By Joshua Gilman:

Ever since stories started coming out about people who were choosing assisted suicide not because they wanted to die but because society couldn’t help them live, I have felt sick to my stomach more than once.

When I listened to Justice Minister David Lametti discuss how the government was obligated to help people commit suicide who couldn’t physically do it themselves, my skin crawled.

He literally said this. It sounds made up and crazy. If you asked me to come up with a fake quote to make the pro-MAiD side look horrible, I couldn’t come up with that.

But nothing made me feel as much emotion, as much frustration as watching my friend Mike Schouten testify before parliament about the death of his son.

You see, Mike really loved his son. Markus died just six months ago, and Mike and his wife Jennifer were there to talk about how much Markus’ life was worth. Mike and Jennifer and their whole family treasured Markus for every second of his life. Even when it was inconvenient, even when it was expensive.

Despite the at-times hostile and rude questions from Senators and Members of Parliament, Mike kept on repeating how the option to commit assisted suicide would turn into pressure to commit assisted suicide. The majority of Senators and MPs on the committee refused to accept this sentiment.

But Mike is 100% right. The reality was the elected officials wanted to discuss choice and choice alone. But we don’t make choices outside of reality and the reality is that caring for people in intense suffering is expensive.

One of the reasons why people commit suicide is because they believe themselves to be a burden to their loved ones. They think people would be better off without them.

If we are going to tell young people that it is perfectly acceptable to just end their life, how are they not going to feel pressure to do so when the effort and expense is so high? By every metric, they are indeed burdensome. 

The message we SHOULD be sending is that we bear that burden joyfully. That their life is worth every penny, every extended shift, every sleepless night someone has to spend to sit with them.

Dear reader. Your life matters. And if you ever wonder if you are worth the effort, then I beg you to focus on my friend Mike’s face as he speaks of his son's final days. It is grief-stricken, it is sorrowful, it was the hardest thing he’s ever done, but look closely and you will see gratitude. I know that if I asked Mike today if he would do it all again. The effort, the time, the pain, he would say it was all worth it.

Dear readers, your life is worth it. Your government, the courts, and so-called “MAiD experts” may tell you differently. But that’s not the case. 

Just ask Mike and Jennifer.

Raise your voice against increased access to assisted suicide! Sign the petition!