Jordan Peterson, the world-famous psychologist and social commentator, spoke out against assisted suicide at a speaking event in Ottawa this week.
“I don’t trust the people who can’t give you a passport in two weeks to decide whether or not grandma gets to live”, said Dr Peterson, who also referenced his own battle against mental illness suicide.
During his depression and recent struggles, he related, there were times, indeed, when he would have been tempted to press a red button to end his life.
But Dr Peterson, from Canada, overcame his inner turmoil and now advocates “strength in the face of adversity”.
Dr Peterson has also been a noted critic of a number of his native country’s controversial policies, including assisted suicide.
Assisted suicide in Canada – a shocking death toll
Last year, it was revealed that over 10,000 Canadians were killed by assisted suicide in 2021 alone, bringing the total number of assisted deaths in Canada to over 30,000 since assisted suicide was introduced in 2016.
Even The Lancet, the noted medical journal, commented on the “worryingly high number” of assisted suicides in Canada after the expansion of the nation’s Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD).
Numerous horror stories have since come out of Canada attesting to the “slippery slope” that is MAiD. One such story involved a Canadian ex-soldier, suffering from PTSD, who offered assisted suicide through a veteran hotline, which left him feeling “betrayed”.
In another case, a woman known only as Denise, 31, was conditionally approved for assisted suicide after failing to secure suitable accommodation because of “abject poverty”.
Meanwhile, a doctor in Canada boasted that she had helped kill 400 people through assisted suicide, and that she saw “loneliness and poverty” as good enough reasons to justify her actions.
Despite such cases causing widespread alarm throughout Canada, politicians are still seeking to extend assisted suicide to the mentally ill.
SPUC’s Michael Robinson, Executive Director (Public Affairs and Legal Services), said: “Wherever assisted suicide is imposed on a people it fast becomes the go-to response for ‘treating’ illness, old age, mental illness and even poverty.
“We have seen it before, it is happening now, and we must do all we can to speak out against it, as Dr Peterson has done.
“But we must all speak out on behalf of the vulnerable, whether we hold a place of position and influence, like Dr Peterson, or are just concerned citizens seeing what has already happened in Canada – and not wishing to see it happen here in the UK.
“Please consider signing our petition (see below). We must act now before it is too late.”
Please sign SPUC's petition against assisted suicide
Canada’s approach to assisted suicide shows how laws of this nature are inherently unsafe, unpredictable and unethical. We cannot allow this to happen in the UK.
Please consider signing our online petition, “Reject Any Move to Legalise Assisted Suicide”, by clicking the link here.
We must send a strong message to our political leaders that assisted suicide is a dangerous and unethical practice that must never be legalised in any part of the UK. Please sign the petition now.