Original Article By Frank Bergman
The New York Times is demanding that the Canadian government advances it’s rapid expansion of “assisted suicide” laws in order to swiftly euthanize a woman suffering from mental health issues.
It comes as Canada’s spiraling assisted-suicide program is once again under international fire after the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities called on the Canadian government to repeal its planned expansion of euthanasia for those suffering solely from mental illness, a policy critics warn will normalize suicide as “healthcare.”
On March 21, the UN committee published a report urging Canada to repeal “Track 2 MAiD” and halt the scheduled 2027 expansion of assisted death eligibility.
Committee Vice-Chair Rosemary Kayess issued a chilling rebuke, calling Canada’s euthanasia regime a “step back into state-sponsored eugenics.”
Yet just days later, the New York Times ran a nearly 4,000-word feature romanticizing the expansion by presenting the case of 48-year-old comedian Claire Brosseau in a piece titled:
“Claire Brosseau Wants to Die. Will Canada Let Her?”
The framing was unmistakable, and the article bluntly argued that a mentally ill woman with suicidal thoughts now wants the government to affirm, approve, and fund her death.
According to the Times, Brosseau, who describes herself as “deeply loved” and having lived a life full of “riches,” suffers from “debilitating mental illness” and has attempted suicide several times.
When Canada first moved to legalize euthanasia for mental illness, she said she “felt a small, tentative, tendril of relief” that she “could die in a way that did not involve pain or violence, or horror for the people who love her.”
If successful, Brosseau will be euthanized with a doctor-administered lethal injection under Canada’s socialized healthcare system.
The Times downplayed the documented agony endured by families who lose loved ones to assisted suicide, instead echoing the rhetoric of Canada’s powerful euthanasia lobby, Dying with Dignity, portraying Brosseau as an “inadvertent player” in the political fight.
Brosseau is physically healthy, and the Times noted she could live “for decades.”
She has undergone dozens of rounds of treatment for multiple psychiatric diagnoses, including manic depression and chronic suicidal ideation.
She originally planned to apply for euthanasia on March 17, 2023, when eligibility for mental-illness MAiD was first scheduled to begin, before the government postponed the expansion amid intense public backlash and a flood of disturbing euthanasia cases.
Reporter Stephanie Nolen followed Brosseau closely for the feature, documenting that her own psychiatrists cannot even agree on whether she should be approved to die.
University of Toronto psychiatrist Dr. Robinson argued her wish for death is a legitimate choice, even while admitting:
“I would love to change her mind.”
He claimed that refusing assisted suicide would amount to discrimination based on her chronic mental-health condition.
Her other psychiatrist, Dr. Mark Fefergrad, strongly disagrees.
He warned that mental illness is inherently unpredictable, meaning so-called “irremediable suffering” cannot be meaningfully determined.
“I believe she can get well,” Fefergrad said.
Using the common Canadian acronym for medical assistance in dying, he added, “I don’t think MAID is the best or only choice for her.”
Fefergrad said he has watched patients improve in ways no clinician could have anticipated.
“People get better in ways we don’t expect — and surprising, unexpected things happen every day,” he said.
“That doesn’t really happen with a big brain cancer.”
He described a former patient who would likely have qualified for assisted suicide, until an unexpected relationship transformed their life.
Fefergrad also warned of future medical breakthroughs:
“What if Ms. Brosseau chose to die, and then a new drug or procedure was developed that might have been transformative for her.
“That weighs on me as a philosophical question.”
The divide has shaken Canada’s psychiatric community, where many experts oppose MAiD for mental illness and warn that legalizing it will push vulnerable patients toward an irreversible decision at their lowest moments.
The Times report recounts Brosseau’s chaotic history in show business, substance abuse, promiscuity, trauma, and severe depressive episodes, alongside deep distrust of the psychiatric system after a violent hospitalization incident she has refused to process.
Now, Brosseau has withdrawn from loved ones and says:
“I’m not a person. I can’t be in the world.”
Her family still loves her through episodes; none of them wants her to die, but as Nolen noted, they have become worn down by the emotional strain and limited support resources.
To Canada’s euthanasia movement, that reality is treated as justification, rather than an indictment of a broken mental-health system.
Dying with Dignity has reportedly taken Brosseau’s case to court.
If the expansion moves forward, critics warn the floodgates will open — giving suicidal Canadians fast-tracked access to a “solution” from which there is no return.
The Times concludes by directing readers to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline — an ironic coda to a story centered on legalizing suicide for the suicidal.
During the debate over Bill C-218, Conservative MP and suicide survivor Andrew Lawton issued a stark warning to Parliament, citing psychiatrist Dr. John Maher:
“Dr. John Maher testified before Parliament that seven percent of those who attempt suicide die by suicide.
“That means that 93 percent of people who, at one or multiple points, want to end their life eventually get over that.
“The success rate of MAiD is 100 percent.
“By design, this is a policy that will give up on people…
“These are real people.
“There are faces to this. If Bill C-218 does not pass, people will die.”
For critics, including the UN’s disability-rights watchdog, Canada’s euthanasia experiment is no longer about compassion or dignity.
It is about a government that has made suicide easier than treatment, and is now preparing to extend that pathway to those who need help the most.
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