Last week, a Paralympian and veteran told MPs that Canada’s Veterans Affairs service helped her commit suicide when she requested a wheelchair lift for her home.
Christine Gauthier, a 52-year-old former corporal who competed in the 2016 Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, told legislators that a VA official had given her a medically-assisted death package in writing. According to the Independent, the unnamed case officer made identical offers to at least three other veterans.
“I have a letter saying that if you’re so desperate, madam, we can offer you MAID, medical assistance in dying,” Gauthier stated in a House of Commons veterans affairs committee hearing.
After Gauthier said she personally addressed him with a letter on the problem, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau publicly condemned the conduct on Friday.
“We are following up with investigations and we are changing protocols to ensure what should seem obvious to all of us: that it is not the place of Veterans Affairs Canada, who are supposed to be there to support those people who stepped up to serve their country, to offer them medical assistance in dying,” Trudeau stated.
A disabled and retired Canadian Army Corporal and former Paralympian said that a caseworker from Veterans Affairs Canada suggested she consider medically assisted suicide instead of waiting for a wheelchair lift to be installed in her home.https://t.co/bm4AGEXaHD
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) December 5, 2022
Since 2016, Canada has relaxed its medically assisted suicide laws. According to the Independent, assisted suicide is now lawful for persons with significant suffering or impairments.
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A Canadian fashion company’s campaign glorified assisted suicide weeks before Gauthier’s incident.
“All is Beauty” was a promotional video by Canadian fashion label La Maison Simons promoting voluntary euthanasia. Jennyfer Hatch, a 37-year-old Canadian woman who self-euthanized due to Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, voices the commercial.
Hatch claims in the Simons video, “Last breaths are sacred. Even though as I seek help to end my life, with all the pain and in these final moments, there is still so much beauty.”
Simons says the commercial sought to assist people to reconnect to each other and to hope and optimism, which “is going to be needed if we’re going to build the sort of communities and spaces where we want to live and that are enjoyable to live in.”
Simons spokeswoman told Fox News Digital “All is Beauty” ended this week and that Simons is in their annual holiday sprint. She added that their staff is focused on in-store and online holiday festivities.
Featured Image screengrab from embedded Tweet.