By Fr. Shenan J. Boquet, Human Life International, April 27, 2026
As president of Human Life International, Fr. Boquet is a leading expert on the international pro-life and family movement, having journeyed to nearly 90 countries on pro-life missions over the last decade. Father Boquet works with pro-life and family leaders in 116 counties that partner with HLI to proclaim and advance the Gospel of Life. Read his full bio here.
“Euthanasia is a false solution to the drama of suffering, a solution that is not worthy of man. The real answer cannot be, in fact, to give death, as ‘gentle’ as this may be, but to testify to the love that helps us to face pain and agony in a humane way.” ― Pope Benedict XVI, Angelus Address, February 1, 2009
On March 24, Jocelyn Downie, a leading activist for assisted suicide and euthanasia, and professor emerita at Dalhousie University, appeared before Canada’s Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying.
There, she urged legislators to proceed with the planned 2027 expansion of so-called medical assistance in dying (MAiD) to individuals whose sole underlying medical condition is mental illness. If the Canadian government does not legalize euthanasia for the mentally ill, she said, the mentally ill will just kill themselves anyway. “What will happen, if there is an extension or an exclusion,” she told the committee, “is that people will die by suicide.” ….