Over 20 Military Veterans Have Been Offered Euthanasia, Committee Hears

A Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) veteran says she is aware of at least 20 veterans who have been offered unsolicited medical assistance in dying (MAID) by Veterans Affairs, which is higher than the four cases the department has publicly acknowledged.

CAF veteran and performance coach Kelsi Sheren told MPs on the House of Commons veterans affairs committee that she has evidence that “over 20 veterans have confirmed being offered MAID.”

“I have the proof, and I have proof of more,” Sheren told the committee on Oct. 28.

Under questioning from Conservative MP Blake Richards, Sheren said over 20 veterans have provided written testimonies or audio recordings of being offered MAID unprompted, and some case managers from Veterans Affairs have admitted to offering the procedure.

“We also have other individuals who are too afraid to come forward because Veterans Affairs has threatened their benefits,” Sheren said, adding that other veterans were offered non-disclosure agreements and “payouts if they were to take it.”

Richards said he had heard of similar instances and asked Sheren if she could provide the committee with evidence to substantiate her allegations. Sheren said the veterans are afraid for their families and careers and said they would only speak to her if they were in the United States.

In a statement to The Epoch Times, a spokesperson from Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) said it “takes these matters very seriously,” and all allegations surrounding MAID are investigated.

“Providing advice on MAID is not a VAC service. Our employees have no role or mandate to recommend or raise it. Veterans Affairs Canada will continue to review any allegations brought forward,” VAC said.

Back in March 2023, Veterans Affairs released a report that said an internal investigation found four incidents in which MAID was “inappropriately raised” by department staff. The report said all of these incidents stemmed from one employee who is no longer with the department, and concluded that “this is not a widespread, systemic issue.”

The investigation into allegations of inappropriate conversations with veterans about MAID came after a military veteran revealed in 2022 they were offered MAID unsolicited by a VAC agent during a phone call. The unnamed veteran said they had been seeking treatment for a traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder.

In October 2022, the veterans affairs committee heard from another witness that said a VAC agent had told a veteran unprompted that he could receive MAID. CAF veteran and former Paralympian Christine Gauthier also told the committee in December 2022 that she was offered the procedure while seeking help to get a new wheelchair platform lift installed at her home.

In April 2025, another CAF veteran who served two tours in Afghanistan told the podcast Operation Tango Romeo that he was offered MAID by VAC in 2019.

Liberal MP and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Veterans Affairs Sean Casey noted the committee is studying suicide among veterans and how to prevent further instances. He told the committee that counselling MAID is “not within the mandate” of VAC, and if Sheren’s allegations of additional offers of the procedure can be substantiated, “we owe it to the veterans community to bring that forward, to have it investigated, and to have it dealt with.”

Veterans Call for Reforms

Veterans appearing before the committee also called for other reforms in veterans’ services.

Gauthier told the committee on Oct. 28 that after she obtained the authorization from VAC to have a wheelchair lift installed at her house, it took five years to have the elevator installed. She also said she has yet to be compensated for the money she paid to the contractor.

Shaun Fynes, a retired chief security officer for the government of British Columbia, told the committee that his son Stuart served in the CAF and was deployed to Bosnia and Afghanistan. Fynes said Stuart suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and substance abuse, and had attempted suicide five times before he ultimately took his own life at CFB Edmonton in 2008.

Fynes said Stuart had asked to go into a treatment program, but was instead ordered to return to base. Fynes said his son was put under an “ad hoc version of defaulters discipline, and it shamed and humiliated him.” He said Stuart was informed the day before he took his life that he would not be accepted into the treatment program.

Fynes said while the CAF has undergone a “complete paradigm shift” around PSTD and suicide, Parliament should take steps to honour all fallen CAF soldiers equally, regardless of whether their death occurred in combat or as a result of psychological wounds afterward.

“We differentiate fallen soldiers by physical versus mental injury. If they died overseas, even by suicide, they are honoured as fallen soldiers. In contrast, if they brought the war home and died later by suicide, they are discarded. Their names are not to be found on any granite memorials,” Fynes said.

Sheren said the Canadian government does not officially track veteran suicides, similar to Australia and the United Kingdom, but said tracking is key to understand the scope of the issue. She noted the United States does track the information, where the latest data indicates at least 17 U.S. veterans die by suicide per day.

The latest data on the number of veterans currently in Canada comes from the 2021 Census, which estimated 461,240 individuals.