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Listen "Outlook 2025-08-25 - Medical Assistance In Dying In Canada With Journalist Meagan Gillmore"
Episode Synopsis
Content warning: (Please do take care while listening as this episode discusses themes around suicidal ideation and death. If you are in distress currently, across Canada you can call or text 9-8-8 toll free from anywhere around the country.
***
We’ve known of this returning guest for years and first had her on with us back in 2021 - during Covid when she made podcasts from inside her closet, like many others did, while we were all recording from home. She joins us on the show to talk about one of the most contentious topics of our times in the country and especially for the disability community. We’ve wanted to discuss the situation with medical assistance in dying (MAID) on Outlook for a long time, but waited until a journalist could walk us through it, someone with both a professional and lived experience point-of-view.
Meagan Gillmore grew up in London, the city where we broadcast Outlook from, but now she lives in Ottawa, Canada’s capital city and reports for New online independent news publication Canadian Affairs which first launched back in 2023.
What exactly is MAID and how does it, in any way, differ from physician assisted suicide, euthanasia or any of the other terms you may have heard mentioned in the news?
We learn more about the history of medical assistance in dying so from the historical to the political, Meagan walks us through things like eligibility criteria and the two separate MAID tracks, along with changes in the criminal code, private members bills and legislative changes and other political elements, on lawsuits and the courts, and shares how most journalistic outlets do not cover medical assistance in dying with any sort of sustained coverage. We get an idea why journalists with lived experience of disability (either physical or mental) are well suited to keeping the media aware, along with the rest of us who often find MAID made more complicated by the sensitivity of the issue and society’s cultural fear of discussing anything remotely related to death and dying.
Gillmore shares with us a mixture of researched and reported details on the path MAID has been on in Canadian society along with her own personal up close experience with considering applying for it herself at one time. Plus we the hosts also share why this subject is so personal to us as Canadians living with disability and chronic illness during these capitalist times where barriers still exist with finding and maintaining steady employment and other factors toward fitting in in one’s community. Common ongoing themes discussed on this show about struggling with independence and dependence (not feeling like a burden when it comes to feeling like we must not burden society) vs interdependence and the grey areas of life and being part of our communities while finding purpose and balance in all areas of life are covered between the three of us.
Why would someone ever consider this rout for themselves or are there pressures put on those who have done it or are contemplating it? ? Why are people with disabilities feeling all this most intensely, has this gotten out of hand in Canada in particular, and what do disability organisations and groups think about all of it? How are physicians and other medical professionals feeling and viewing all this? From the legal system to advocating for human rights, all these things and more on this important episode.
***
Read recent articles written by Gillmore for Canadian Affairs:
https://www.canadianaffairs.news/author/meagan_gillmore/
Find an article on MAID by Gillmore from The Walrus in 2023:
https://thewalrus.ca/assisted-dying/
And to learn more about Meagan, check out her prior Outlook appearance:
https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/outlook-2021-02-08-interview-with-journalist-meagan/id1527876739?i=1000508230958
***
We’ve known of this returning guest for years and first had her on with us back in 2021 - during Covid when she made podcasts from inside her closet, like many others did, while we were all recording from home. She joins us on the show to talk about one of the most contentious topics of our times in the country and especially for the disability community. We’ve wanted to discuss the situation with medical assistance in dying (MAID) on Outlook for a long time, but waited until a journalist could walk us through it, someone with both a professional and lived experience point-of-view.
Meagan Gillmore grew up in London, the city where we broadcast Outlook from, but now she lives in Ottawa, Canada’s capital city and reports for New online independent news publication Canadian Affairs which first launched back in 2023.
What exactly is MAID and how does it, in any way, differ from physician assisted suicide, euthanasia or any of the other terms you may have heard mentioned in the news?
We learn more about the history of medical assistance in dying so from the historical to the political, Meagan walks us through things like eligibility criteria and the two separate MAID tracks, along with changes in the criminal code, private members bills and legislative changes and other political elements, on lawsuits and the courts, and shares how most journalistic outlets do not cover medical assistance in dying with any sort of sustained coverage. We get an idea why journalists with lived experience of disability (either physical or mental) are well suited to keeping the media aware, along with the rest of us who often find MAID made more complicated by the sensitivity of the issue and society’s cultural fear of discussing anything remotely related to death and dying.
Gillmore shares with us a mixture of researched and reported details on the path MAID has been on in Canadian society along with her own personal up close experience with considering applying for it herself at one time. Plus we the hosts also share why this subject is so personal to us as Canadians living with disability and chronic illness during these capitalist times where barriers still exist with finding and maintaining steady employment and other factors toward fitting in in one’s community. Common ongoing themes discussed on this show about struggling with independence and dependence (not feeling like a burden when it comes to feeling like we must not burden society) vs interdependence and the grey areas of life and being part of our communities while finding purpose and balance in all areas of life are covered between the three of us.
Why would someone ever consider this rout for themselves or are there pressures put on those who have done it or are contemplating it? ? Why are people with disabilities feeling all this most intensely, has this gotten out of hand in Canada in particular, and what do disability organisations and groups think about all of it? How are physicians and other medical professionals feeling and viewing all this? From the legal system to advocating for human rights, all these things and more on this important episode.
***
Read recent articles written by Gillmore for Canadian Affairs:
https://www.canadianaffairs.news/author/meagan_gillmore/
Find an article on MAID by Gillmore from The Walrus in 2023:
https://thewalrus.ca/assisted-dying/
And to learn more about Meagan, check out her prior Outlook appearance:
https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/outlook-2021-02-08-interview-with-journalist-meagan/id1527876739?i=1000508230958
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