On December 30, 2025, in compliance with Canadian law allowing Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD), doctors oversaw the euthanasia of a twenty-six-year-old man, Kiano Vafaeian. The young man had three medical conditions that the authorities used to green-light the procedure—he had diabetes, lost vision in one eye and suffered from seasonal depression.
Generally, these conditions are not considered deadly—not even close. Millions of people live productive and useful lives with some form of limited vision, including losing the use of one eye. Being downcast as the days grow shorter and the snow starts to fly is perhaps even more common. Furthermore, according to government statistics, “Almost 1 in 10 Canadians aged 20 years and older has been diagnosed with diabetes.” There are many constructive ways to deal with each condition.
The astonishment that many expressed is echoed by the victim’s mother, who shared her anguish and astonishment with Newsweek. “If MAiD had not been available, my son would still be here. He would have come home. He would have stabilized. He would have remembered the life we were building for him and the love surrounding him. Instead, a permanent decision was made during a moment that could have passed.” Later, she told the UK’s Daily Mail, “This is not healthcare. This is a failure of ethics, accountability, and humanity. No parent should ever have to bury their child because a system—and a doctor—chose death over care, help or love.”
Qualifying for Death
Given Mr. Vafaeian’s overall condition, it is reasonable to ask what criteria Canada uses in determining who needs MAiD. The government lists five conditions. Four are easily understood: a person must be over eighteen, make a voluntary request, give informed consent, and be eligible for treatment under Canada’s socialized medicine scheme.
Only one criterion requires any significant reflection—the patient must have a “grievous and irremediable medical condition.” To fulfill that requirement, the illness, disease or disability must be serious. The patient must also be in an irreversible and advanced state of decline. Additionally, the individual must “experience unbearable physical or mental suffering.” Last, the suffering cannot be relieved in a way that the patient finds acceptable.
Ever Expanding Evil
It is in the nature of sin to grow. Canada’s MAiD law took effect in 2016. Initially, the legislation included a requirement that death was “imminent and unavoidable.” However, in 2021, Parliament expanded the program to include those with chronic illnesses, regardless of whether death was imminent. Nor will it stop there; after March 17, 2027, MAiD will be available to mentally ill patients, even if they are in perfect physical health.
Currently, according to the Ethics and Public Policy Center, MAiD is the fifth leading cause of death in Canada. Only cancer, heart disease, COVID, and accidental death exceed it. Not surprisingly, the number of deaths steadily increases every year. In the first year of the law, 1,018 patients died under its auspices. In 2024, the most recent year for which the government has published figures, 16,499 people were killed under MAiD. That number accounts for one in every 20 Canadian deaths, according to the International Business Times.
Yet despite these sobering figures, Canadian officials remain sanguine. The federal government’s Minister of Health, Marjorie Michel, uses language that would not be out of place if she were describing a program providing hot lunches to elementary school children.
Bureaucratic Indifference and Cost-Cutting
“Looking ahead, we remain focused on making sure MAiD meets the needs of those seeking this service. We are committed to ensuring that the federal legal framework protects those who are vulnerable, while supporting freedom of choice and personal autonomy. Health Canada will continue working with provincial and territorial health systems, experts, stakeholders, Indigenous partners, and members of the public to ensure MAiD is delivered in a manner that is safe, appropriate, respectful, inclusive, and grounded in human dignity.”
Obviously, in this case, Minister Michel is expressing an official, not a personal, opinion. Even so, it indicates massive spiritual blindness. The key phrase is one dear to both liberals and libertarians, “freedom of choice and personal autonomy,” forgetting that the very act extinguishes that individual’s freedom forever. She expresses nothing here of sorrow, sympathy, or even a trace of sadness. Nor is there any sense that life itself is a gift of a loving God. Everything is cold, bureaucratic, official and designed to convince the general public that the government is the best protector of their interests.
In this context, it is worth remembering that Canada has a thoroughly socialized medical system. Each assisted suicide, therefore, saves the central government thousands of dollars in comparison to advanced cancer treatments, joint replacements, mental and physical therapies and other costly and time-consuming medical procedures.
Compared to the other options, MAiD is dirt-cheap. All it requires are a few pages of bureaucratically required forms, a few minutes of a doctor’s time, a plastic syringe and a few pennies’ worth of poison. Within minutes, the government’s problem no longer exists.
Larger Considerations
The Canadian Constitution states that “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of the person and the right not to be deprived thereof except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice.” Unfortunately, Canada—like most other nations of the world—has forgotten that the only real source of justice is the Divine Judge that everyone will one day have to face.
It must be remembered that suicide is a grave sin. Encouraging or actively facilitating suicide is equally evil. A massive number of Canadian legislators, bureaucrats and medical professionals share that guilt.
As yet, euthanasia is still illegal in most of the United States. However, Maine, Vermont, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Illinois, Colorado, New Mexico, Montana, Washington, Oregon, California, Hawaii and the District of Columbia have some form of ill-named “death with dignity“ law. Fourteen more states are said to be considering approval of one during 2026. It will take the work of many to turn back this juggernaut. The evildoers are forming their armies. Informed Christians must resist them.
Photo Credit: © Kitreel – stock.adobe.com
First published on TFP.org.