The Anglican Church of Canada’s Council of General Synod (CoGS) has passed resolutions on the need for further discussion and education around medical assistance in dying (MAID), the formation of a discipleship and evangelism task force, and a review of the process by which ecclesiastical provinces elect CoGS representatives. General Synod last year referred all three resolutions to CoGS, which passed them at a March 9 online meeting held over Zoom.

Resolution C003, on MAID, reaffirmed “the teaching of Scripture that life is a divine gift, the call of the Baptismal Covenant to ‘respect the dignity of every human being,’ and the teaching of Jesus Christ that he has come so that people may have ‘abundant life’ (John 10:10).” It requested that Archbishop Linda Nicholls, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, write to Canada’s minister of health expressing concerns about the expansion of the MAID program as well as the church’s support for a robust palliative care system.
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In what could prove to be a landmark case for religious and conscience rights in Canada, Montréal’s Archbishop Christian Lépine has taken on the Attorney General of Québec.

In an appeal for judicial review submitted to the Québec Superior Court on Feb. 5, Lépine asked for an immediate stay of the application of an amendment to the Act respecting End-of-Life Care that requires palliative care hospices to offer Medical Aid in Dying (MAID).

The June 2023 amendment specifies that “no palliative care hospice may exclude medical aid in dying from the care they offer.”

The palliative care centre that Lépine hopes to shield is the St. Raphael Palliative Care Home and Day Centre in Montréal, but the appeal raises larger questions of the future of the collaborative charitable work of faith communities unable to act according to their conscience.
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The conversation about medical assistance in dying (MAID) in Canada began out of a desire to ease the transition to death for terminally ill people experiencing intractable pain and suffering. After discussion and debate, Canada in 2016 legally permitted access to MAID for adults facing imminent death due to terminal illness, if they were deemed to be suffering intolerably.

In this debate some Anglicans have held an uncomfortable position, recognizing both the sanctity of life as a gift from God to be treasured and protected and the possibility that profound suffering and pain might be considered valid reasons to end one’s life. The church’s 1998 report and study guide Care in Dying stated that support for physician-assisted death constituted a “failure of human community.”
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One of Canada’s leading supporters of Medical Assistance in Dying is in favour of an anti-MAiD campaign launched by the Christian Medical and Dental Association of Canada and backed by Ontario’s bishops.
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Evidence is mounting that assisted suicide’s introduction into the Canadian medical system is not only undermining governments’ oft-stated plans to improve palliative care but is actively damaging the country’s already inadequate palliative care system. Some patients are choosing to die rather than to continue to live without adequate palliative care.

Dr. Neil Hilliard, a palliative care expert from Abbotsford, British Columbia, said health facilities’ introduction of assisted suicide into palliative care wards and hospices, following legalization of Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) in June 2016, has led to a reduction in true palliative cares services.

“It’s like a cancer growing within the palliative care programs,” said Hilliard who, in 2017, resigned as medical director of the Fraser Health Authority’s palliative care program because of his opposition to the authority’s insistence that he support the performing of assisted suicide in hospices.

“(MAiD) is starting to take over to a certain degree. But still only 5% of people are choosing MAiD; 95% would prefer to live well until they die naturally.”
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The bishops of Alberta and the Northwest Territories have issued pastoral guidelines for clergy dealing with Catholics who are considering euthanasia or assisted suicide, which is now legal in Canada.

The 32-page document, written for priests and parishes, gives guidance on when people in such situations are eligible to receive certain sacraments or a Catholic funeral. It includes references to canon law and pastoral guidance for special circumstances.

The document specifically addresses the sacraments of reconciliation and anointing of the sick.

“In our day a priest may encounter a penitent who has officially requested physician-assisted suicide or euthanasia,” the document says. “The penitent has not yet been killed, nor has he/she committed suicide, but he or she has initiated the process, which is already a grave matter.

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The Roman Catholic Bishops of Alberta and the Northwest Territories have issued some new guidance for priests, deacons, and pastoral workers in caring for individuals and families in difficult contemporary situations. One document aims to answer the call of Pope Francis in his Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia, particularly to assist priests in their duty to accompany those Catholics who are divorced and remarried without having received a decree of nullity. The other follows the legalization in Canada of assisted suicide and euthanasia (“Medical Assistance In Dying”), and focuses on spiritual and sacramental considerations in caring for individuals and families who may be considering death by these means. “The ultimate aim of these guidelines is to help the faithful understand the beautiful teachings of the Church on sacramental marriage, the dignity of the human person, and the inviolable sanctity of human life,” said Archbishop Richard Smith of Edmonton, who serves as president of the Alberta-NWT Bishops. “We know that many Catholics, often due to the messages they receive through the secular culture, have come to some serious misunderstandings around life and family issues,” he said.
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Religious leaders across Saskatchewan say doctors who don’t want to help patients die shouldn’t be forced to refer them to another physician who will.

Christian, Muslim and Jewish leaders met with Health Minister Dustin Duncan at the Saskatchewan legislature Tuesday and said facilities should not be forced to help people end their lives either. Duncan said the province is looking at ways to accommodate those concerns about the new federal law that allows medical assisted dying.

The law says doctors can’t be forced to provide the service. But the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan policy also says they “must not abandon a patient who makes this request” and they need to arrange “timely access” to another physician or resources.

“We also feel that people do have a right to information,” said Mary Deutscher, with the justice and peace commission of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon. “We have no problem with providing that information, but there’s something different about a direct referral, that actually says that you need to find someone who will carry through on what we see as a very harmful action. Do you want to force doctors to have to harm people that they care for? And many of these doctors do see this as a harmful action.”
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Growing acceptance of euthanasia does not indicate increased compassion, but highlights the rise of a selfish “throwaway culture” that casts aside the sick, the dying and those who do not satisfy the perceived requirements of a healthy life, Pope Francis said.

In a culture that is increasingly “technological and individualistic,” some tend to “hide behind alleged compassion to justify killing a patient,” the Pope told health professionals from Spain and Latin America June 9.

“True compassion does not marginalize, humiliate or exclude, much less celebrate a patient passing away,” the Pope said. “You know well that would mean the triumph of selfishness, of that ‘throwaway culture’ that rejects and despises people who do not meet certain standards of health, beauty or usefulness.”
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At a news conference today on Parliament Hill, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) and The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC) released a joint statement on euthanasia and assisted suicide. The Declaration on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide has been endorsed by over 30 Christian denominations together with over 20 Jewish and Muslim leaders from across Canada. In light of the Supreme Court of Canada’s ruling in R. v. Carter, the joint statement advocates for palliative care, respect for the dignity of the human person, human solidarity and psychological, spiritual and emotional support as the ethical and moral response in end-of-life care. The declaration states that “The recent Supreme Court of Canada decision has brought this issue to the forefront of public discussion and compels each of us as Canadians to reflect upon our personal and societal response to those who need our compassion and care.” Addressing the underlying importance of human dignity, the signatories affirm that “the sanctity of all human life, and the equal and inviolable dignity of every human being … is not exclusively a religious belief, although for us it has a significant religious meaning.” The signatories emphasize that “reverence for human life must be “the basis and reason for our compassion, responsibility and commitment in caring for all humans, our brothers and sisters, when they are suffering and in pain… to work to alleviate human suffering in every form but never by intentionally eliminating those who suffer.”
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Archbishop Paul-André Durocher has written the Justice Minister requesting that Canada’s Catholic bishops be included in consultations regarding assisted suicide legislation. In a letter released May 25, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops president expressed deep concern about the implications of the Supreme Court of Canada’s Feb. 6 ruling in the Carter decision that struck down the laws against assisted suicide and opened the way to doctor-assisted-death. Durocher said the bishops want to be consulted to ensure “the law offers the greatest protection possible to the lives and health of all, and that it also ensures complete protection for the rights and freedom of conscience of health-care workers and managers.” Justice Minister Peter MacKay has told journalists a wide-ranging consultation would begin soon and that he expected new legislation to be passed before the one-year suspension the Supreme Court allowed before putting its decision into effect. MacKay said no legislation would be tabled before the October federal election, sidelining euthanasia and assisted suicide as campaign issues. “The classic words of the Hippocratic Oath bind medical practitioners to keep patients ‘from harm and injustice,’ and not to ‘give a deadly drug to anybody who asked for it’ nor to ‘make a suggestion to this effect,’ ” Durocher wrote MacKay. “The court’s ruling not only erodes society’s appreciation for human life, but also the trust and confidence all people, particularly those most vulnerable, should have in medical personnel and health-care institutions to protect their lives.”
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The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops welcomes the decision of the Federal Government to appeal all aspects of the British Columbia Supreme Court decision on assisted suicide, rendered June 15, 2012. We agree with the statement by Federal Justice Minister, Rob Nicholson, that “laws surrounding euthanasia and assisted suicide exist to protect all Canadians, including those who are most vulnerable, such as people who are sick or elderly or people with disabilities”.

In a statement issued June 18, 2012, the CCCB President, Most Reverend Richard W. Smith, Archbishop of Edmonton, underscored the importance of respecting the gift of life, from the moment of conception until natural death. He reminded us: “We are the stewards, not the owners, of the life God has entrusted to us. It is not ours to dispose of.” (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2280)

The CCCB will continue to monitor this issue closely and offer its perspective as it unfolds.
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