Veterans Affairs Minister Responds to New Allegations of Veterans Being Offered Unsolicited Assisted Suicide

Veterans Affairs Minister Lawrence MacAulay rises during Question Period, Dec. 14, 2021 in Ottawa. (The Canadian Press/Fred Chartrand)

Veterans Affairs Minister Lawrence MacAulay today responded to several new allegations of veterans being offered unsolicited medical assistance in dying, or MAiD, by at least one of his department’s caseworkers.

MacAulay told MPs on the House of Commons Veterans Affairs Committee that his department is aware of only four cases in which veterans have been offered unsolicited MAiD by Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) employees, whereas the committee said it is aware of at least eight such instances.

“I’m certainly now aware of at least eight veterans who have had this occur and there has been at least three additional case managers or core service agents involved in this,” said Conservative MP Blake Richards during a Commons veterans affairs committee meeting on Dec. 5.

MacAulay said his department has only confirmed four such cases, each of which involved the same VAC employee offering unprompted MAiD to veterans.

MacAulay previously told the committee that the employee no longer has any “interaction with veterans,” but did not directly answer when asked if the employee is still working for VAC.

MacAulay today said he wants any veterans who have been offered unsolicited MAiD by VAC to “come forward.”

“Veterans Affairs does not provide MAiD services at all,” MacAulay told the committee on Dec. 5, adding later that VAC has referred all allegations of unprompted MAiD offers to the RCMP for further investigation.

The Commons veterans affairs committee heard from a veteran last week who alleged that she was offered MAiD by a VAC worker while in the process of trying to obtain a wheelchair ramp for access to her home.

The week prior, an anonymous veteran going by the pseudonym “Bruce” alleged on a podcast that a VAC worker casually raised MAiD as being “always an option” to him when he was struggling with PTSD and suicidal thoughts.

Richards raised this case during a Commons veterans affairs committee meeting on Nov. 24, asking MacAulay if he was aware of it.

MacAulay said he was not aware, adding, “We have very little information on this. I would ask [Bruce] to please contact us.”

Veterans Affairs Deputy Minister Paul Ledwell told the committee today that VAC has recently reviewed 402,000 unique veteran files as part of their investigation efforts into alleged unsolicited MAiD offers.

“We’ve isolated four cases involving one individual [VAC case worker],” said Ledwell. “If there’s other information that needs to come forth that is not represented in those files, we'd like to see that.”

MacAulay added, “What we’re trying to do is get to the bottom of this issue,” later saying, “We need to know the facts.”

Richards later said some veterans may not feel comfortable reaching out to VAC now if they were previously offered MAiD, or if they’ve heard about the allegations.