By Daniel Payne
CNA Staff, May 22, 2025 /
06:00 am
The Canadian government’s abolishment of a government ministry for disabled citizens underscores the government’s “demeaning attitude” toward disabled people, advocates say, particularly after the country opted to expand the national euthanasia program to include those with disabilities.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, the Liberal Party leader who assumed office in March, unveiled his new cabinet last week vowing a government that will promote “new ideas, a clear focus, and decisive action.”
Notably missing from the cabinet, however, was any minister charged directly with administering to the needs of disabled Canadians.
The position was held most recently by Kamal Khera, who served as the country’s minister of diversity, inclusion, and persons with disabilities until March before she became the Canadian minister of health.
Direct support for disabled Canadians has been ministered via a variety of government positions over the years. The position most recently vacated by Khera was first created in 2019. Following Khera’s departure it was consolidated under the minister of jobs and families.
‘Demeaning attitude towards disabled Canadians’
Advocates have criticized the abolishment of the cabinet position that directly provided support for disabled Canadian citizens. Data show that slightly more than 25% of Canadians report having a disability of some kind.
Disability advocates say the removal of the ministry is particularly troubling in light of the government’s permitting disabled Canadians to seek euthanasia under the country’s medical assistance in dying (MAID) law. The government in 2021 expanded the law to allow euthanasia for people who are not actively dying — an option known as “Track 2” — including those with disabilities.
The Carney government’s “glaring omission of a minister for disabled Canadians” reflects “the demeaning attitude of the Liberal Party towards disabled Canadians,” said David Cooke, the campaigns manager for Campaign Life Coalition, a Canadian pro-life group.
Cooke argued that the Carney government is “prioritizing euthanasia over improving medical and social supports for this vulnerable and marginalized group.”
The 2021 expansion of the euthanasia law, Cooke said, “defined disabled Canadians as ‘killable,’ allowing them to qualify for consensual death by lethal injection on the basis of their disability.”
Cooke pointed out that the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities last month called for Canada to repeal the Track 2 provision of the euthanasia law. The U.N. committee said in its report that the expansion of the law was made “on the basis of negative, ableist perceptions of the quality and value of the life of persons with disabilities.”
Amanda Achtman, a pro-life activist who launched the anti-euthanasia group Dying to Meet You in 2023, said the abandonment of a disability cabinet position suggests disabled Canadians “have become less of a priority for the federal government.”
“The fact that the Canadian government now has a minister of artificial intelligence but not a minister for persons with disabilities is symptomatic of a broader cultural shift,” she said.
Achtman pointed out, however, that the presence of a disabilities minister did not stop the expansion of the country’s euthanasia law to cover disabled Canadians. Earlier disability ministers voted for both the original 2016 law and the 2021 expansion.
“There is a kind of social euthanasia that happens whenever a person is discarded, dismissed, or discounted,” she said of the law.
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Alex Schadenberg, the executive director of the Canadian Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, agreed. The disability ministry “was an important appointment,” he said, “except for the fact that the ministers who had the role did not share the point of view of the disability community concerning MAID.”
“The government needs to focus on providing the needs for people with disabilities but this should be done from the point of view of people with disabilities,” he said.
Government data indicate a high percentage of individuals seeking euthanasia under Track 2 are disabled. The most recent Canadian government report on euthanasia found that, of those who reported a disability prior to being euthanized, more than 58% were under Track 2, meaning their deaths were not “reasonably foreseeable.”
The government in its report claims that “several enhanced safeguards are in place for individuals under Track 2 to provide additional protections.” Yet there are “some concerns regarding the quality and reliability” of data regarding disabilities, the government admitted.
There are further possible expansions of Canada’s euthanasia law on the horizon: The federal government in 2027 will consider expanding MAID provisions to those suffering from mental illness.
The government has also considered allowing so-called “mature minors” to request to be killed by doctors, and the government is also debating whether to allow citizens to prearrange to be euthanized at a time when they are unable to consent to the procedure.
Achtman acknowledged the “disappointment at the removal of this portfolio from cabinet,” though she said it presented “an opportunity to citizens to offer a corrective to the shortcomings of government when it comes to disability advocacy.”
She quoted Pope Francis, who in his encyclical Fratelli Tutti wrote: “Only a gaze transformed by charity can enable the dignity of others to be recognized.”
“That gaze is at the heart of the authentic spirit of politics,” the late Holy Father wrote. “It sees paths open up that are different from those of a soulless pragmatism.”
Achtman argued that both Canadians and Americans should work to “find creative ways to ‘give voice’ to those with disabilities as Pope Francis said.”
This “depends on encounter, solidarity, and presence, experiences of which we are all capable,” she said.
Daniel Payne is a senior editor at Catholic News Agency. He previously worked at the College Fix and Just the News. He lives in Virginia with his family.
