Coming Soon: Canada's 100,000th MAID Death

If we "cared" any more, we'd be Nazis.

I was walking across the Lion’s Gate Bridge the other day when I noticed someone was about to jump to his death. I ran up to him and shouted, “don’t do it! First tell me why you want to kill yourself so I can decide if I should help or not.”

This is the logic behind extending MAID to people with depression.

But before we get to that, how are you doing America?

Feeling pretty good about yourself?

“We have problems, but at least we’re not killing our own citizens!”

Ah, not so fast!

A recent article in the New York Times noted that “by September, nearly a third of Americans will live in States with legal aid in dying.” What’s more, a recent Pew survey found that “about 6 in 10 Americans don’t have moral objections to medical aid in dying.”

“Medical aid in dying.” That’s what “right-to-die advocates” call it. The rest of us call it “euthanasia” or “assisted suicide” depending on the level of involvement of the doctor/nurse practitioner.

“The level of involvement of the doctor.”

“First do no harm,” right?

That’s in America.

But oh, you’re still so far very far behind.

In Canada Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) has been available since 2016. Here are some key milestones:

1. The Original 2016 Criteria (Bill C-14) - When MAID rolled out, it was strictly intended for individuals who were already near the end of their natural lives. Important terms included, mental competence, free from external pressure/coercion, informed consent, grievous/irremediable medical condition, and reasonably foreseeable natural death.

2. The 2021 Expansion (Bill C-7) - In 2019, the Superior Court of Quebec ruled in Truchon v. Canada that limiting MAID only to those whose deaths were “reasonably foreseeable” was unconstitutional. In bureaucrat-speak, we now have “a multi-track system based on patient suffering rather than a life expectancy timeline.”

   1. Track 1 (Natural Death is Foreseeable): Eased the rules for terminal patients. It removed the mandatory 10-day reflection period, allowing them to proceed faster, and required only one independent witness instead of two.

   2. Track 2 (Natural Death is NOT Foreseeable): This was the major expansion. It opened MAID to individuals suffering from chronic, painful, and incurable physical illnesses or disabilities who are not nearing the end of their lives. Because these cases are more complex, Track 2 mandates stricter safeguards, including a mandatory 90-day assessment period and a requirement that one of the evaluating clinicians specializes in the patient’s specific condition.

TLDR; Canada made it quicker and easier to die and eliminated the requirement that your death was already reasonably foreseeable.

Canadian healthcare, the best in the world!

So where are we now?

Difficult Conversations Will Soon Be Covered By MAID

Canadian MAID activists announced new efforts to extend eligibility to people trying to avoid uncomfortable conversations.

“Look,” said Janey McKillemstein, “pretty much everyone with any sort of physical or mental ‘impairment’ is offered MAID, whether they want it or not, so we asked ourselves, who else is looking for an easy out?”

“Answer, people trying to avoid difficult conversations. We’ve all thought to ourselves, ‘I’d rather kill myself, than talk to...’ Well, if our hard work and lack of moral foundations have anything to say about it, you’ll soon have a ‘better’ choice.”

McKillemstein proceeded to describe how countless millions currently have no way to avoid uncomfortable conversations with loved ones, coworkers, and employers. “Why should you have to have ‘the talk’ with your kids when MAID is so easily accessible? Is your wife asking you if she needs to lose weight? MAID. Coworker stealing your lunch? MAID. Boss wants to know why you’re hungover? MAID. Honestly, it’s the answer to every Canadian’s problems.”

If this effort is successful MAID activists plan on moving onto hangnails, stubbed toes, and suffering through the latest Hollywood blockbuster.

An exaggeration, obviously, but by how much?

I’m busy that day, can you kill me the following Tuesday?

Quebec broke new ground by becoming the first Canadian province to legally allow advance requests for MAID—allowing residents to request the procedure ahead of time if they are diagnosed with an irreversible, cognitive-declining condition like Alzheimer’s disease.

“If we don’t kill them, who will?”

When Bill C-7 was introduced, it temporarily excluded people whose sole underlying condition is a mental illness (such as severe depression or PTSD).

On August 19, 2024, a court challenge to end the discriminatory exclusion of those whose sole underlying condition is a mental illness from medical assistance in dying is filed. Plaintiffs include John Scully, Claire Elyse Brosseau, and Dying With Dignity Canada.

No doubt the activist logic goes something like this, “if we don’t help people with depression kill themselves, they might kill themselves.”

Won’t somebody please think of the children?

Dying With Dignity Canada, the group that doesn’t “use the terms assisted suicide or euthanasia because they stigmatize people,” – God forbid that people killing themselves should have to worry about that too - is also looking to extend MAID to “mature minors” (i.e. people under 18).

Not to be outdone in the “who can be a bigger monster” contest, Dr. Louis Roy, representing the Quebec College of Physicians, suggested in 2022 that MAID should be an option for infants from birth to one year old under certain conditions.

To be fair, most advocates distanced themselves from his recommendation. But for how long? Name an activist organization that ever disbanded when it reached its goal? Or should I say most recent goal.

Keep moving those goal posts people!

Equity shmequity

One would expect left wing organizations, even those “ensuring access to quality end-of-life” services, to take diversity seriously, and Dying With Dignity Canada is no exception, as is clear from this statement:

“DWDC strives to be an inclusive, equitable, and diverse organization that is more reflective of Canadian society and DWDC values.”

I can’t comment on how they’re doing in hiring but what do MAID stats tell us?

• White recipients represented a substantially larger share than their proportion of the Canadian population.

• Black, South Asian, Chinese, Indigenous, and other “racialized groups” were generally underrepresented relative to their share of Canada’s population.

Recipients? Make it sound like an award, doesn’t it?

That aside, with more white people “winning” MAID awards than any other race/ethnicity, it looks like they have work to do in the equity field.

We don’t want MAID to get a bad reputation like the Oscars.

#MAIDsowhite

I suggest a new motto for them: DEI or DIE!

The Nazis would be proud.

Well, on a podcast the other day – see my podcast section below – I found out that Canada is approaching an important milestone.

100,000 MAID deaths.

Health Canada’s latest published annual report covers calendar year 2024, reporting 16,499 MAID deaths and a cumulative total of 76,475 since legalization in 2016.

There are a few possible scenarios for “growth,” but the key takeaway is that virtually any reasonable projection places the 100,000th MAID death sometime in the first half of 2026, with the most likely window being spring to early summer 2026.

The 200,000^th MAID death would likely be in 2032.

200,000 in 16 years.

It could be worse I suppose. It only took the Nazis 6 years to euthanize that many disabled, mentally ill, and chronically ill people.

Aktion T4 remains a central case study in medical ethics, genocide studies, and the origins of Nazi mass-murder techniques.

If only the Nazis had access to modern leftist PR departments, they could have spun the program as a human right.

Once upon a time...

There was a time, years ago, when I thought people should be allowed to kill themselves. I didn’t see the harm in letting people in a great deal of pain take their own lives.

Of course, it never occurred to me that suicide would become government funded euthanasia, that “death doctors” would be paid with our taxes, and that there would be advocates who would want to extend it to children and the mentally handicapped.

My first inkling that something was wrong was when I heard the numbers were continuing to rise and wondered where on the list of leading causes of death MAID was.

This is what I found:

MAID deaths must be further down the list, right?

Nope. Remember earlier, “Health Canada’s latest published annual report covers calendar year 2024, reporting 16,499 MAID deaths”

That would place MAID at #4.

Why isn’t it there?

Because MAID deaths are categorized by what you would have died from.

Here’s a simple way of looking at it.

If you are someone with an incurable illness who dies of that illness, then the statistics show you as having died from that illness.

What happens if you die before the illness can kill you?

Well, here are few possible examples:

If one was of a conspiratorial nature – psst, birds aren’t real – one might start to think that the government was trying to hide this.

If one was really trying on tinfoil hats, one might start to wonder how much money the government could save on healthcare costs by “gently” nudging those MAID numbers higher.

The icing on the cake?

The Government of Canada (federal government), annual debt-interest payments (”public debt charges”) are currently about $55–59 billion per year.

Looks like the country doesn’t have to go broke after all.

Can we have a sane policy?

I still think that if you want to kill yourself that’s your business.

Is it a sin? Maybe, but that’s between you and your God.

Would I do it? I don’t know. I hope I never have to learn the answer.

The only thing I’m certain of is that it’s gone too far and that the government should not be in the business of killing its own people.

The ball is in your court America.

Choose wisely.

It’s time for an Ad!

What? Again?

Yes, because here at Hoist the Black Flag we believe in capitalism.

And nothing says capitalism more than an ad interrupting what you had been enjoying to ask for money.

If only I could do what Amazon Prime does, charge you and then charge you again to remove the ads.

Ah, the dream.

Oh well, this will have to do for now.

Hoist the Black Flag is an audience-supported publication which looks at US, Canadian, and World Politics (and anything else I find interesting).

Look, I get it, the demands for money are never-ending. I would write this even if I didn’t make a dime. I honestly would rather have you read my Substack for free than constantly bug you for money, but it also never hurts to ask, so…

If you enjoy my work, please hit the “Like” button, recommending me to a friend (or an enemy, I’m not choosy) and consider clicking one or more of these buttons as well:

If you are not in a position to become a paid subscriber, please share this article so others can read it too.

Who knows, maybe they will be less fiscally responsible than you.

Podcast Recommendations

Before I give you my two monthly updates I want to update you on The Futurists podcast. Again. Last month I said I had soured on it due to its seeming leftist/Marxist/progressive worldviews. In May I listened to two episodes that managed to focus on tech and energy without staining either with political bias. I am therefore going to moderate my position on the post and state that as long as you pick and choose the episodes it can be quite interesting.

Ok, onto my two recommendations. Since my introductory essay was on MAID, or “assisted death,” or whatever euphemism you prefer to use, I’m going to recommend a couple of podcasts that discussed just that topic:

The Good Fight - Kathleen Stock on the Case Against Assisted Death

Yascha Mounk and Kathleen Stock discuss why liberal arguments for assisted dying are less coherent than they appear, whether palliative care offers a more merciful alternative to medically assisted death, and how different legal regimes around the world reveal the practical challenges of institutionalizing end-of-life choices.

TRIGGERnometry - “Assisted Dying is Monetizing Death” — Kelsi Sheren

Sheren is a combat veteran and former artillery gunner in the Canadian Armed Forces and a mental-health advocate who spoke at a Euthanasia Prevention Coalition.

Comment of the Month

Let’s see who deserves a comp this month.

I don’t believe in free editing, so thanks Kah Sandro.

“You may want to update Roman numbers 8 and 9... continued.”

Daniel Melgar had some interesting insights on the two World Wars.

“The argument that World War I (1914–1918) and World War II (1939–1945) constitute a single, continuous conflict... continued.”

James Roberts asked me to clarify my position on humor and politics. This is for anyone else that wants an answer to that question.

“Confused ... I thought you weren’t combining... continued.”

Warmek asked what I think is a very important question:

“Was there actually a significant difference between the conditions of the typical local in British India and literal slavery?” Response.

Finally, John Geis posted some of the Washington Post data which highlights that the number of killings of unarmed people is a fraction of what some claim.

“’…we have since seen a nearly constant feed of police murdering minorities and...’ continued.”

Note: if I mentioned you here and you’re not a subscriber, I can’t comp you. If you want the comp, hit that subscribe button and message me and I’ll comp you then.

Recommend Hoist the Black Flag

For those of you who weren’t lucky enough to win this month you can earn complimentary memberships by referring friends to Hoist the Black Flag from here.

AYPWIP?

I will not judge anyone who chooses to end their own life, but I do think we should do our utmost so that it’s not the easiest choice.

Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose.

— Viktor Frankl

“I am not dead yet.”

-- Harriet McBryde Johnson (1957–2008) disability rights activist

The problem is not that disabled people want to die. The problem is that society often gives them reasons to.

-- Not Dead Yet, a disability rights organization that opposes legalization of assisted suicide.

However, I do not support, nor do I trust the “assisted dying” activists.

Tyranny grows slowly, and asks us to retreat in comparatively tiny steps.

-- Jordan Peterson

Top 10 Postings

This is here because, well, I like top 10 lists. It’s also here to let you know what other readers have enjoyed.

Substack does its own “Top” list, and while some of my most viewed and liked articles are on that list, there are some omissions. Put simply, I don’t know how Substack comes up with its list, so I made my own using a “secret formula.”

There is a new entry this month. Help! Help! I’m Being Oppressed! has moved into 7^th place after debuting last month at #11. This means we bid farewell to Clear, Simple, and Wrong, which has dropped out of the Top 10.

1. Women Ruin Everything (1)

2. Lies… (2)

3. The White Man’s Burden (3)

4. I didn’t cheat, I just broke the rules (4)

5. NOTHING is Illegal on Stolen Land (5)

6. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me (6)

7. Help! Help! I’m Being Oppressed! (11)

8. One Lie After Another (8)

9. The Emperor Has No Clothes (7)

10. Canada Is Not Broken (9)

May’s Best – World War Eleven (N/A)

Biggest Jump – 29. Canada’s $2.3 Billion Healthcare Secret (37)

You can find all my posts in my archive.

Top 10 Subscriber Locations

Why is this here? It’s like sports statistics, it doesn’t really matter but I find it interesting and who knows, maybe I’ll find it useful at some point.

1. Canada (1)

2. California (2) and The UK (3)

3. -

4. Texas (5)

5. New York (4)

6. Australia (6)

7. Virginia (7) and Florida (8)

8. -

9. Illinois (10)

10. Pennsylvania (9)

Note: the US is #1 by far but provides insight into individual states and it’s more interesting to present it that way. No other country can be broken down unfortunately.

Given that Canada is by solidly in the #2 spot I would love to see Substack provide a breakdown at the provincial level. Will they ever do this? I don’t know, but I’ve been posting this for a long time and there does not seem to be any movement on this idea. Sadly.

Final Thoughts

I have at least one more article on slavery that I want to write. My goal is to wrap up with the Royal Navy’s West Africa Squadron. I haven’t started the next piece so I’m not sure how many more articles it will take.

I promise it will be worth it though.

I look forward to reading your comments and while time may not permit me to respond to them all, rest assured that I do read them all.

I’ll “talk” to you next month. Until then...

Stay salty, my friends!

And try to laugh a little if you can.

Phil

---

Thank you for reading Hoist the Black Flag

If you enjoyed this piece, the quickest way to help is to hit the like button — it takes one second and makes a real difference to how Substack surfaces the writing.

If you’d like to do more, sharing or restacking puts it in front of readers who might never have found it otherwise. And if you’d like to support the work directly, buying a coffee or becoming a subscriber means the world.

Either way, your time and attention genuinely matter — thank you.