Canadians Increasingly Considering State-Sanctioned Assisted Suicide Over Poverty

This is the current state of Canada– poverty-stricken people are talking to food bank workers about medically assisted suicide so they don’t have to continue living in poverty and relying on food banks and other government assistance programs. What an absolute tragedy.

A long-time Mississauga Food Bank worker and the current CEO, Meghan Nicholls, recently went public with her concerns about the state of Canada’s poor. She explained that the food bank has “seen a 60 per cent increase in demand since the pandemic began,” explaining that “we used to serve about 19,000 people per year—now it’s more than 30,000.” The issue seems to specifically be the skyrocketing price of food. Nicholls said,

“Everyday people access our services: about 75 per cent of people who use the food bank have a source of income, whether that’s through employment, social assistance or disability benefits. And this is the first time we’ve had a significant number of people tell us that it’s the cost of food, specifically, that has put them over the edge. A parent of five children who comes to our food bank told us that even when they do have money to shop for their own groceries, they end up leaving half the cart behind because things are too expensive. The weight of bills combined with rising grocery prices is crushing. Like many people living in poverty, this family is stuck in a loop: either they earn enough money to disqualify them for any support when they still need it, or they don’t make enough to cover basic expenses.”

I’m not sure if you know what kind of things Trudeau’s Canada has been spending money on or prioritizing over the abysmal economy, but their priorities have been about like the current Biden Administration, if that gives you any hints. You know, all the inclusivity, COVID, and climate initiatives, and none of the things that actually improve the state of the country for the people who are suffering. Interestingly, one of their priorities has been expanding their assisted suicide program to make it far easier and more permissible to get professional help killing yourself. It’s been hotly debated, especially as the expanded regulations seem frighteningly relaxed and quite a slippery slope. We’ve written several articles on the issue, including one about retailers advertising and glamorizing assisted suicide in advertisement videos, one about a paraplegic Paralympian being offered medically assisted suicide so the government didn’t have to put a ramp in her house, and one about Canada wanting to open their medically assisted suicide program to what they call “mature minors” without parental consent. It almost seems like maybe The State would like to make suicide a more viable and attractive option that they can encourage disabled or troubled people to take advantage of because it’s FAR less expensive to help someone kill themselves than to actually do what’s necessary to take care of them or help them take care of themselves.

And it seems it might already be working EXACTLY like that. Poverty-stricken Canadians are considering medically assisted suicide as a viable alternative to living in poverty and depending upon assistance programs like the food banks or government programs. Nicholls explained,

“We’re at the point where clients on these programs are telling us they’re considering medically assisted death or suicide because they can’t live in grinding poverty anymore. A client in our Food Bank 2 Home delivery program told one of our staff that they’re considering suicide because they’re so tired of suffering through poverty. Another client asked if we knew how to apply for MAID [medical assistance in dying] for the same reasons.”

I have absolutely no doubt that Prime Minister Trudeau and his political allies would prefer that these people choose to kill themselves rather than live and expect their politicians to work hard to create the positive change necessary to improve their lives. It’s just so much less work for them.