Canada has experienced a huge rise in deaths by assisted suicide/euthanasia, with a 35 percent increase to some 13,500, according to preliminary analysis of official data.

The country’s health chiefs won’t release their formal tally for some weeks, but data from Ontario, Alberta, Quebec, and Nova Scotia already show steep rises last year.

Based on those numbers, the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, a campaign group, assessed that ‘Medical Assistance in Dying’ (MAiD) cases rose from 10,064 in 2021 to some 13,500 in 2022.

Canada has one of the world’s most permissive assisted suicide programs. Critics say it’s on a perilous road to mass euthanasia and ever-more pressure on the sick, disabled and poor to end their lives prematurely.

Alex Schadenberg, director of the coalition, said euthanasia rates were ‘skyrocketing’ because a ‘heavy promotion of MAiD within our medical system’ had ‘normalized’ lethal injections.