By Daniel Payne
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 31, 2023

Mental health advocates and pro-life activists are expressing concerns over a possible expansion of Canada’s assisted suicide rules that would permit residents
to seek fatal medical treatments even if they are not suffering from a fatal affliction.

Canada first legalized assisted suicide in June 2016 for adults suffering from irreversibly deadly illnesses. In 2021 the Canadian government said it would wait an additional two years to extend those services to mentally ill citizens to “study how MAiD [medical assistance in dying] on the basis of a mental illness can safely be provided.”

As Canada Prepares to Expand Assisted Suicide, Advocates Warn of Threat to Mentally Ill full article

December 16, 2022

In Canada, long-term disability (LTD) claims for mental health issues make up the lion’s share of claims filed each year.

Despite mental disorders, such as depression and anxiety, being recognized as conditions that can affect your ability to do your job, many insurance companies still turn down legitimate claims.

By refusing to provide you with disability benefits, insurers are able to bolster their bottom line.

Not only does this prevent you from accessing crucial financial support, but it can add to the mental and emotional distress you are already dealing with before applying for disability benefits.

Denied Long-Term Disability for Mental Health Issues: Your Rights full article

J-P Mauro – published on 10/13/22

When Margaret Marsilla found out her 23-year-old son scheduled his own death, she started her race against time.
An October 11 report from Common Sense tells the harrowing tale of a Canadian mother who discovered that her son scheduled himself to die. Her story offers a real-life account of the dangers that legalized euthanasia can pose to individuals in distress, the families they leave behind, and society as a whole.

Canadian Mom’s Harrowing Tale Shows the Real Dangers of Legal Euthanasia full article

Author of the article:National Post View
Publishing date:May 08, 2022

It has been quite remarkable to watch: In less than a decade, Canadas medical assistance in dying (MAID) program has expanded from a system limited solely to those with terminal illnesses, to one that is now used by people who lack adequate housing. And it will soon be available to those with mental illnesses, such as depression, bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. Parliament should put the brakes on this runaway sled, and fix the current system.

NP View: The Truly Awful Cost of Canada’s Permissive Doctor-Assisted Death Program full article

Author of the article:Liz Braun
Publishing date:Apr 06, 2022

While you were busy avoiding the pandemic, a very huge can of worms called Bill C-7 was opened in Canada.

This bill allows Canada to expand doctor-assisted death to the chronically ill and eventually, the mentally ill.

Prior to this, MAiD – medical aid in dying – was available to the suffering whose death was already looming: a terminal cancer patient, for example, or someone with Lou Gehrig’s disease. A natural death was “reasonably foreseeable.”

That phrase no longer applies.

To have medical assistance in dying today, you need to be 18 or over and capable of giving informed consent.

BRAUN: With Bill C-7, Help for the Dying Becomes Assisted Suicide full article

By Calvi Leon, Local Journalism Initiative ReporterLondon Free Press Wed., March 16, 2022

Kristin Legault-Donkers, who pushed tirelessly to help others with mental health issues, is being remembered as a fighter who struggled with mental illness herself.

The St. Thomas woman died last Friday, choosing, as her obituary said, “to end her life after a courageous and publicly hard-fought battle with her mental illness.”

She was 25.

“She wanted to make a difference, which is what she did,” Joanne Donkers, her grandmother with whom she’d lived since she was 10, said Wednesday.

“She wanted to make a change in the mental health system. That was her goal,” Donkers said.

Mental Health System ‘Fails’ Young Advocate Trying to Make It Better: Family full article

By Pascale Malenfant
Dec 9, 2021

Over the course of early 2021, 40 youth between 10 and 17 attended 10 anger management sessions at the Boston Children’s Hospital.

Though these sessions had the same goal as any other form of anger management treatment to help patients develop self-calming strategies the therapy was anything but conventional. It involved desktop computers, heart monitors and an adapted version of the hit 1970s arcade game, Space Invaders.

Trials Show Video Games Have Potential to Ease Canada’s Paediatric Mental Health-Care Crisis full article

UBCO professor calls for better individual support and funding for health services December 2, 2021

The COVID-19 Disability Survey captured perspectives from Canadians with different types of disabilities and their family members.

On Friday, December 3, the United Nations observes the International Day of Persons with Disabilities in a global effort to increase awareness for the rights and wellbeing of persons with disabilities.

Dr. Kathleen Martin Ginis, UBC Okanagan professor and director for the Centre of Chronic Disease Prevention and Management is currently leading the national COVID-19 Disability Survey in partnership with the Ontario-based Abilities Centre.

The latest survey results confirm critical support is needed to prevent further hardships experienced by Canadians living with disabilities.

Dire Challenges Facing Canadians With Disabilities During COVID-19 full article