Canadian police veterans group advertises assisted suicide presentation to members

A Canadian police veterans association is facing backlash after its Nova Scotia branch promoted a seminar offering guidance on assisted suicide to retired RCMP members.

The Nova Scotia branch of the RCMP Veterans Association sent an email advertising a presentation on Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD). The email, leaked to Canadian war veteran and podcaster Kelsi Sheren by a 32-year police veteran, left the veteran feeling “deeply disturbed.”

The email was sent on Tuesday and invited members to a free presentation that organizers said “may interest many” and discussed MAiD. The event is scheduled for Saturday, November 22, at an Anglican church. The speaker is Dr. Gordon Gubitz, clinical lead for Nova Scotia Health’s assisted suicide program. Gubitz also serves on the board of the Canadian Association of MAiD Assessors and Providers, the group that developed the MAiD curriculum for clinicians and describes assisted suicide as a “compassionate response to suffering.”

Sheren also shared on X a message from another RCMP veteran who retired due to cancer and expressed concern that such seminars may be targeting vulnerable veterans as a way to reduce government spending. Sheren wrote that she has interviewed several veterans who said they were illegally offered MAiD, and noted previous incidents where Veterans Affairs Canada employees were caught offering assisted suicide to veterans “who never asked for it, including one trying to get a wheelchair ramp.”

“Veterans have been coerced before, and it’s happening again right in front of your faces. Now the RCMP Veterans’ Association is rolling out the red carpet for the prevailers of death. The dark ones who feed on the souls of those who couldn’t bare to take another breath,” Sheren reported.

The controversy comes as the Liberal government cut $4.23 billion from the Veterans Affairs budget in Prime Minister Mark Carney’s 2025 federal budget, according to Juno News.