Canadian MAID program lacks guarantees, says founder of Speaker Nation

A Canadian man’s decision to end his life through the nation’s medically assisted dying program has left his son stunned by how quickly the process happened, and he now warns the system is “far beyond what was appropriate.”

Eric Edmeades, founder of Speaker Nation, a speaker training platform that teaches presentation skills and more, told Fox News Digital this week that his father Baz, who was in his 60s and dealing with a combination of medical issues, began discussing Canada’s medical assistance in dying (MAID) program after his health deteriorated in late 2023.

But what Edmeades hoped would be a months-long process suddenly sped up, leaving the family with little time to prepare.

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Eric Edmeades with his father. (Eric Edméades)

Edmeades said the family began taking the issue seriously in January, but at that point, forecasts predicted it would take at least six months. He and his wife traveled to Vancouver in early 2024 to visit his father. At this point it was still a speculative thing that would last for months.

“And then all of a sudden it was like, ‘No, it’s next week,’” Edmeades recalled.

His father died via MAiD on February 27, 2024.

According to his son, he had experienced a sharp decline in his physical health and independence, particularly during the COVID-19 lockdowns.

“He was incredibly healthy for most of his life,” Edmeades said, describing a combination of symptoms that included epilepsy and neurological pain.

Edmeades also questioned whether interactions between his father’s medications could have contributed to his deteriorating condition.

“When the lockdowns came, and he couldn’t go out and walk all the time, it really had a marked decrease in his physical abilities and his sense of freedom and all that kind of stuff,” he said.

“And then there came this moment where life started to seem pointless to him,” Edmeades said.

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Eric Edmeades with his father and family in Vancouver. (Eric Edméades)

Edmeades said her father had talked about suicide before, making his initial interest in medically assisted dying less surprising to the family.

“Given that it wasn’t the first time he’d talked about suicide in his life, it wasn’t particularly shocking, but he also didn’t talk about it in really alarmist terms. So I wasn’t too worried about it,” he said.

Edmeades and his wife had already planned a trip to Vancouver and were able to spend time with his father before his death.

“And one of the things that I’m incredibly grateful for is that I happened to have booked a trip to Vancouver, and my wife and I were able to spend some time with him,” Edmeades recalls.

He thought he and his wife would have another opportunity to visit them.

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Eric Edmeades with his father. (Eric Edméades)

Edmeades said he was not in contact with his father’s medical providers at the time and did not fully understand what happened until afterward.

“It happened so quickly that I only started to piece together what happened once it was done,” he said.

Other family members and friends had also expressed concerns about her father’s decision, according to Edmeades. He recalled that his brother openly opposed the decision and that one of his father’s close friends spent about 45 minutes discussing the issue with him during his final days.

“At that point, you know, for him, the decision was made,” Edmeades said.

That experience led Edmeades to question whether Canada’s assisted-dying program has adequate safeguards.

He acknowledged that there may be circumstances in which medical assistance in dying is appropriate, but argued that Canada’s implementation has gone too far.

“What I see happening in Canada is more than appropriate,” he said.

Edmeades also expressed concerns about the government’s role in monitoring the system, arguing that decisions regarding eligibility should be insulated from political influence and possible financial incentives.

“If I had to push a button and decide whether or not the MAiD program exists, I would say this,” Edmeades said. “That should only exist if, and I mean if the process of approving people, was completely independent of government, and there could be no benefit to those people in making that preference in making that decision. Because otherwise, there’s a slippery slope, and we see that slippery slope.”

According to the Government of Canada, people who request medical assistance in dying (MAID) must be at least 18 years old, capable of making their own medical decisions and eligible for publicly funded health care. They must also voluntarily request the procedure without external pressure and give informed consent. To be eligible, applicants must suffer from a serious and incurable illness, condition or disability, experience an advanced and irreversible decline in their abilities, and be confronted with persistent physical or psychological suffering that they consider intolerable and which cannot be relieved in a manner acceptable to them.

On October 27, 2026, the government also announced legislation that would allow advance requests while preventing the planned expansion of eligibility for MAID to people whose only underlying medical problem is mental illness.

According to the BBC, Canada’s MAiD law, which legalized euthanasia in 2016, is responsible for one in 20 deaths in Canada.

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Canada’s MAID law legalized euthanasia in 2016. (Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

A Canadian Medical Association Journal report covered by EWTN News claims that implementing assisted suicide will “save” the Canadian health care system between $34.7 million and $136.8 million per year. The study noted that patients and doctors should not consider costs when making such serious decisions.

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Ian McLeod, senior media relations advisor and senior advisor to the Department of Justice Canada, said: “Canadian law is extremely clear: medical assistance in dying (MAID) requires a voluntary request, the absence of external pressure and the informed consent of the person, among other rigorous eligibility criteria and safeguards.

McLeod continued: “Under the current structure of medical assistance in dying found in the Criminal Code of Canada, the mental illness exclusion is intended to exclude eligibility for medical assistance in dying on the basis of mental illness, including suicidal ideation. The proposed amendment to the exclusion of mental illness in Bill C-41, the Medical Assistance in Dying Safeguards Act, which was introduced on October 27, 2026, aims to strengthen this.

McLeod added: “That is why the bill reinforces that, in situations where a person has a mental illness and a qualifying medical condition (for example, a physical or neurodegenerative condition), eligibility must be determined based on the qualifying medical condition.

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Physician-assisted suicide is legal in 14 U.S. jurisdictions (13 states and Washington, DC). (Thomas Jansen-Lonnquist for the Washington Post)

McLeod said patients whose natural death is not reasonably foreseeable must undergo eligibility assessments by two independent physicians or nurse practitioners, with at least 90 full days between the start of the first assessment and assistance in dying.

According to McLeod, this waiting period can be shortened if both assessments are complete, if both practitioners agree that the patient is at imminent risk of losing the capacity to consent, and if the practitioner providing MAID determines that a shorter period is appropriate.

McLeod noted that federal requirements establish minimum safeguards, while provinces and territories oversee how MAID is administered and can impose additional protections. He said questions regarding monitoring and implementation of the program should therefore be directed to provincial or territorial authorities.