Ten insights from CM’s online event about MAID
End-of-life care, current legislation and faith were the focus of an online panel discussion about medical assistance in dying (MAID) that Canadian Mennonite hosted last month. The event included Lisa Heinrichs, a Master of Divinity student at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary who is specializing in chaplaincy; and Rhonda Wiebe, who has advocated as a member…
Bill to limit MAID criteria fails
Parliament narrowly defeated a bill that would have prevented the expansion of eligibility for medical assistance in dying (MAID). On October 18, 167 MPs voted against Bill C-314 while 150 voted for it. The private members bill was sponsored by Ed Fast, Conservative MP for Abbotsford. That means that on March 17, 2024, people who…
Choosing death
My sister Helen is a retired nurse who spent much of her career working with palliative patients. In the last few years of her working life, she encountered medical assistance in dying (MAID). Though it was a steep learning curve for everyone on the floor and was seen by some as being very much at…
The gift of life, the question of death
Robert Bruinsma remembers the day his friend, Sam, told him he was going to die. It was a few days before Christmas 2017, and Bruinsma was visiting Sam (not his real name) in the hospital. Sam told Bruinsma that his request for medical assistance in dying (MAID) had been approved and would be carried out…
Pastor uses medical assistance to die
Before his death in November 2019, John Regehr of Winnipeg said he wanted to start a discussion about death and dying. Regehr, 93, a former Canadian Mennonite Brethren pastor and professor at Mennonite Brethren Bible College (a founding college of Canadian Mennonite University), did just that when he chose to die using medical assistance in…
Can we talk about MAID?
In June 2016, the government of Canada enacted legislation that enabled eligible adults to seek medical assistance in dying (MAID). At the time, I followed some of the debate with many questions and a mixture of hope and dread. My questions included the incongruity of lodging the matter with healthcare professionals, who are committed to…
‘Living our values’
When members of the Canadian Mennonite Health Assembly gathered at Menno Place in Abbotsford in early November 2018 to discuss this year’s theme, “Living our values,” medical assistance in dying (MAiD) was on the agenda. During the business session, members drafted the following statement: “The Canadian Mennonite Health Assembly, as a faith-based organization, believes: All…
Is ‘you do you’ an ethical base for living?
When discussing the question of ethics in the church or in society at large, there is an increasing cacophony of voices laying claim to the ideological space governing the collective sense of right and wrong. What’s more, the loudest and most prominent voices tend to drive home the idea that what is right for one…
