Gauthier called Veterans Affairs Canada to ask about the state of her file, the ‘angel of death bureaucrat’ on the other end of the line offered her Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) instead of the chairlift she needed from the government” to be able to get up and down her stairs. According to Reid, before she had the chairlift, Gauthier was forced to “wriggle up and down her stairs on her belly like an animal.”
Reid has uncovered multiple records showing that Veterans Affairs Canada has repeatedly attempted to hide cases involving caseworkers pressuring veterans to accept MAID. For instance, the organization’s media team decided to use only verbal updates and not put updates in writing, in an effort to avoid leaving a paper trail.
Reid’s investigation is ongoing. It is not clear how many Canadian veterans have opted for euthanasia after being encouraged to do so by Veterans Affairs Canada, but Reid hopes to alert the Canadian public whom she believes cares more about veterans than the liberal bureaucratic system.
Canada has some of the most progressive assisted death laws and some of the highest rates of euthanasia in the world. There has even been a push for so-called infant euthanasia in Canada. The influence of a growing number of dissenting voices, including Reid’s, could mean life or death for millions, including disabled veterans.
