Montreal, November 4, 2025 – The Commission on end-of-life care released its 2024–2025 Annual Report on October 30^th (in French). After reviewing the document, the Living with Dignity citizen network (Vivre dans la Dignité) wishes to highlight two aspects of the report that must not go unnoticed in political and media discussions.

After years of repeated warnings about the weakness of data on palliative care (“limited validity,” according to the most recent five-year report, and “lack of sufficient information,” according to the 2022–2023 report), the Commission has taken a further step by refusing to share data it deems non-representative. From the report:

The Commission reviewed the data submitted by institutions concerning the number of people who received palliative and end-of-life care (PEOLC). Unfortunately, for several years, it has noted that much data is missing, incomplete, or imprecise, or refers to very different contexts from one institution to another. The disparities observed appear to reflect both a lack of shared understanding of the information to be transmitted and difficulties in providing certain requested data. Consequently, the Commission considers that the data submitted are not representative of the real situation of palliative and end-of-life care in Quebec and that including them in this report could lead to misinterpretations. (p. 14 of the report)

We commend the Commission on end-of-life care for its integrity in choosing not to publish data that would not provide an accurate picture of palliative care in Quebec. This courageous decision should serve as a wake-up call for Minister Sonia Bélanger, who resumed her position on October 30th as Minister for Health and is responsible for this file. As the Commission’s five-year report reminded us:

“There are no management indicators or standardized tools for assessing the quality of palliative and end-of-life care services, how well they meet the needs of patients and families, or how efficiently the system operates. The Commission therefore cannot determine whether the needs of people who could benefit from such care are being met.”

We cannot continue to navigate blindly on such a critical issue.

According to those working in the field, there is no doubt that access to quality palliative care remains more difficult than access to medical assistance in dying (MAiD). Palliative care requires more time, as well as greater human and financial resources. In the spirit of the Act respecting end-of-life care, Quebecers should also have similar access to high-quality palliative care. Proper indicators should also clarify where we collectively stand on this matter.

We welcome the Commission’s creation of an internal working group tasked with developing recommendations to strengthen access to palliative care. However, urgent and decisive action is needed—particularly to protect and improve access to home-based palliative care, which has been severely undermined by Bill 2 (see numerous testimonies in French here and here).

Quebec remains firmly positioned among the jurisdictions with the highest proportion of assisted deaths (MAiD, euthanasia, or assisted suicide), accounting for 7.9% of all deaths during the period studied—an increase of 9% compared to the previous year.

As Quebec approaches the 10th anniversary of its first cases of medical assistance in dying (December 10, 2025), the report raises several concerns regarding this practice, including:

- Major regional disparities (MAiD represented 13.4% of deaths in Lanaudière vs. 4.7% in Montreal), a nearly 20% increase in Montérégie, and more;

- Very short delays between a MAiD request and its administration (same day or next day in 4% of cases);

- Non-compliance in a small number of cases (0.3%), with no reported disciplinary consequences in these 19 reported cases—one of which involved administration without the person’s consent at the time. Living with Dignity reiterates that the current self-reporting system for MAiD providers after deaths cannot offer a full picture of non-compliant cases;

- 50% of those who received MAiD cited suffering from being perceived as a burden to family, friends, or caregivers; 24% cited loneliness and isolation.

In concluding its report, the Commission reminds readers of its duty to ensure that MAiD is not “chosen for lack of access to other curative, palliative, or end-of-life care that is of high quality and adapted to Quebecers’ needs.” Without adequate data, it is clear that this objective cannot be achieved.

We also believe the Commission must remind the Quebec government of its responsibilities regarding how it communicates its constitutional project. The government appears to have forgotten the spirit of the Act Respecting End-of-Life Care by emphasizing medical assistance in dying while neglecting to mention palliative care. This glaring imbalance between palliative care and MAiD in Quebec must end—it is not a “shared social value” across Quebec society.

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Media contact :
Jasmin Lemieux-Lefebvre, coordinator, Living with Dignity citizen network
www.vivredignite.org/en / info@vivredignite.org
438 931-1233