In a shocking cautionary tale warning of the dangers of government-assisted suicide, a disabled veteran requested assistance in having a wheelchair ramp built at her home. Instead, the Canadian Veterans Affairs employee offered to send a suicide kit.
Christine Gauthier is a 52-year-old retired corporal who is paraplegic after injuring her back in a training exercise. Far from giving up, she is also a paralympian who competed in the 2016 games in Rio de Janeiro.
This troubling incident began five years ago when she submitted a request to have a wheelchair ramp installed. What she received was entirely different.
Testifying before the House of Commons veterans affairs committee last week, Gauthier recounted that a caseworker offered in writing to provide her a Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) kit.
As she told lawmakers, the letter stated that “if you’re so desperate, madam, we can offer you MAID, medical assistance in dying.” And even more troubling, this is far from an isolated incident.
Retired Canadian army veteran Corporal Christine Gauthier was offered ASSISTED DEATH because she complained at how long it was taking to install a stairlift in her home.
This is Trudeau’s Canada
I feel sick .. 😞 pic.twitter.com/ViI0WdXkHU
— Janey (@_Janey_J) December 4, 2022
A caseworker for the department who is now suspended reportedly gave the same advice to several veterans.
The shocked Gautheir followed up by writing to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and explaining the letter she received from Veterans Affairs. For his part, the prime minister called the response “absolutely unacceptable.”
He added that “it is not the place of Veterans Affairs Canada, who are supposed to be there to support people who stepped up to serve their country, to offer them medical assistance in dying.”
Another government official, Veterans Minister Lawrence MacAulay, reported that at least four veterans said that a person with the agency offered them medically assisted suicide kits. He said last week that he “condemn(s) this behavior in the strongest terms.”
Instead, agency personnel are to treat veterans “with care, compassion, and respect.” He went on to call the actions of the employee “simply disgusting.”
A surefire way to recognize the level of decency in a nation is how it treats its most vulnerable, and in particular disabled veterans. Canadian socialism, in offering death to those who sacrificed for the good of the country, has a long way to go.
