A “Nazi-like euthanasia program” in Canada

I borrow this sensational phrase “Nazi-like euthanasia program in Canada” from Rod Dreher who writes: “Nazi-like? In Canada? Yes.” Canadians have long been known for being friendly, tolerant, and, well, not crazy. Yet, disturbing changes are occurring.

As a Canadian, it seems to me that our society seems increasingly schizophrenic. We implement barbaric programs while simultaneously retaining the belief that we are still lovely people. To illustrate what I mean, consider these two widely covered stories in the past few days.

On Dec. 5, 2022, the National Post reported that Christine Gauthier, a veteran, and paralympic athlete, told a House of Commons committee that when she contacted the Department of Veterans Affairs for help, she was offered assisted suicide instead. This is not an isolated case. Conservative MP Blake Richards said he was aware of at least eight veterans offered assisted suicide by at least three different caseworkers.

This comes after a story in the National Post a month ago that revealed that a 2019 guidance document for medical practitioners produced by the Canadian Association of MAID Accessors and Providers states that doctors have a professional obligation to bring up MAID (medical assistance in dying) with their patients. This is true despite the fact that in most jurisdictions where euthanasia has been legalized, doctors are prohibited from raising the issue of assisted suicide with patients—for obvious reasons.

Yet another recent report contains a bombshell revelation. Recently, the internet was buzzing with the glitzy commercial produced by Simons, a clothing company, presenting a woman choosing assisted suicide in a positive light. (This ad has now been pulled, but you can see it here.) Now, friends reveal that she did not really want to die but chose to die because she had tried and failed to secure proper health care. Like many Canadians, she had no family doctor. Did she just see herself as running out of options?

The Canadian government is failing to provide decent health care and to help disabled and sick people to live with dignity. At the same time, it is pushing assisted suicide hard, widening the criteria for eligibility, and offering it to anyone who complains too much. Why help them when you can just erase them from your caseload with a little needle? Killing people is now the solution to social problems.

Meanwhile, the older morality of respect for human life and caring for one’s neighbor continues to be celebrated as if nothing else was happening.

The Brandon Sun reported on Dec. 2, 2022, that four members of the local Jr. A hockey team, the Brandon Wheat Kings, were heroes for talking a suicidal man down off a bridge. They drove past a man standing on one of the bridge’s cement abutments for light poles. They circled back, stopped, and engaged him in conversation. Then, realizing he was troubled, they called 911 and kept him talking until emergency responders arrived.

The man’s life was saved, and Brandon Police Service Staff Sgt. Bill Brown praised the actions of the young men: “It’s four young guys who were at Samaritan House already, and continued to provide a community service with no one really watching,” Brown said. “They did something above and beyond.”

It is a heartwarming story. But if they ever apply for a government job with Veterans Affairs, they had better not put this incident on their resume.

This tension illustrates the insanity of the situation. On the one hand, we see everyday people like the police officer and these young men acting the way ordinary people ought to act in trying to save a depressed person from killing himself. Yet, on the other hand, we see their government working overtime to encourage vulnerable people to allow themselves to be killed by state agents.

I do not use the word “insanity” lightly. We, as a society, are clearly insane in the sense of being detached from reality.

An entire library of books has been written to explain the horrific moral evil that gripped Germany in the 1930s and ’40s. The explanations are divided into two categories: the Germans of that era were either uniquely evil or morally insane. Maybe the answer is both. Perhaps institutionalizing great moral evil in society necessarily leads to insanity. Humans cannot easily face up to their own sinfulness. The temptation to rationalize or deny it is overwhelming. Maybe sin can drive you insane. Maybe insanity is a coping mechanism.

For Canadians to pretend we are a good people while allowing this level of demonic evil requires us to detach ourselves from reality and hide from what we have become.