Canada's Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) program has resulted in 76,475 deaths in the first eight years since legalization in 2016, according to a new report published June 10, 2026 by The National Center for Public Policy Research. The study, authored by Mark P. Mostert, Ph.D., senior researcher for Able Americans, concludes that Canada has experienced an explosion of medicalized death that far outpaces the Netherlands and other European countries with similar programs.
The annual death toll from assisted suicide and euthanasia shows a steep and consistent climb since legalization. In 2016, 1,018 Canadians died through MAID. That number jumped to 2,838 in 2017, then 4,493 in 2018, 5,665 in 2019, 7,611 in 2020, 10,092 in 2021, 13,241 in 2022, 15,343 in 2023, and 16,499 in 2024. The report states that legalized assisted suicide and euthanasia are now the fifth leading cause of death in Canada. For comparison, the report notes that over twenty years in the Netherlands, deaths from assisted suicide and euthanasia increased from 1,000 to 9,000, while Canada saw a sixteen-fold increase over just eight years.
According to the report, MAID was initially implemented with specific guidelines: patients had to be at least 18 years old, have decision-making capacity, make a voluntary request with informed consent, and have a medical condition deemed "grievous and irremediable." The report finds that "very soon, however, MAID grew out of control," and describes the program as embodying "the pro-death mantra of 'death anytime, anywhere, for anyone, for any reason.'" The study documents three cases it presents as illustrative of the program's expansion. Miriam Lancaster, a healthy 84-year-old who arrived at an emergency room with back pain, reports that the first doctor who spoke with her offered MAID before any diagnosis was made. She later recovered fully from a hairline fracture with pain medication and exercises. A 51-year-old breast cancer patient was asked about MAID during pre-operative interviews for both her mastectomies, despite not being terminally ill. Christine Gauthier, an army veteran and Paralympian in perfect health, was offered medical assistance in dying by a social worker after years of frustrated attempts to get government funding for a home chairlift.
The report argues that Canada's rapid escalation demonstrates what it calls "the pro-death canard" finally exposed: that programs initially designed for the terminally ill inevitably expand to include people who are simply disabled or need assistance. The study contends that the Canadian experience validates warnings from opponents who predicted a slippery slope before legalization in 2016. The author writes that the promise of "easy death" for very few under highly controlled circumstances "has turned out to be a lie." The report emphasizes the speed of Canada's expansion compared to European countries, suggesting the slope "has become way steeper in Canada" than in nations like the Netherlands that "descended slowly into the complete acceptance of medicalized killing."
The report concludes that Canada's MAID program will "continue to snowball" based on current trends. By presenting the program as fundamentally incompatible with protecting vulnerable populations, the study frames Canada as a cautionary tale for other jurisdictions considering similar legislation. The bottom line: what started as a narrowly defined right for the terminally ill has become, in the author's assessment, a society where offering death as a solution to disability, age, or bureaucratic frustration is now routine medical practice.