As Canada approaches its 10th anniversary of legalizing assisted suicide, the nation is also nearing a record 100,000 deaths by the practice.
Based on the number, so-called Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) is one of the leading causes of death in Canada, making it soon to be the first nation in the modern era to reach over 100,000 in euthanasia deaths. Canada’s yearly total is more than all other countries combined.
The number has gained attention due to Kelsi Sheren, a Canadian anti-MAiD activist who warned of MAiD’s increase in an op-ed.
“MAiD was sold as a narrow option for the terminally ill, a rare mercy,” Sheren wrote in February. “That fiction collapsed long ago. Today, assisted death is a routine outcome for people struggling with disability, isolation, poverty, and mental health challenges and when the world looked at what we’re doing, it didn’t nod approvingly. It recoiled.”
Assisted dying was legalized by Parliament with the passing of Bill C-14 on June 17, 2016.
According to the law, a citizen is eligible to receive MAiD if he or she is 18 or older and has an “incurable illness, disease or disability,” is in “an advanced state of irreversible decline in capability,” and has “enduring and intolerable physical or psychological suffering that cannot be alleviated under conditions the person considers acceptable,” among other requirements.
The law will exclude mental illness until at least March 17, 2027, when a 2024 law—C-62—that added mental illness as a legal condition for euthanasia, is set to become effective if certain government-prescribed training and safety requirements are met by that date.
The number of MAiD deaths had surpassed 76,000 as of December 31, 2024. About 45 people were dying daily by MAiD at the time of the Nov. 2025 Health Canada report, and the annual number of deaths in 2024 was 16,499. At that rate, Canada is on track to surpass 100,000 deaths by the June anniversary of the bill’s passage.
Kiano Vafaeian, a Canadian who suffered from type 1 diabetes, eye issues and seasonal depression, recently took his life by assisted suicide. He died on Dec. 30, 2025, at age 26. His family is calling for reforms.
“We never thought there would be a chance that any doctor would approve a 22- or 23-year-old at that time for MAiD because of diabetes or blindness,” Margarat Marsilla, Vafaeian’s mother, told Fox News Digital.
Permitting assisted death for 20 years, Switzerland has had 8,738 deaths by euthanasia; and Belgium, which permits assisted suicide for those suffering with mental illness, experienced 33,647 deaths across 21 years. Although the population rates are lower than Canada, the rate of such deaths is far below Canada’s levels. Only the Netherlands has a higher rate—5.8 percent of all deaths are by euthanasia, as opposed to 5.1 percent in Canada.
There have been 5,329 deaths by euthanasia in the U.S. across 23 years through laws that differ by state, according to a 2022 study.
