27 Federal Inmates Have Applied for Assisted Suicide Since 2016 Legalization, Say Feds

Patches are seen on the arm and shoulder of a corrections officer in the segregation unit at the Fraser Valley Institution for Women during a media tour, in Abbotsford, B.C., on October 26, 2017. (The Canadian Press/Darryl Dyck)

A total of 27 federal inmates in prisons across Canada have applied for medical assistance in dying (MAID) since it was first legalized by the Liberal government in 2016, says the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC).

Of those 27 offenders, nine have been authorized to receive MAID, says the CSC, which is the federal government agency responsible for the incarceration and rehabilitation of convicted criminal offenders sentenced to at least two years in prison.

The CSC said that the statistics are current as of March 31, 2023.

When asked how many of the offenders received MAID within a penitentiary, the CSC said it could not provide further details due to privacy reasons.

The Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) reported on April 20 that the first three offenders to receive MAID in Canada had it administered within their prison health-care unit rather than at a hospital or care home.

APTN’s report said the MAiD recipients died while in handcuffs and under prison-guard supervision while in the presence of family members.

Ivan Zinger, Correctional Investigator of Canada, told APTN that MAID should never be administered within a penitentiary.

Zinger reportedly called it “highly problematic, unethical, and immoral,” adding that he believes Canada “would be the only jurisdiction in the world who would do that.”

An official from the Office of the Correctional Investigator told The Epoch Times on background that federally sentenced prisoners receiving MAID is “an area of ongoing concern from a public accountability and oversight perspective.”

The official added that much of the office’s concern is due to the fact that CSC is not legally required to notify the federal correctional investigator when an inmate receives MAID.

MAID Laws

Current federal laws on MAID eligibility dictate that the individual must be at least 18 years old and be “suffering from a grievous and irremediable medical condition,” which is defined as a physical, serious, incurable illness, disease, or disability that is in an “advanced state of irreversible decline.”

The medical condition must also be causing the individual “intolerable” physical or mental pain that can’t be relieved under conditions they deem to be unacceptable.

As of March 17, 2024, individuals whose only underlying medical condition is mental illness will also be eligible for MAID.

Individuals must also voluntarily request MAID and not be under external pressure while doing so.

Official guidelines say inmates must give “informed consent” before a MAID request is approved.

“However, MAID may be provided to an eligible individual whose natural death is reasonably foreseeable and who has lost the capacity to consent before MAID is provided, on the basis of a prior written agreement the individual entered into with the practitioner,” says the guidelines from the CSC.

CSC also told The Epoch Times that once an inmate requests MAID, they are first referred to “support services,” which it described as “mental health professionals, Chaplains, Elders, etc.”

“The process related to the provision of MAID is comprehensive and contains numerous safeguards to ensure that federally incarcerated individuals are afforded the same rights as all other Canadians,” CSC said.