Two days before Christmas, David Baltzer, a physically healthy man in his 30s, received a call from a Veterans Affairs Canada caseworker offering him medical assistance in dying.
Baltzer, a former soldier who completed two tours in Afghanistan, had been receiving psychological care for post-traumatic stress disorder and suicidal thoughts.
After finding it difficult to adjust to civilian life, he depended on veterans’ benefits to get by. He was therefore stunned when a letter informed him that those benefits had been reduced.
Distressed and seeking an explanation, he contacted Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC).
Instead of receiving the assistance he expected, Baltzer says the caseworker told him to end the call and gave him another number to contact.
During the follow-up conversation, he says another caseworker reviewed his file and raised what he described as an unexpected alternative.
‘He looked at my file and said, “I can see the therapy you’ve done. It doesn’t seem like much has helped. I’d like you to keep an open mind and think about this.”‘
‘”Have you ever given any thought to medical assistance in dying?”‘
Baltzer is one of several Canadian veterans who told Our News Outlet they were offered euthanasia in connection with mental health problems or disabilities.
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David Baltzer had been receiving psychological treatment for PTSD and suicidal thoughts after serving two tours in Afghanistan
Reflecting on his time in Afghanistan, Baltzer described the horrors of combat and the difficulty of returning to ordinary life
Some veterans said they felt ‘disposable’ and ‘abandoned’ by the country they had served. One alleged that a nurse had ‘bragged’ about the number of people they had euthanised.
Another said it was easier to obtain legal marijuana than medical equipment, arguing that Canada had effectively turned its back on its servicemen and women.
Our News Outlet also spoke to Catherine Christensen, a lawyer representing several veterans who say they were offered medical assistance in dying (MAID). She is working on a proposed class-action lawsuit against the Canadian government.
‘You’ve got physically healthy young men asking for help, and the help offered is death,’ she said.
For Baltzer, the call came when he was especially vulnerable. He was struggling to adapt to civilian life, facing problems in his relationship and had already been assigned several different therapists through Veterans Affairs.
Speaking from his home in Manitoba, he said: ‘To me, [the suggestion of MAID] was a confirmation of, “Oh, my life is worthless”.’
He says the 2019 conversation marked a turning point and sent him into a downward spiral.
‘The last six years have been a gong show. I went off the rails pretty hard. I ruined a lot of stuff in my life. I just burned it all to the ground.’
The suggestion that his life might no longer be worth living had a profound impact on his self-worth.
‘[After the call] I started questioning my value. I had a really bad attitude and was engaging in anti-social behaviour. Not even thinking about consequences, but thinking about things in the moment and just doing them.’
His behaviour grew increasingly destructive, and he began misusing alcohol and other substances.
While appealing to have his veterans’ benefits restored, Baltzer raised the MAID conversation with a pension advocate. He says the complaint went nowhere.
‘I said, “You didn’t help me at all, and in fact, you offered me medically-assisted suicide.” And it just went blank. No one said anything. It just got swept under the rug.’
The episode left him feeling betrayed by an institution he had once been proud to serve.
‘I was a stand-up, moral, law-abiding citizen and prided myself on that for a very long time. And then I realised all I’m doing is fighting the system constantly after I honourably served them.’
Looking back on his time in Afghanistan, Baltzer recalled the horrors of combat and the challenge of returning to everyday life after years in a violent environment where death was always close by.
‘You’d see the vehicle in front of you get blown up, see how much of the road it took out, and then you’re picking up body parts off the ground. Or mush, or whatever was left.’
‘Being in for as long as I was, you kind of forget who you were before. You forget the things that you enjoyed.’
Although Baltzer remains proud of what he achieved in the military, he says Canada’s treatment of him has left him deeply disillusioned.
‘After everything that’s been done, if I could go back in time, I wouldn’t have served Canada,’ he said.
Baltzer is not the only veteran who now regrets dedicating his life to Canada’s Armed Forces.
Tony Jenkins, 52, of Nova Scotia, served on and off for almost 25 years as a weapons technician and says he was offered MAID on two occasions.
Speaking to Our News Outlet, he described serving his country as ‘the worst decision of my life’.
In 2015, Jenkins suffered a serious brain injury when an antenna attached to an armoured vehicle struck him on the head.
Tony Jenkins developed chronic migraines, slurred speech and severe nerve damage from the brain injury
Jenkins served in the military on and off for almost two-and-a-half decades
In the years afterward, he developed chronic migraines, slurred speech and severe nerve damage, causing debilitating pain in his arms and shoulders.
Jenkins says the military repeatedly dismissed his condition. On one occasion, a superior allegedly told him he was ‘full of s***’ when he raised concerns about the brain injury.
About two years after the accident, Jenkins went to a military doctor in distress after losing feeling in his arms. Instead of addressing his physical symptoms, he says, the doctor immediately asked whether he was suicidal.
‘I was shocked. I’m like, no, I’ve never been suicidal. She kept saying, you know, “Are you sure? Are you sure you’re not suicidal?” She’s like, “Well, if you are, I can help you”.’
Jenkins said he was already seeing a psychologist, but claims the doctor repeated the question and made the same offer. He understood her comments as suggesting she could help him obtain medical assistance in dying.
Jenkins left the military in January 2022. He was taking prescription medication for migraines, but after leaving the Armed Forces discovered that his repeat prescription had been sent to a pharmacy in another town.
Without access to the medication, he endured a migraine that lasted nine days.
‘I was sitting on a toilet with a bucket between my legs for nine days. When I wasn’t doing that, I was lying on the floor in the basement because I just needed something cold and dark,’ he said. ‘I lost 14 pounds in nine days from being sick.’
He unsuccessfully sought replacement medication from a nearby walk-in clinic and another hospital. Eventually, he called 811, Nova Scotia’s health advice line, and spoke to a nurse.
In severe pain and desperate for relief, Jenkins asked about MAID. He says he was quickly transferred to another line, where a second nurse began discussing an appointment without first exploring other ways to treat his condition.
‘She said, “When you’re ready, you call this number again, and we just book the slot, and that’s it”.’
‘It was two phone calls, and then you could book a death appointment,’ he said. ‘It was as easy as ordering a pizza.’
Jenkins says he was told the procedure could be arranged within days. He also claims the nurse boasted that she had carried out more than 400 such procedures.
‘She was very nonchalant, as if she was discussing a dentist appointment,’ he said.
After speaking with his wife, Jenkins decided not to pursue MAID.
As his immediate crisis eased, he says he began to understand how disturbing it was that assisted dying had been presented to him as an option.
‘When I realized it was so easy, literally two phone calls, and you could be killed the next day, I thought to myself, this isn’t right,’ he said.
The experience became even more troubling the next day, when Jenkins took his empty medication box to a local pharmacy to ask whether staff could help. The pharmacist immediately agreed to refill the prescription.
‘It was as simple as that. If they just would have told me, “Take your empty box of medication and go to the pharmacy and get a refill.” That’s all they had to say. But nobody offered that to me. Nobody.’
Both Baltzer and Jenkins say they now want to leave Canada permanently.
‘We’re not worth anything to these people,’ Jenkins said. ‘I often say that I wasted my life serving my country, because they always say you’re one big family. You’re one big family until something happens to you.’
Catherine Christensen, an Alberta-based lawyer, has represented numerous veterans over the years.
Although the veterans featured in this article have agreed to be identified, Christensen says many others who claim they were offered MAID are afraid to speak publicly.
‘They fear that if they dare complain, their Veterans Affairs benefits will be cut off. Or, at the very least, cut off long enough for it to hurt, and then all of a sudden they’ll be reinstated.’
Christensen is representing several men who are suing the Canadian government over allegations that they were offered MAID.
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One of them is Corben McGown. The veteran is now 26, but he says euthanasia was offered to him when he was just 22.
Corben McGown was offered MAID at just 22 years old as he was receiving treatment for PTSD
McGown, who was accompanied by his wife during the phone call, said he turned to her in shock after hearing the offer
Speaking from New Brunswick, he recalled: ‘I was going through a pretty bad period mentally. I just wasn’t doing well at the time, and I reached out to Veterans Affairs Canada [VAC] for help. I needed some support. I really didn’t know what I was doing.’
At the time, McGown was dealing with PTSD, depression and anxiety, and had made several suicide attempts.
VAC arranged therapy for him, but the young veteran says the process felt dehumanising and difficult.
‘Some therapists made me feel as though I was just a paycheck to them. Others couldn’t even remember our previous sessions. It didn’t feel like I mattered to them.’
He had been in therapy for 18 months when he says MAID was abruptly raised.
During a phone call with a caseworker about his mental health, McGown says euthanasia was among the first options presented to him.
‘It was brought up almost as though I qualified for it. They knew about my situation at the time because I had been quite open about my suicidal thoughts.’
‘When she brought it up, it was essentially presented as: “You qualify for it”.’
McGown’s wife was with him during the call. He says he turned to her in disbelief after hearing the offer.
‘I was stunned. It was a lot to take in. I was looking for help – not to die,’ he said.
Several years later, McGown suffered another devastating loss when his father, who was also a military veteran, died by suicide.
Afterward, he began reconsidering his own experiences with Veterans Affairs, including what he viewed as inadequate mental health support and the shock of being offered MAID.
Around that time, he met Catherine Christensen of Valour Law, who agreed to represent him. His case has since progressed through the courts.
In an amended statement of claim seen by Our News Outlet and filed with the Federal Court, McGown alleges that a Veterans Affairs representative presented MAID as the preferred response to his psychological difficulties instead of offering appropriate mental health care and support.
He alleges that the incident caused severe emotional distress, mental anguish and what he describes as moral injury. He says it further damaged his mental health and left him unable to work.
The Canadian government, however, denies that MAID was discussed with McGown. It maintains that the call concerned his benefits and possible mental health treatment.
The government also says it has no records of a call matching McGown’s account.
Christensen, who has represented many veterans, says missing records are a persistent problem within Veterans Affairs and the Canadian Armed Forces.
‘When we ask for records, there are gaps. It’s a very common thing,’ she said.
‘With Corben’s call, they said it never happened. So we produced his phone records as evidence, because he had called them.’
McGown is now attending full-time therapy with a psychologist he chose himself and says his mental health has improved.
‘[The therapist] remembers every session, and he treats me like a person. It’s definitely a lot better than what they (VAC) offered me.’
His message to other veterans struggling with their mental health is simple: ‘It does get better. There are a lot of better options than MAID.’
Christine Gauthier, a former Paralympian and veteran from Quebec, says she was offered MAID when she asked for a wheelchair lift at her home.
Gauthier became disabled after suffering an injury during military training in 1998. She went on to serve for more than a decade as an artilleryman, including deployments to Israel and Cyprus.
Over the past 30 years, her condition has deteriorated to the point where she is now wheelchair-bound and relies on government benefits and medical equipment to remain mobile.
Christine Gauthier became disabled after suffering an injury during military training in 1998, but went on to serve for over a decade as an artilleryman
During her 10 years in Canada’s Armed Forces, Gauthier was deployed to Israel and Cyprus
Gauthier is a five-time Para canoe world champion and plays sledge hockey, cross-country sit ski and hand cycles
Speaking from her home in Montreal, Gauthier said it took five years of repeated requests to have a wheelchair lift installed.
‘Throughout those five years, the Veterans Affairs agent supposedly handling my case would call every few months and tell me things were about to be sorted out.’
‘Each time, I hoped that this would finally be the call when something happened.’
‘In the meantime, I had to crawl up and down eight steps, holding and dragging my wheelchair behind me, just to get into my house.’
‘Then, one day, during one of those calls, I told him: “I really can’t keep going on like this. This is ridiculous. I keep injuring myself. I just can’t take it anymore”.’
‘And [the caseworker] blurted out: “Well, if you really feel you can’t keep going on like this and you can’t take it anymore, you know you have the right to die”.’
Gauthier says the caseworker explained that she was entitled to medical assistance in dying because the option had recently become available.
‘I was shocked. I said, “I can’t believe you’re telling me I have the right to die, but you’re not going to give me the equipment I need to live”.’
Gauthier says the conversation was the final straw after decades of what she characterises as inadequate care from Veterans Affairs.
She says she has repeatedly had to fight for basic necessities, including incontinence pads, while being offered unlimited medical marijuana — which she believes was intended to keep her compliant.
‘They called me to tell me I had reached the limit of the diapers I needed in a month. I mean, how low can you make someone feel as a human being?’
She also says she had to fight five separate times to keep her medical insurance.
On one occasion, a caseworker reportedly told her she should ‘consider herself lucky’ to have received coverage for so long.
‘Lucky? I should consider myself lucky to be crippled and unable to get coverage anywhere else?’ she said.
‘They either want you gone and dead, or quiet like a plant. They don’t want you to disturb anyone, be conscious or be able to respond and fight back,’ she said.
‘Sometimes I wonder whether the system has been designed this way because so many people eventually give up.’
Gauthier says staff at her local hospital urged her to file a formal complaint after she told them about the call in which MAID was allegedly offered.
She later wrote to then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. According to Gauthier, he sent a generic response saying he could not intervene because the matter was outside his remit.
Veterans Affairs Canada subsequently reviewed her case but said it found no evidence supporting her account. There was no reference to MAID in her file.
In 2023, after an internal investigation into allegations that VAC employees had inappropriately raised MAID with veterans, the department confirmed four incidents involving one caseworker.
VAC concluded that the incidents were isolated and found no evidence of a wider systemic problem.
The employee was dismissed, and VAC instructed frontline staff that they must not offer advice about or suggest MAID.
Christensen, however, says the issue continues. She is currently representing a veteran who allegedly was offered MAID as recently as the spring of this year.
‘The issue with MAID being offered to veterans is that veterans are an extremely vulnerable group,’ she said.
‘They’re trained for the mission, and then themselves. When they’re struggling, they think about their family and their mission to take care of their family.’
‘You plant that idea in a veteran’s head, and all of a sudden they’re thinking that sacrificing themselves is for the betterment of their family.’
In a statement to Our News Outlet, VAC said MAiD is not a service it provides and that employees have ‘no role or mandate to recommend or raise it’. The department added that staff are expressly instructed not to raise or recommend MAID ‘under any circumstances’.
The department said concerns first emerged in August 2022, prompting an investigation that examined more than 402,000 client files dating back to 2016.
According to VAC, the review identified four inappropriate discussions about MAiD, all involving the same employee, who no longer works for the department.
VAC said the findings demonstrated that the incidents were ‘not a systemic issue, but an isolated case’. It added that mandatory staff training and further safeguards had since been introduced, and said there had been no additional reports of inappropriate discussions.
