BC Hospice Seeks ‘Sanctuary’ in Alberta After Government Pulls Funding for Refusing Euthanasia

A B.C. hospice society that had its public funding and building seized by the provincial government for refusing to allow euthanasia on-site is now seeking a “sanctuary” location in rural Alberta for its new facility.

Delta Hospice Society (DHS) President Angelina Ireland said efforts to build a new palliative care home in B.C. have gone nowhere, forcing the society to pursue options elsewhere.

“We’ll go to Alberta, as long as they will have us and allow us freedom,” Ireland told The Epoch Times. She said the new hospice is intended to serve as a “national sanctuary for the living to come and live well until their natural end.”

Ireland said she has already had favourable discussions with Alberta justice and health officials, after asking them if the hospice’s services would be “welcome” in Alberta. “The answer that we had was, ‘yes,'” she said.

A spokesperson for Alberta Justice Minister Mickey Amery confirmed that the society and government have been in talks.

“Alberta government officials recently met with the Delta Hospice Society and are aware of their interest in opening a MAID-free hospice in the province,” said press secretary Heather Jenkins. The government “seeks to build a continuum of care where vulnerable Albertans can live in long-term health and fulfilment,” she said via email.

Jenkins noted that the Alberta government launched a review of medical assistance in dying (MAID) and its regulation last November “to ensure oversight is in place to protect Albertans, particularly those living with disabilities or suffering from mental health challenges.” The results are being reviewed to guide future planning, including potential legislative changes regarding MAID in Alberta, she said.

BC Rules

After MAID was legalized by the federal government in 2016, the B.C. government required hospices that are more than 50 percent publicly funded to provide MAID. Exemptions were available for religiously affiliated hospices, but not for secular ones.

“Putting the patient first is what matters most,” said then-Health Minister Adrian Dix. “Patients make decisions about medical services in consultation with their doctor and their family. No organization can influence this decision or impose it.”

Dix said at the time that he respected anyone’s right to disagree, “and no one has ever required hospice staff to deliver medical assistance in dying, but they must allow eligible residents who want the service to access it.”

The Delta Hospice Society built the Irene Thomas Hospice in Ladner, B.C., in 2008 for $8.5 million. After MAID was legalized, the hospice did not offer it on-site but transferred patients who wanted MAID to a nearby facility. When the B.C. government required the facility to provide MAID on-site, the society refused, saying the practice ran contrary to the foundational ethics of palliative care.

As a result, the hospice lost $1.5 million in annual public funding. After this, Fraser Health, the health authority of the region, severed its operating agreement with DHS and served it with an eviction notice. The hospice was built on Crown land and was too big to move, so DHS had to surrender the property to the government. Subsequent court action by DHS did not yield any changes.

The setback “was very devastating at the time,” said Ireland, but did not end the society’s determination to offer MAID-free hospice care.

“We’ve not only survived, but we’ve been able to raise money to the point now where we’re in a position to be able to open another hospice,” Ireland said.

Donations and years of revenue from the society’s thrift store have left DHS in a position to look at building another hospice, but its convictions are still at odds with the B.C. government, which continues to require all non-religiously affiliated hospices to provide euthanasia to receive government funding.

Ireland said she wrote B.C. Health Minister Josie Osborne on May 26 to ask for a meeting but still hasn’t received a reply.

“We have to move on. We can’t just sit here. They would have us sit here languishing, being able to do nothing until Canada Revenue Agency comes after us, until we lose our charitable status because we’re not providing what we need to be providing as a charity,” Ireland said.

With nearly 80 percent of Alberta hospices in Calgary or Edmonton, the society is keen to build or convert a building in rural Alberta, where Ireland says the need for palliative care is high.

The former hospice taken by the B.C. government was a 12,000 square-foot property with 10 hospice beds, said Ireland, who wants to offer a same-sized building on a one-acre property with room for expansion, ideally a short distance from a hospital.

Ireland says DHS would be willing to convert its other property in Delta, which hosts a thrift store, into a multi-use facility that includes hospice care. However, unless the province changes its policy on MAID-free facilities, this would not be feasible.

In an interview with The Epoch Times, Dr. Anna Kindy, B.C. Conservative MLA for North Island and Opposition health critic, said the province’s insistence that hospices provide MAID onsite represents “government overreach in many aspects of our lives.”

“Palliative care is very personal, and this is not about being for or against MAID,” Kindy said. “It’s about giving people a choice in their palliative care, and no government should limit that choice.”

The way the Delta hospice was dealt with was “unconscionable” because it received no financial restitution for what it had built, she said. She also expressed disappointment that DHS cannot build a hospice in the province, despite having raised the funds to do so. People who don’t want to be in a MAID facility should have that option, she said.

The B.C. health ministry didn’t responded to a request for comment by The Epoch Times.

Then-Minister Dix said in 2020 that the government made the decision to pull funding “reluctantly.”

“We have made every effort to support the board to come into compliance and they have been clear that they have no intention to,” he said.

In March 2021, legislation to broaden MAID eligibility to include those suffering only from mental illness came into force, introduced by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government, though that expansion was delayed for 24 months to allow an expert review to bring forward recommendations on protocols, guidance, and safeguards. In March 2023, the date was extended to March 2024 to allow more time for assessment. In March 2024, it was extended by another three years, to March 2027, over concerns that there should be more rigorous assessment and training.