More than 1% of deaths in Canada last year were medically assisted

At least 6749 people in Canada have chosen to end their own lives with medical assistance since the practice was legalised nationally in June 2016.

In the first 10 months of last year, according to new government figures, 2614 people died with medical assistance, which the health ministry estimates represented 1.12% of Canadian deaths during that period.1

But those figures underestimate the true proportion, the government’s latest interim report noted. The large province of Quebec, which has its own assisted dying law, did not contribute data to the latest national figure as it is working on …