Canada's assisted suicide system is witnessing increased utilization, with over 5 percent of deaths in the country now attributed to this practice.
According to Western Journal, a report issued by the Canadian government in late November revealed that more than 22,500 individuals sought assisted suicide in 2024. Out of these requests, approximately 16,500 were fulfilled, while around 4,000 individuals succumbed to other causes, and 700 withdrew their requests.
A mere 1,300 applicants were deemed ineligible for the procedure. In total, 5.1 percent of Canadian deaths in 2024 were attributed to assisted suicide, officially termed "Medical Assistance in Dying," marking a 0.4 percentage point rise from the previous year.
Since the legalization of assisted suicide in 2016, over 76,000 provisions have been recorded. Although the growth rate of assisted suicide is decelerating, the practice still expanded by nearly 6.9 percent in 2024. The Canadian government report noted, "While the data suggests that the number of annual MAID provisions is beginning to stabilize, it will take several more years before long-term trends can be conclusively identified."
The practice has faced criticism from Christians and conservatives, who argue that it undermines the sanctity of human life. Concerns have been raised that Canada's socialized healthcare system may incentivize assisted suicide over more costly treatment options. The government report acknowledged that assisted suicide "is a health service provided as part of end-of-life or complex care, which a person can access in very limited circumstances."
The report further clarified that "the number of MAID provisions should not be compared to cause of death statistics in Canada" when assessing the prevalence of assisted suicide, nor should it be ranked as a cause of death. This distinction is made because "if a person suffering from advanced cancer chooses to receive MAID to alleviate their suffering, the cause of death extracted from their death certificate for the purposes of vital statistics will be cancer."
Additionally, the report emphasized that "MAID is not classified as a cause of death by the World Health Organization, which sets international standards on data collection related to the classification of disease." The World Health Organization defines a "cause of death" as a "disease or injury that initiated the train of events leading directly to death, or the circumstances of the accident or violence which produced the fatal injury."
As the debate over assisted suicide continues, questions about its ethical implications and impact on healthcare systems remain at the forefront of public discourse.
Login