#42: INTOLERABLE SUFFERING 😩

👮 HEALTHCARE - Ontario man, 26, receives MAID in B.C. after multiple rejections in Ontario

🛒 SHOPPING - Mississauga student unwittingly signs contract for $14k red-light therapy mask

🏫 EDUCATION - OPP investigating after Orillia student, 12, breaks nose while riding bus home

Good morning.

The British are far more appalled by our frequent euthanasia scandals than we are.

Every time another Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) atrocity hits the news (see this week’s top story and issue #39, in which we covered the story of a "burnt out" Ontario boomer who requested MAID for his wife), the British tabloids are all over it, which inevitably tips off the Americans, who then renew calls to invade Canada out of a certain moral obligation.

The Americans are in no position to scold us on morality, but let’s not brush off how abhorrent our euthanasia laws are.

MAID is divided into two tracks: Track 1 is for patients “whose natural death is reasonably foreseeable,” and Track 2 is for patients who are seriously—but not terminally—ill.

Since these patients aren’t in danger of death, they must prove their suffering, either physical or mental, is “intolerable.”

But what is intolerable suffering? In the eyes of the law, it’s pain the patient defines as unbearable that cannot be relieved under conditions they “consider acceptable.”

In other words, it’s a subjective way of determining whose death wishes are legitimate and whose are not.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but to a suicide isn’t mere existence intolerable?

Are we really a country who wants so badly to be admired for our compassion that we even offer to help our suicidal citizens kill themselves?

Anyway, now that you know my bias against killing yourself and/or other people, please enjoy today’s stories.

-Peter

⌛️ Today’s read is 1.5 minutes long.

🎲 WHAT ARE THE ODDS?

▲ 43% chance the Liberals have a majority in Parliament by June 30 (+17% this week).

▼ 19% chance a federal election will be called before June 30 (-20% this week).

▲ 97% chance the Bank of Canada will hold rates steady in March decision (+18% this year).

▼ 37% chance Canada goes into recession by end of year (-5% this week).

*Odds are based on yes/no betting activity by users on Polymarket.

The family of a 26-year-old Ontario man is demanding a review of federal assisted dying laws after their son received MAID in British Columbia despite being repeatedly turned down by doctors in his home province.

Kiano Vafaeian, who lived with Type 1 diabetes and was losing his sight, died in B.C. on Dec. 30, 2025. For years, he had sought MAID in Ontario but was consistently rejected.

His family told Global News they believed the rejections were because Vafaeian’s primary struggles were rooted in mental, not physical, illness. They noted he suffered from depression, which worsened during the winter months.

After failing to secure approval at home, Vafaeian traveled to British Columbia to meet with Dr. Ellen Wiebe, a known MAID advocate. Dr. Wiebe assessed Vafaeian and said he met all federal requirements for the procedure.

Dr. Wiebe’s name is on Vafaeian’s death certificate.

In a statement to Global News, Wiebe said each patient she has given MAID has had a grievous and irremediable medical—not psychiatric—condition. She added that each of them was capable of consent and that all her Track 2 assessments took at least 90 days.

Vafaeian’s mother, Margaret Marsilla, claims her son sought out a more "permissive" environment in B.C. after being told "no" in Ontario. She also alleges her son was coached on how to frame his symptoms to satisfy the assessment criteria, a claim Dr. Wiebe has denied.

"He was rejected here in Ontario because he didn't qualify," said Vafaeian’s stepfather, Joseph Caprara. "The fact that he could just go to another province and get it done is a failure of the entire system."

A record 16,499 people received MAID in 2024. That represents 5.1% of all deaths in Canada, or approximately one in every 20 deaths.

While the vast majority of cases (95.6%) involved patients whose deaths were reasonably foreseeable, 732 people—or 4.4% of the total—were "Track 2" patients like Vafaeian, whose deaths were not imminent. Track 2 deaths are up 17% over the past year.

In total, around 80,000 Canadians have ended their lives through MAID since it was legalized in 2016.

A Mississauga college student is speaking out after narrowly escaping $14,000 of debt for a skincare device she says she was pressured into buying.

The student, identified as Meredith, was walking through a mall last November when she was approached with an offer for free skincare samples and a complimentary skin analysis at a store called The Soap Tree.

During the session, a sales rep used a red-light therapy mask on Meredith’s face.

“[They] started putting it on my face without me telling them to,” she told CTV News.

On the spot, Meredith agreed to pay nearly $1,400 for the machine. She later discovered that was only the down payment and the papers she’d signed at the store had locked her into a contract for a $10,000 loan at 25% interest.

Including her deposit, the total cost was around $14,000.

"I felt scared because I don’t have that money. I’m just a student," she said.

Meredith tried returning the mask a few days later, but found the store completely empty, furniture gone, and doors locked.

Goeasy, the parent company of the financing firm to which Meredith was indebted, told CTV News it cancelled her loan because of the sketchy circumstances surrounding the sale and the store’s closure.

The company has since refunded Meredith and cleared her of any further obligation.

Meredith says she plans to be more cautious before signing any contracts in the future.

A 12-year-old Orillia student was taken to the hospital this week after breaking her nose during a bus ride home.

The 12-year-old alleges the bus driver intentionally accelerated while approaching a bump in the road to launch her and the other students into the air—a maneuver she claimed had become a routine occurrence.

The impact reportedly launched the girl from her seat. When she landed, her nose was bleeding. Her friend tried to help, but the family alleges the driver continued the route for several more stops before the girl was able to exit.

The Orillia OPP confirmed the incident occurred Tuesday evening while the bus was traveling through Severn Township. According to police, the student was taken to Orillia Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital, where she was treated and later released.

While investigators have not yet specified the exact cause of the injury, the student's mother said her daughter called her immediately after stepping off the bus to say her nose was broken.

“I just want accountability,” the mother told Orillia Matters. “Why didn’t the bus driver stop to check on the kids?”

The family reports that the student has faced ongoing swelling and difficulty breathing through one nostril, requiring a return trip to the hospital. The experience has reportedly left the child anxious about returning to school and hesitant to use the bus.

Sharp Bus Lines, the company responsible for the route, issued a statement confirming they are cooperating with the ongoing review.

The OPP has not neither confirmed nor denied the family's allegations regarding the driver's speed or the road conditions. The investigation remains ongoing.

_{Source: Orillia Matters}