Greetings,
As 2024 draws to a close, this Newsletter aims at updating you on a number of issues that are currently the main focus of our attention.
You may already be aware, that the National consultation on advance requests for medical aid in dying began last Thursday. On Monday, December 16th, we took part in a virtual round table, bringing together ‘a wide range of stakeholders, including aboriginal groups, people with disabilities and people with past and present experience’.
Although imperfect, we strongly urge you to complete the questionnaire for this National conversation (see below).
We thank you for your continued support.
Seasons’ greetings from our team,
Jasmin Lemieux-Lefebvre
Coordinator
Living with Dignity citizen network
When the most vulnerable pay the price for political choices
Here is the link to the Open Letter which signed Tuesday in the Coops de l’info (La Tribune, La Voix de l’Est, Le Droit, Le Nouvelliste, Le Quotidien and Le Soleil) with 16 national and regional organizations defending the rights and promoting the interests of seniors, people with disabilities and caregivers:
In French: Quand les plus vulnérables paient le prix des choix politiques
In English: When the most vulnerable pay the price of political choices
These measures ‘have had a devastating impact on the elderly and people with disabilities, who are both care-givers and patients within the healthcare system. These choices are undermining millions of Quebecers who depend on essential services to maintain their dignity and quality of life.
Among the most alarming decisions
– Reductions in the hours of the Chèque-Emploi-Service (CES) program and CLSC home support services;
– A step backwards to the 1991 rates for Family Support;
– Suspension of the Residential Adaptation Assistance Program (RAAP);
– Reduction of contracts for work integration;
– Reconsideration of the principle of compensation for functional limitations.
We will keep you informed of the outcome of this campaign.
To read the full press release and the open letter in PDF format (in English and French), go to
Publication of the Fifth Annual Report on Medical Assistance in Dying in Canada, 2023
On December 12th 2024, Health Canada published its latest report on MAiD:
In 2023, 4.7% of Canadians who died received MAiD (a total of 15,343 people).
The “Reported nature of suffering”(table on page 31) should give us food for thought:
– Perceived burden, nearly 50% of cases
– Isolation / loneliness cited twice as often in track 2 vs. track 1.
It is interesting to compare the above findings with the 2022 table, which did not differentiate between the suffering cited for track 1 and track 2.
Track 1: request for MAID made by a person whose natural death is reasonably foreseeable.
Track 2: request for MAID made by a person whose natural death is not reasonably foreseeable.
The 2023 report is a wise reminder of the limitations of some of the data, as this is the first year of collection for: race, indigenous identity and disability issues.
Table 5.1b provides a good snapshot of an incomplete portrait with respect to “Requirement for, and duration and accessibility of, disability support services among MAID recipients”.
With a large ‘other’ category, how many people with disabilities have accessed MAiD due to a lack of care and services required?
Consultation on advance requests and medical assistance in dying
A National consultation on advance requests and medical assistance in dying has recently begun on December 12th to :
– discuss advance requests, using international and national research, studies and examples;
– hear your views on advance requests. You can take part by completing this questionnaire:
Even though many questions seem to point to the inevitability of opening up to advance requests for MAiD in Canada, we invite you to take the time to express your point of view. The consultation runs until February 14, 2025.
Charity status, a reminder of an injustice
The news was made public last week: the Association québécoise pour le droit de mourir dans la dignité (AQDMD) now has charitable status.
Unfortunately, this is not the case for our citizen network, Living with Dignity: the Canada Revenue Agency has denied us Charitable status in 2021.
Dying with Dignity Canada and the AQDMD are therefore able to issue charitable receipts, whereas our citizen network cannot issue such receipts for income tax purposes when you make a donation.
Reminder of our 2021 statement in which we denounced this ongoing injustice:
https://vivredignite.org/en/lwd-adversity-2021-support
As our annual postal fundraising campaign has been delayed due to the strike at Canada Post (which is now over), we will shortly be launching our campaign on various digital platforms.
Thank you for your generosity! Please encourage your friends to support us too!
https://vivredignite.org/en/get-involved-2/donations
Press review
The link to our last press review malfunctioned, the last time we sent it out. We apologize for any inconvenience.
Here is the link for the press review for December 2nd, 2024:
https://wakelet.com/wake/e-to3yc2D0_wXNnKhUtnX
And for today’s:
https://wakelet.com/wake/aOqU6nfg-hdYRYdKnfyJ_
DEC
2024