Canadian radio host suggests assisted suicide as ‘liberation’ for people with mental illness

A Canadian radio host and former politician is under fire from disability rights advocates after he suggested on air that assisted suicide could be a form of “liberation” for people with mental illness. On May 15, Luc Ferrandez suggested Canada’s Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) be used as a “solution” to “put an end to the pain” of certain individuals who reside in permanent institutional care.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• Last week, radio host and former politician Luc Ferrandez suggested on air that MAiD should be made available to certain individuals living with mental illness.

• Former Deputy Premier Nathalie Normandeau appeared on the radio show with Ferrandez and agreed with his comments.

• RAPLIQ, a Montreal-based disability rights advocacy group, issued a statement condemning Ferrandez’s words.

WHAT HAPPENED:

During a broadcast, Canadian radio host and former politician Luc Ferrandez suggested that MAiD should be extended to include people with mental illness as a “solution” to their suffering. Ferrandez believes a committee of experts should be assembled to determine if a person should die “in cases where, for example, someone no longer has any parents, people who were abandoned … people who no longer receive visits … no longer have any joy in life, they have no more interest in living, who live in permanent suffering.” Even more disturbingly, he made the suggestion based on the real life of a woman with intellectual disabilities.

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Ferrandez was ‘inspired,’ so to speak, by a La Presse investigation into a young woman named Florence (a pseudonym). Florence is 24 years old, but has the mental abilities of a small child. After the Quebec government failed to meet her needs, including potentially placing her into an institution where she could be cared for, she was eventually arrested for stealing food from a neighbor and then put into solitary confinement for eight days, even as she repeatedly soiled herself.

Outside of prison, Florence has no awareness of danger, and will wander off — easily becoming lost, or in some cases, almost getting hit by cars as she runs into the road. Florence has Prader-Willi Syndrome, a genetic condition that causes cognitive and developmental delays along with insatiable hunger. Even though she gets enough to eat, Florence never feels satisfied, which can cause her to overeat to an extreme degree, leading to more health problems. This unsatisfiable hunger is what led her to steal food from a neighbor; police had been called to the group home she was living in 41 times in less than two years. Yet no intervention was taken to provide Florence with better care.

“Despite pressure from the residence’s workers and the community workers from the 48th district police station, the treatment team in charge of [Florence’s] case refuses to relocate her to a resource that would be better suited to her needs,” a police report said.

Florence, who does not know her own age and cannot remember her phone number, was still imprisoned, without even notifying her mother, who was trying desperately to find out what happened to her daughter. “What she went through was horrific,” her mother said.

Her lawyer added, “Would society accept putting a child in the hole for a week? To ask the question is to answer it.”

Yet for Ferrandez, the answer to this atrocity was not better care for Florence. Instead, it was for her to be killed, even against her will. “How does the law have the right to say ‘no’? How does the state have the right to say ‘no’?” he asked, suggesting that people like Florence should be frozen in their beds as a way to “end their pain.”

Ferrandez is not a no-name minor politician, either; he is a former mayor and leader of the Projet Montréal political party. He also made these suggestions alongside Nathalie Normandeau, former deputy premier, who agreed with him. These words carry weight.

It’s no surprise, then, that RAPLIQ, a Montreal-based disability rights advocate, issued a statement condemning Ferrandez’s remarks:

We are shaken. Outraged. And above all, we refuse to stay silent. This week, on 98.5 FM, Luc Ferrandez and Nathalie Normandeau crossed a red line. Faced with the tragic situation of Florence, a young woman with an intellectual disability who was imprisoned due to a lack of adequate resources, these two former political figures turned commentators seriously considered — out loud — that the “solution” might be… death.

Not better care.

Not increased support.

Not restored dignity.

But the chilling idea of a gentle disappearance, administered, disguised as liberation.

In its statement, the group accused Ferrandez of promoting eugenics. “To speak of euthanasia with logistical calm, as if it were a measure of social efficiency, is to deny the value of different lives,” it said. “It is to slip down a eugenic slope, the very same that has led history into the abyss.”

THE BIG PICTURE:

These concerns aren’t just hypothetical. One father in Canada has been fighting to save the life of his autistic daughter, who has repeatedly been approved for MAiD. In addition, countless veterans have been told by doctors to undergo assisted suicide after they sought mental health care. This is all taking place amid a backdrop of systemic ableism, which the United Nations has repeatedly condemned.

On top of trying to kill people with disabilities, the euthanasia lobby is — once again — trying to make children eligible for MAiD. Two years ago, a parliamentary committee began considering this idea with little progress, and the pro-assisted suicide group Dying With Dignity Canada appears to be getting restless.

Kelsi Sheren, a veteran, author, and public speaker, shared photos of pro-assisted suicide propaganda made available by Dying with Dignity Canada at an addiction treatment facility:

So when minor children (likely teenagers) are seeking help for addiction, they will be fed the idea of committing suicide instead.

THE BOTTOM LINE:

Surveys have found that many Canadians are worried about people considering MAiD… not because they’re dying, but because they are financially or socially vulnerable, and can’t get access to the care they need. And Canadians have every right to be concerned, because that’s exactly what’s happening.