Canadian nonprofit to offer alternatives to 'economic euthanasia'

In Canada, medical assistance in dying (MAiD) is legal, and in a growing number of cases, people are pursuing it not because they want to die, but because they cannot afford to live.

A new organization is trying to change that.

Key Takeaways:

• A Canadian nonprofit called Right to Live is raising $600,000 to offer real alternatives for people pursuing assisted death for economic or social reasons.

• Experts warn that existing data fails to capture how many assisted deaths are driven by poverty, loneliness, or lack of social support rather than illness alone.

• Of the 16,499 assisted deaths recorded in Canada in 2024, 732 fell under Track 2, meaning the patient’s death was not imminent.

The Details:

Right to Live was founded in 2023 by Eric Holmes after he began noticing a pattern: Canadians were pursuing medically assisted death not because they were dying, but because poverty and lack of support had left them feeling they had no other option.

One case that prompted Holmes to act involved a woman identified only as Sophia, who died by assisted suicide in 2022 after two years of failed attempts to find affordable housing compatible with her Multiple Chemical Sensitivity.

Holmes is now seeking $600,000 to launch a pilot program that would identify people in that situation, connect them with “viable alternatives,” and fund the support needed to make those alternatives real.

“I wouldn’t define our organization as against MAiD,” Holmes said. “More so seeking to restore choice by offering the most competitive options possible.”

Why It Matters:

The concern is not hypothetical. Dr. Sonu Gaind, a University of Toronto medicine professor, said current data collection fails to capture how many Track 2 cases — those where death is not imminent — are driven by social suffering rather than illness alone.

Are we READY? Experts clash over MAiD for mental illness

“About half of all the people on Track 2 suffer from significant loneliness and feeling a burden on others,” Gaind said. “Those are strong suicide risk factors.”

Gaind also noted that Track 2 patients skew female and tend to be less financially stable than Track 1 patients, a disparity that reveals the gap between what the program promises and who it is actually serving.

“If there exists some possible future that a person would rather prefer to live, and we can help facilitate that – that would be the ideal choice,” said Holmes.