Lack of detention space could force CBSA to release detainees, internal memo warns
The Canada Border Services Agency is scrambling to find space to hold high-risk detainees that are set to be transferred from provincial jails in June.
More Canadians are ending their lives with a medically-assisted death, says the third federal annual report on medical assistance in dying (MAID). Data shows that 10,064 people died in 2021 with medical aid, an increase of 32 per cent over 2020.
The report says that 3.3 per cent of all deaths in Canada in 2021 were assisted deaths. On a provincial level, the rate was higher in provinces such as Quebec, at 4.7 per cent, and British Columbia, at 4.8 per cent.
“It is rising remarkably fast," University of Toronto law professor Trudo Lemmens, who was a member of the Council of Canadian Academies Expert Panel on Medical Assistance in Dying, wrote in an email to CTV News. He noted that some regions in the country have quickly matched or surpassed rates in Belgium and the Netherlands, where the practice has been in place for over two decades.
Advocates say it isn't surprising because Canadians are growing more comfortable with MAID and some expect the rising rates may level off.
"The.... expectation has always been it (the rate) will be something around four to five per cent, (as in) Europe. We will probably, in the end, saw off at around the same rate," said Dr. Jean Marmoreo, a family physician and MAID provider in Toronto.
The report uses data collected from files submitted by doctors, nurse practitioners and pharmacists across the country involving written requests for MAID.
Among the findings:
Documents show that 81 per cent of written applications for MAID were approved.
Thirteen per cent of patients died before MAID could be provided, with almost two per cent withdrawing their application before the procedure was offered.
Four per cent of people who made written applications for medical assistance were rejected. The report says some were deemed ineligible because assessors felt the patient was not voluntarily applying for MAID. The majority of requests were denied because patients were deemed not mentally capable of making the decision.
But other countries with long-established programs reject far more assisted death requests, said Lemmens, citing data that shows 12 to 16 per cent of applicants in the Netherlands are told no.
"It ....may be an indication that restrictions (in my view safeguards) are weaker here than in the most liberal euthanasia regimes,” he wrote in his email to CTV News.
But Marmoreo, who has offered MAID since 2016, sees Canada’s low rejection rate differently.
"It is more like that the right cases are put forward," she said.
"We have a very good screening process right from the get-go. So before people actually even make a formal request to have assisted dying, they have a lot of information that's been given to them by the intake....here's what's involved in seeking an assisted death, you must meet these eligibility criteria."
The Canada Border Services Agency is scrambling to find space to hold high-risk detainees that are set to be transferred from provincial jails in June.
American millionaire Jonathan Lehrer, one of two men charged in the killings of a Canadian couple in Dominica, has been denied bail.
Guitar legend Dickey Betts, who co-founded the Allman Brothers Band and wrote their biggest hit, 'Ramblin' Man,' has died. He was 80.
Most Canadians in March reported feeling angry or pessimistic towards the federal government than at any point in the last six years, according to a survey by Nanos Research.
Ontario Provincial Police say they have 'disrupted' an organized crime group that allegedly used an emergency grandparent scam to defraud seniors across Canada out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
A Google Drive link allegedly containing 17 tracks that are purportedly from Swift's eagerly awaited "The Tortured Poets Department" album has been making the rounds on the internet in the past day and people are equal parts mad, sad and happy about it.
A motion to reverse a ban on the keffiyeh within Queen’s Park failed to receive unanimous consent Thursday just moments after Ontario Premier Doug Ford reiterated his view that prohibiting the garment in the House is divisive.
The journey to home ownership can be exciting, but personal finance columnist Christopher Liew warns about the trappings of becoming 'house poor' -- where an overwhelming portion of your income is devoured by housing costs. Liew offers some practical strategies to maintain better financial health while owning a home.
Calgary police say Winston Campbell, 45, has been charged in the death of a two-year-old girl in 2022.
Molly Knight, a grade four student in Nova Scotia, noticed her school library did not have many books on female athletes, so she started her own book drive in hopes of changing that.
Almost 7,000 bars of pure gold were stolen from Pearson International Airport exactly one year ago during an elaborate heist, but so far only a tiny fraction of that stolen loot has been found.
When Les Robertson was walking home from the gym in North Vancouver's Lower Lonsdale neighbourhood three weeks ago, he did a double take. Standing near a burrow it had dug in a vacant lot near East 1st Street and St. Georges Avenue was a yellow-bellied marmot.
A moulting seal who was relocated after drawing daily crowds of onlookers in Greater Victoria has made a surprise return, after what officials described as an 'astonishing' six-day journey.
Just steps from Parliament Hill is a barber shop that for the last 100 years has catered to everyone from prime ministers to tourists.
A high score on a Foo Fighters pinball machine has Edmonton player Dave Formenti on a high.
A compound used to treat sour gas that's been linked to fertility issues in cattle has been found throughout groundwater in the Prairies, according to a new study.
While many people choose to keep their medical appointments private, four longtime friends decided to undergo vasectomies as a group in B.C.'s Lower Mainland.
A popular highway in Alberta's Banff National Park now has a 'no stopping zone' to help protect two bears.