MPs Hear of Sixth Allegation of Federal Department Offering Unsolicited Assisted Suicide to Veteran

Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence Lawrence MacAulay rises during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on March 25, 2022. Patrick Doyle/The Canadian Press

A sixth veteran has alleged that she was offered unprompted medical assistance in dying, or MAiD, by a federal department responsible for providing medical care and rehabilitation to those who have served in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF).

Christine Gauthier, a retired CAF corporal and a former team-Canada Paralympian at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, told the House of Commons Veterans Affairs committee yesterday that she previously received a letter from Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) offering her MAiD.

“I have a letter saying that, ‘If you were so desperate, madam, we can offer you medical assistance in dying,’” Gauthier told the committee in French on Dec. 1.

Gauthier, who suffered a back injury during a training exercise in 1989, said she had initially contacted VAC to obtain a wheelchair ramp for her home. After being offered MAiD, Gauthier said she wrote a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office informing him of the incident.

Quebec's Christine Gauthier competes in the women's para-nordic sit ski event at the 2011 Canada Games in Windsor, N.S. on Monday, Feb. 21, 2011. The Canadian Press/Andrew Vaughan

Gauthier told the committee she would provide them with a copy of the letter.

“Who offered you that?” asked Bloc Québécois MP Luc Desilets, referring to the VAC’s offer of MAiD to Gauthier. “Is that a case manager who did that?”

“Yes,” Gauthier replied.

The same committee heard last week from Veterans Affairs Minister Lawrence MacAulay that his department is aware of four other allegations of veterans being offered unsolicited MAiD by a VAC employee.

During the committee meeting on Nov. 24, Conservative MP Blake Richards informed MacAulay of yet another similar allegation of which the minister had not been aware.

“We have very little information on this,” said MacAulay when informed of the fifth allegation.

Gauthier’s testimony Thursday brings the total number of such allegations since the summer up to six.

‘One Single Employee’

MacAulay told the Veterans Affairs committee last week that all known unsolicited offers of MAiD to veterans by his department came from “one single employee,” who he said is no longer working as a case manager with veterans.

“We remain confident that this is all related to one single employee and is not a widespread or a systemic issue,” MacAulay said.

Richards asked the minister if the employee still works for VAC, to which MacAulay replied that the employee “has no interaction with veterans.”

“It sounds like they certainly are still employed and they shouldn’t be,” Richards said.

Mark Meincke, a retired CAF corporal, told the same committee in late October that he spoke to one of the anonymous veterans who was allegedly offered unprompted MAiD by VAC.

Meincke provided details relayed to him of the veteran’s phone conversation with VAC.

“During his original phone call with the VAC service agent, somehow in that conversation he was told, ‘We’ve done it [MAiD] before and we can do it for you, and the one that we’ve done it for and has completed MAiD, we are now supporting his wife and two children,'” Meincke said.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau yesterday addressed the allegations against VAC during a press conference, calling the incidents “absolutely unacceptable.”

“The issue of medical assistance in dying is a deeply personal, extraordinarily-difficult choice that individuals and families need to make in the most thoughtful and best-supported way possible,” he told reporters in London, Ont., on Dec. 1. “We understand that.”