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.

A Christian teaching assistant who was sacked after expressing critical views on transgender books in primary schools has won an appeal.

Kristie Higgs, 46, was accused of gross misconduct and dismissed by Farmor’s School in Fairford, Gloucestershire, in 2019 after sharing Facebook posts criticising plans to teach LGBT+ relationships in primary schools. One of the books to be used was called ‘My Princess Boy’.

Mrs Higgs, supported by the Christian Legal Centre, took the school to an employment tribunal, arguing she had been unlawfully discriminated against because of her Christian beliefs.

In its ruling in 2020, the tribunal concluded that her religion was a “protected characteristic” as defined by the Equality Act, but that the school lawfully dismissed her.

Mrs Higgs appealed against that judgment to the Employment Appeal Tribunal in London, which has now ruled in her favour.

In her judgment, Mrs Justice Eady, president of the Employment Appeal Tribunal, said the question for a future hearing would be whether the school’s decision to sack Mrs Higgs “were because of, or related to, the manifestation of the claimant’s protected beliefs, or were due to a justified objection to the manner of that manifestation”.

Church-goers are less likely to get depression, age more slowly and don’t die as early as others, according to one of Ireland’s leading authorities on ageing.

Principal investigator of The Irish Longitudinal study on Ageing (TILDA), Prof. Rose Anne Kenny told The Irish Catholic that not only would there be social utility in churches reaching out to welcome Ireland’s lonely, but that “it must happen”.

“We’ve certainly shown in Ireland that people who take part in religious practices are less likely to get depression. They seem to have a slowing down of the aging process and they die later – they don’t die as early as people who don’t take part in religious services but also experience loneliness.

Prof. Kenny insisted: “definitely religious services make a difference to social engagement. We’re not sure if it’s the spiritual effect or whether the engaging with others and being involved in part of a community, because we are gregarious animals and we need other people”.

A report by the body on the delivery of Relationship and Sexuality education (RSE) in schools noted that some schools were promoting abstinence before marriage as the most desirable and achievable option, which is in according with the teachings of many world religions. The report claimed that some schools, “actively contributed to the shame and stigma surrounding unplanned pregnancy and abortion, by making statements such as ‘abortion is not a means of contraception and those who knowingly engage in casual sex must bear the consequences of their actions’,” the NIHRC report said.

The accuracy and fairness of the Report has been contested by the Catholic Bishops of the region who said the authors did not engage with teachers in the classroom.

They also called on young people “to challenge the view that they are passive, uninformed and unable to engage confidently and maturely in open debate about all the issues raised in this important part of the school curriculum.”

In a statement, they say the Secretary of State, “now seems determined to impose an ideologically biased view of abortion on all schools, irrespective of parental rights or school ethos”.

The Bishops say there is no such thing as a value-free or ethically neutral approach to the question of when life begins and when a duty arises to protect and care for all human life.

“It is not for a Government to impose one ideological approach on children, parents or on our schools, over others. This is why the right of parents to an education for their children that is an accordance with their ethical, religious and philosophical convictions, is an internationally recognised human right”, they say.

“We call on the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland to respect the internationally recognised rights of parents, and the principles of consultation and devolution in the Good Friday Agreement, and to withdraw this legislation, leaving it to a devolved Assembly to decide, in consultation with parents and educational stakeholders.”

An expansion of assisted suicide in Quebec will result in it having one of the most permissive regimes in the world.

A so-called “right to die” will be given to people who have a “severe physical impairment resulting in a significant and persistent disability”. The new law will also allow people to undergo the procedure in outdoor spaces, including public parks.

In addition, it will also allow people with diagnosed Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia to write advance directives requesting assisted suicide if their condition should decline further.

The updated law sailed through the province’s national assembly last week on a free vote, with just two Liberal MNAs voting against it, while a third abstained.

The new law also allows Quebecers to receive a doctor-assisted death in places other than hospitals, such as funeral homes and long-term care facilities. However, the practice cannot be promoted for commercial purposes and there cannot be any fees associated with receiving MAID.

Rachel Woods, an assistant secretary in the Department of Justice, was addressing the first meeting of the committee on Tuesday.

She said the courts have held that articles 40.1 and 40.3, together, “commit the State to valuing equally the life of all persons”.

“The European Convention on Human Rights provides that everyone’s right to life shall be protected by law. The obligation to safeguard the right to life is why, in the absence of any legal framework to allow for it, the state has, and must have, laws to protect life,” she said.

“The offence of assisting suicide . . . stems from the time when suicide and attempted suicide were criminal offences at common law in Ireland. This meant that any person who was an accessory to a suicide or an attempted suicide could also be tried as if they were a principal offender. “

“While suicide has been decriminalised, the offence of assisting suicide was retained and put on statutory footing. The offence has a maximum penalty of 14 years imprisonment on conviction on indictment.

A  leading journalist has said that the Hate Speech Bill currently before the Seanad is a “dangerous and draconian” piece of legislation under which “anyone could be found guilty” because “hate is criminalised without being defined”.

Dr Helen Joyce, formerly Finance Editor and International Editor with The Economist, addressed a briefing with barrister Lorcan Price, which outlined concerns about the how the Bill “may operate, against a background of ‘cancel culture’, to curtail legitimate freedom of expression on a range of issues — including on gender-related controversies”.

“When a crime has no definition, anyone can be found guilty. And that’s what’s going to happen if this bill becomes law, because it criminalises ‘hate’ without defining it,” Dr Joyce said.

She shared a list of statements with Gript media that she said could be considered crimes if the hate speech bill went through, including “men can’t be women,” and “children should not be given puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones.’

Regarding the gender identity protections in the hate crime bill, Joyce said that “identifying” as a woman was “an entirely male experience.”

“I can’t ‘feel’ like I am a woman, or I was ‘meant to’ be a woman – I just am a woman,” she said. “That’s not hate, it’s just true. And in some circumstances it’s essential to say it.”

Abortions in Scotland rose by nearly a fifth (19%) between 2021 and 2022, when there were 16,584 abortions in total.

The figures were revealed last week by Public Health Scotland and were labelled a “disastrous” death toll by the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child (SPUC).

In 2022, chromosomal conditions were listed 112 times as a reason for abortion in Scotland, including Down’s Syndrome and Edwards’ Syndrome. Nervous system conditions such as spina bifida were listed 54 times.

Such abortions are classified under Ground E, the second most common Statutory Ground, citing a substantial risk that the child born would suffer from physical or mental conditions.

While the rate of Ground E abortions has been relatively minor and constant in recent years – representing 1.6% of abortions in Scotland in 2022 – the listing of Down’s Syndrome as a reason to abort is at a five-year high at 59.

UK law currently allows babies with Down’s Syndrome to be aborted up to birth. Campaigner Heidi Crowter is challenging the law.

Retired Cork GP Dr Sinead Duggan touted the legislative ‘safeguards’ contained in the 2021 law.

“New Zealand’s legislation is very rigorous”, she claimed, “you have to have capacity [to make the choice]. You have to have inevitable death within a short period of time. You can’t approach the patient about it, the patient has to bring up the subject with their doctor – there are a lot of very strict criteria.

“They get a psychiatrist to see if there are mental health issues involved.” However, the law does not require anyone to see a psychiatrist.

Among the legislative requirements, the person must be aged 18 years or over, must suffer from a terminal illness that is likely to end their life within six months, must be in an advanced state of irreversible physical decline and must experience ‘unbearable suffering’.