Toronto Cardinal Frank Leo has written to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Toronto-area Members of Parliament, urging them to “choose life, not death” by supporting legislation that would block the planned expansion of assisted suicide for people with mental illness.
Bill C-218, the Right to Recovery Act, which was introduced last year by Conservative Member of Parliament Tamara Johnson, is a private member’s bill that would prohibit the expansion of medical assistance in dying (MAID) to individuals whose only underlying condition is a mental illness.
Under current federal law, this extension is scheduled to take effect March 17, 2027. Parliament was expected to debate the bill earlier this month, but its order of priority in the House of Commons has been pushed back, and no new date has been set.
In letters dated April 20, Leo reminded the Prime Minister and MPs that a society is “truly evaluated” based on how it cares for its most vulnerable members and said that many Canadians are “increasingly troubled” by the expansion of MAID since it was legalized in 2016.
Since then, nearly 100,000 lives have been lost due to medically assisted dying because the eligibility criteria have expanded beyond the original framework that largely limited MAiD to those facing reasonably anticipated death.
Leo wrote, “Our Catholic faith opposes the taking of any life, and it is with great dismay and pain that we have watched our country expand MAID at a rapid and alarming rate.”
Assisted suicide and euthanasia, he said, “are contrary to the dignity of the human person.”
Leo and the Toronto Archdiocese are leading the way across the country help not harm campaign, which is encouraging Canadians to write to their MPs in support of Bill C-218.
“We are encouraging parishes and the faithful to continue their efforts through the month of April and until the vote date is announced,” Neil McCarthy, director of public relations and communications for the archdiocese, told The Catholic Register earlier this month.
By mid-April approximately 5,000 letters had been sent through the Help Not Harm online portal.
Leo wrote, “There is growing concern that the normalization and expansion of the risks of assisted suicide is undermining a culture of compassion, undermining investment in palliative support and undermining collective commitment to those who suffer.”
He is also urging Carney to allow Liberal MPs to cast a free vote when C-218 comes before Parliament.
“This legislation raises deep questions of conscience that transcend partisan alignment and touch deep moral, ethical and spiritual commitments,” Leo wrote. “I ask you to choose life, not death; to help build a civilization that cares about those who suffer and does not eliminate them, but surrounds them with respect, compassion and love.”
They asked the Prime Minister and Justice Minister Sean Fraser “to consider measures that prohibit any expansion of assisted suicide in Canada and instead prioritize investment in palliative care, mental health support and resources for those who are increasingly marginalized and isolated, particularly seniors and Canadians living with disability.”
this story was first published By the Catholic Register of Canada and reprinted here with permission.
