Canada legalized euthanasia and assisted suicide in June 2016 under the term Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID). The law states that MAID can be done when it is approved by two doctors or nurse practitioners when the person fulfills all of the following conditions:

• is at least 18 years old,
• has a serious and incurable illness, disease or disability,
• has an advanced state of irreversible decline in capability,
• has enduring physical or psychological suffering that is intolerable, and
• their natural death is "reasonably foreseeable" (undefined).

In December 2016, the federal government asked the Council of Canadian Academies (CCA) to research and provide recommendations concerning the expansion of euthanasia to mature minors (child euthanasia), people who are incompetent but have made an advance request, and for psychological suffering alone.

In September 2018, the Journal of Medical Ethics published a paper titled, “Medical Assistance in Dying at a paediatric hospital.” This paper concerns a proposed policy for implementing euthanasia for children that was developed by a committee at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. The paper states that it, "...is intended as a road map through the still-emerging legal and ethical landscape of paediatric MAID."

The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition (EPC) is concerned that The Hospital for Sick Children published their proposed policy on child euthanasia to influence the deliberations of the CCA who are releasing their reports in December 2018.

The EPC opposes euthanasia and assisted suicide and we are concerned that Canada may decide to extend euthanasia (MAID) regulations to include children.

We oppose euthanasia for children.

Petition Against Child Euthanasia.pdf
Is Child Euthanasia Next in Canada? (EPC pamphlet)
Medical Assistance in Dying at a paediatric hospital (Journal of Medical Ethics)
Sick Kids Hospital Toronto will euthanize children with or without parental consent