Canada’s Bureau of Veterans Affairs offered to help a Paralympic and veteran commit suicide while trying to install a wheelchair lift in her home, the woman told lawmakers last week.
Christine Gauthier, a 52-year-old retired corporal who competed in the 2016 Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, testified to lawmakers that a VA official had offered – in writing – to provide her with a medically-assisted suicide kit . The case worker remains unnamed but is said to have made similar offers to at least three other veterans, according to the Independent.
“I have a letter saying that if you are that desperate, madam, we can offer you MAID, medical assistance in dying,” Gauthier said at a hearing before the House of Commons’ Veterans Affairs Committee.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemned the incident in a public statement on Friday after Gauthier said she personally wrote him a letter on the matter.
A CANADIAN SOLDIER SUFFERING FROM PTSD IS OFFERED BY VETERANS AFFAIRS EUTHANASIA
LAKE BUENA VISTA, FL – MAY 09: Christine Gauthier waves as she receives the gold medal in the women’s heavyweight powerlifting final at the Invictus Games on May 9, 2016 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. (Photo by Scott Iskowitz/Getty Images for Invictus Games)
The Invictus Games service dogs pose with their owners (left to right) Leonard Anderson, August O’Niell, Luc Martin, Christine Gauthier, Jon Flint, Stefan Leroy and Brett Parks at the Shades of Green May 12, 2016 in Lake Buena Vista , Fla. (Photo by Gustavo Caballero/Getty Images)
“We are conducting investigations and changing protocols to ensure what should seem obvious to all of us: that this is not the place of Veterans Affairs Canada, who should be there to support the people who have worked for their country.” to offer them medical assistance as they die,” Trudeau said.
Canada first approved medically-assisted suicide in 2016, and the parameters for approval have relaxed since then. The law originally legalized assisted suicide only for people who were about to die, but now includes those in severe pain or disability, according to the Independent.
CANADA EXPANDS SUICIDE-ASSISTED ACT TO MENTALLY ILL PERSONS, MAY ALLOW “MATURE MINORS”
Gauthier’s story comes just weeks after a Canadian fashion company glamorized assisted suicide in a commercial.
TORONTO, ON – MARCH 23 – Retired Corporal Christine Gauthier spots retired Corporal Natacha Dupuis. Canadian athletes from Invictus Games during their final day of training before heading off to the 2016 Games. (Carlos Osorio/Toronto Star via Getty Images)
Canadian fashion company La Maison Simons promoted the “beauty” in voluntary euthanasia in a promotional video titled “All is Beauty.” The ad features voiceover from Jennyfer Hatch, a 37-year-old Canadian woman who voluntarily put herself to sleep after suffering from Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome.
“The last breaths are sacred. Even as I seek help to end my life, with all the pain and in these final moments, there is still so much beauty,” Hatch says in the Simons video.
Simons says the ad aimed to “help people reconnect with each other and with that hope and optimism,” which he says is “needed if we’re to build the kind of communities and spaces where.” we want to live in and in which it is pleasant to live.”
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“The ‘All is Beauty’ campaign ended this week. Simons is now entering her annual holiday sprint,” a spokesman for Simons told Fox News Digital. “In this context, all efforts of their teams are focused on holiday activities in store and on the Internet.”
Fox News’ Timothy HJ Nerozzi contributed to this report.
Anders Hagstrom is a reporter at Fox News Digital, covering national politics and breaking breaking news. Send tips to [email protected] or on Twitter: @Hagstrom_Anders.