By Alex Schadenberg

An interesting article about the euthanasia lobby group, Dying With Dignity (DWD) Canada, was written by Miranda Schreiber and published by The Walrus on January 12, 2024. Schreiber provides important information about the financing and positions of DWD Canada.

Schreiber begins: “Dying with Dignity Canada isn’t just a charity; it’s also the country’s biggest pro-MAiD lobby group. Theoretically, lobby groups are meant to allow for the interests of all stakeholders to be represented to the government. But when a lobby group is so well-funded that it wields disproportionate power over a debate, the voices of less powerful parties can be neglected. Some critics believe public conversations around MAiD are skewed in Dying with Dignity Canada’s favour. And when it lobbies to expand access to assisted dying, few have the resources to push back.”

Dying with Dignity lost their charitable status in February 2015 for “serious non-compliance issues,” which made them become more politically oriented. But in 2018, DWD received regained charitable status and received a massive donation.

Funding for DWD Canada has grown significantly with corporate donations and government grants. As Schreiber reports, some of the lobby organization’s donors have included: TD Canada Trust, Rogers, Google Ads, Mackenzie Investments, Telus, Sun Life Financial, RBC, and Pfizer. (Pfizer also makes three of the drugs recommended by the Canadian Association of MAiD Assessors and Providers to facilitate MAiD.)

As a charitable organization, DWD received $222,077 in government assistance in 2020 and $204,655 in 2021, according to Charity Intelligence Canada. The Canadian Association of MAiD Assessors and Providers (CAMAP), an organization founded by a member of Dying with Dignity Canada’s advisory council, received $3.3 million for the development of MAiD training modules.

In its 2021 report, DWD Canada acknowledged their meetings with cabinet ministers and their political pressure campaign to get Bill C-7 passed. Since Bill C-7 passed, there have been many examples of people with disabilities, people living in poverty, people who are homeless, people who are unable to obtain medical treatment, and more, being approved for or dying by euthanasia, and yet DWD claims this is a myth.

I am convinced that DWD Canada lobbying has led to provincial governments forcing palliative care institutions to provide euthanasia. DWD Canada has worked to change the perception and meaning of palliative care. Schreiber explains:

“The thinking goes that patients with chronic or terminal conditions still have the option to receive care that enhances their quality of life, thus alleviating their suffering, until they die a natural death; those who can no longer bear their agony can choose to turn to MAiD. This framing has led to a perception that MAiD is an offshoot of palliative care. […] In 2015, Susan MacDonald, then president of the CSPCP [Canadian Society of Palliative Care Physicians], told Canadian Medical Association Journal that medically assisted death should not be classified under palliative care. Her concern was that ending life was in contradiction with the philosophy and practices of palliative care, the purpose of which is enhancing care for patients.”

Alex Schadenberg is the Executive Director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
Originally published at alexschadenberg.blogspot.com