Canada Recorded More MAID Deaths Than U.S. Firearm Homicides in 2024, Government Data Show

Canada reported 16,499 medical assistance in dying provisions in 2024, compared with 15,364 firearm homicides in the United States, a numerical comparison that has drawn renewed attention from U.S. lawmakers amid controversy over Canada’s assisted-dying system.

By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.

Canada recorded 16,499 deaths through medical assistance in dying in 2024, exceeding the 15,364 firearm homicides recorded in the United States during the same year by 1,135, according to official government statistics.

The comparison has drawn attention in the United States after a Canadian family’s allegations surrounding the death of an 83-year-old woman generated widespread criticism of Canada’s Medical Assistance in Dying program, commonly known as MAID.

Health Canada’s annual MAID report confirms that 16,499 people received MAID in 2024, a 6.9% increase from 15,427 in 2023. MAID accounted for an estimated 5.1% of all deaths in Canada that year.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, meanwhile, reported 15,364 firearm homicide deaths in the United States in 2024, along with 20,162 homicides from all causes.

The raw numerical comparison is therefore accurate: Canada recorded 1,135 more MAID provisions than the United States recorded firearm homicides in 2024.

The figures measure very different categories, however, and come from countries with substantially different population sizes. The Canadian figure reflects deaths occurring after individuals qualified for and received medical assistance in dying under Canadian law, while the U.S. figure counts homicides committed with firearms. The totals should therefore not be interpreted as equivalent mortality rates or as measuring the same phenomenon.

Health Canada describes MAID as a health service available under a federal legal framework to eligible adults with a “grievous and irremediable medical condition.” The government reported that every MAID provision in Canada during 2024 was administered by a practitioner rather than self-administered.

The comparison entered the political debate after Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, highlighted the numbers in a viral post on X.

“State-administered death is now more common in Canada than gun homicide is in the U.S,” Lee wrote. “That didn’t happen by accident.”

Lee’s comments followed a Sept. 20 Daily Mail report concerning an 83-year-old Canadian woman whose family alleged she received MAID against her wishes.

The headline quoted the woman’s granddaughter describing her as an “83-year-old Christian grandmother” who “was euthanized against her will under Canada’s assisted dying system” and saying she “died covered in blood with her hands clasped in prayer.”

Those are allegations made by the family and reported by the newspaper; they are not established by the national MAID statistics themselves.

The case prompted responses from Republican senators in the United States.

“This … is … evil,” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, wrote on X.

Lee separately argued that the Canadian system illustrates what he sees as the dangers of combining government-funded health care with assisted dying.

“The intersection of assisted suicide and socialized medicine results in state-led horrors, treating the young, old, infirm, and distressed as disposable people,” Lee wrote. “We must never allow this barbarity to spread in America.”

Those statements reflect the senators’ opposition to assisted-dying laws rather than findings contained in Health Canada’s annual report.

Canada legalized MAID federally in 2016 following a Supreme Court of Canada decision and subsequent legislation. Federal law establishes eligibility requirements and safeguards, while provincial and territorial health systems administer the service.

In 2024, Health Canada received reports concerning 22,535 resolved MAID requests. Of those, 16,499 resulted in MAID, 4,017 people died from another cause, 1,327 were deemed ineligible and 692 withdrew their requests.

The overwhelming majority of recipients fell under what Canada calls Track 1, covering people whose natural death was reasonably foreseeable. Health Canada reported 15,767 Track 1 provisions, representing 95.6% of the total, and 732 Track 2 provisions for people whose natural death was not reasonably foreseeable.

The median age of MAID recipients was 77.9 years.

Health Canada also reported that 12,221 recipients, or 74.1%, required and received palliative care. Another 410, or 2.5%, were recorded as requiring palliative care but not receiving it, although Health Canada said palliative care was considered accessible to 374 of those individuals.

Canadian law requires that a person requesting MAID meet eligibility criteria that include making a voluntary request that is not the result of external pressure and providing informed consent. Health Canada describes the federal safeguards as designed to ensure MAID is available only under defined legal circumstances.

Critics of the system continue to dispute whether those protections are sufficient in individual cases, particularly involving elderly, disabled or otherwise vulnerable patients.

Supporters of the Canadian framework argue that MAID provides eligible adults experiencing intolerable suffering with autonomy over end-of-life decisions and point to the statutory eligibility requirements, assessments and safeguards built into the law.

The 2024 statistics show that use of MAID continued to increase, although at a substantially slower rate than in earlier years. The number rose 6.9% from 2023 to 2024, compared with increases of 16.9% from 2022 to 2023 and more than 30% annually during several earlier years. Health Canada said several more years of data would be necessary before determining whether annual MAID totals are stabilizing.

The United States’ firearm homicide figure comes from an entirely separate mortality system. CDC data show 15,364 firearm homicides in 2024, a rate of 4.5 deaths per 100,000 U.S. residents.

That figure does not include firearm suicides, accidental firearm deaths or other firearm-related fatalities, making “firearm homicide” narrower than total U.S. firearm mortality.

The comparison highlighted by Lee is consequently accurate as a comparison of national raw counts: Canada’s 16,499 MAID provisions exceeded America’s 15,364 firearm homicides by 1,135 in 2024.

What those numbers mean remains a separate question. They describe different causes and circumstances of death in two countries with very different populations and legal systems, while the controversy surrounding Canada’s MAID program centers on the ethical, medical and legal question of when — and under what safeguards — assisted death should be permitted.