TOM LEONARD: Michael Fraser (inset) has joined the growing number of Canadians — more than 10,000 last year alone — who have availed themselves of the world's most permissive government-assisted suicide programme. That figure, equivalent to 3.3 per cent of the total number of Canadians who died, was up 32.4 per cent on the previous year. So grimly generous are Canada's euthanasia laws, in fact, that while he'd had a difficult existence that included liver disease, an inability to walk and depression, Mr Fraser was by no means dying. Instead, he admitted that his poverty would prevent him from living a dignified life. Once regarded as completely taboo, euthanasia is becoming increasingly accepted around a world ever more keen to cater for the rights of the individual — including the right to decide when and how they die. Pictured: Christine Gauthier (left), a paraplegic army veteran who competed in the 2016 Paralympics who said she was offered help to die after fighting to get a stairlift for her home, and wheelchair-bound Les Landry (right), who is seeking assisted suicide primarily for financial reasons. Mail.
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