Two days before Christmas, David Baltzer, a physically healthy man in his 30s, received an unexpected 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 struggling to adjust to civilian life, he depended on veterans’ benefits to get by. He was therefore stunned when a letter informed him that his benefits had been reduced.
Seeking an explanation, Baltzer contacted Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC).
Instead of receiving the support he expected, he says the caseworker told him to end the call and supplied another number for him to contact.
During the second conversation, Baltzer says the caseworker reviewed his file and raised an alternative he had never expected.
“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 the Daily Mail they were offered euthanasia while seeking help for mental-health conditions 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 even “bragged” about the number of people she had euthanised.
Another said obtaining legal marijuana was easier than securing medical equipment, arguing that Canada had effectively turned its back on former servicemen.
The Daily Mail also spoke with 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 particularly 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 conversation in 2019 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 implication that his life was no longer worth living deeply damaged his sense of self-worth.
“[After the call] I started questioning my value. I had a really bad attitude and was engaging in anti-social behaviour. I wasn’t thinking about consequences, just about things in the moment and doing them.”
His behaviour became increasingly destructive, and he began abusing alcohol and other substances.
While appealing the decision to cut his veterans’ benefits, Baltzer raised the MAID suggestion 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 was 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 had been proud of that for a very long time. Then I realised all I was doing was constantly fighting the system after honourably serving it.”
Looking back on his time in Afghanistan, Baltzer described the brutality of combat and the challenge of returning to everyday life after years in an environment where death was always close.
“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.”
Baltzer remains proud of what he accomplished in uniform, but says his treatment by Canada 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 to regret dedicating his life to the Canadian Armed Forces.
Tony Jenkins, 52, of Nova Scotia, served intermittently for nearly 25 years as a weapons technician and says he was offered MAID twice.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, 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 serious nerve damage, causing debilitating pain in his arms and shoulders.
Jenkins says the military repeatedly dismissed his condition. On one occasion, he alleges, a superior told him he was “full of s***” when he raised concerns about his brain injury.
About two years after the accident, he visited a military doctor in distress after losing feeling in his arms. Rather than investigating 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 explained that he was already seeing a psychologist, but says the doctor continued repeating the question and offer. He understood her comments as a reference to medically assisted dying.
Jenkins left the military in January 2022. At the time, prescription medication helped control his migraines, but after he left the Armed Forces, he 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 asked to speak with a nurse.
Desperate and in extreme pain, 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 organised within days and that the nurse boasted she had carried out more than 400 such procedures.
“She was very nonchalant, as if she was discussing a dentist appointment,” he said.
After talking with his wife, Jenkins decided he did not want to pursue MAID.
Once his immediate crisis passed, he says he began to understand how disturbing it was that assisted dying had been presented as an option.
“When I realised 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 situation became even more troubling the following day, when Jenkins took his empty medication box to a local pharmacy to ask for help. The pharmacist immediately agreed to refill the prescription.
“It was as simple as that. If they had just 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 is an Alberta-based lawyer who has represented numerous veterans.
Although the veterans featured in this article agreed to be identified, Christensen says many others who were allegedly 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 suddenly reinstated.”
Christensen is currently representing several men who are suing the Canadian government over alleged offers of MAID.
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One of them is Corben McGown. He is now 26, but says he was offered euthanasia when he was only 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 to the Daily Mail 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.”
McGown was dealing with PTSD, depression and anxiety and had made several suicide attempts.
VAC had arranged therapy for him, but he says the experience was difficult and dehumanising.
“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 unexpectedly raised.
During a call with a caseworker about his mental-health problems, 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, and 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, also a military veteran, died by suicide.
Afterward, he began reconsidering his own dealings with Veterans Affairs, including what he viewed as inadequate mental-health care and the shock of being offered MAID.
Around that time, he met Christensen of Valour Law, who agreed to represent him. His case has since progressed through the courts.
In an amended statement of claim filed with the Federal Court and seen by the Daily Mail, McGown alleges that a Veterans Affairs representative presented MAID as the preferred response to his psychological problems instead of providing suitable mental-health treatment and support.
He claims the episode caused severe emotional distress, mental anguish and what he calls moral injury, worsening his mental health and leaving him unable to work.
The Canadian government has denied that MAID was discussed with McGown, saying the call concerned his benefits and possible mental-health treatment.
The government also says it has no records matching the call described in his allegations.
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 receiving full-time therapy from 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 Quebec veteran, says she was offered MAID while seeking a wheelchair lift for her home.
Gauthier became disabled after an injury during military training in 1998, but went on to serve for more than a decade as an artillery soldier, including deployments to Israel and Cyprus.
Over the following three decades, her condition deteriorated. She is now wheelchair-bound and depends 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 she spent five years pressing for a wheelchair lift to be 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 it 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 then explained that she was entitled to medical assistance in dying because it 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.’”
She says the incident was the final blow after decades of what she describes as poor care from Veterans Affairs.
Gauthier says she has repeatedly had to fight for basic supplies, including incontinence pads, while being offered unlimited medical marijuana—something she believes was meant to keep her quiet.
“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 has had to fight five separate times to keep her medical insurance.
On one occasion, she says, a caseworker told her to “consider herself lucky” to have retained 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.”
After telling staff at her local hospital about the alleged MAID offer, Gauthier says they urged her to make a formal complaint.
She later wrote to then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who she says sent a standard response stating that he could not intervene because the issue fell outside his authority.
Veterans Affairs Canada subsequently reviewed her case but said it found no evidence supporting her account and no mention of MAID in her file.
In 2023, after investigating 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 issued guidance making clear that frontline staff must not offer advice about or suggest MAID.
Christensen disputes the suggestion that the problem has ended. She is currently representing a veteran who allegedly received an offer of 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 the Daily Mail, VAC said MAID is not a service it provides and that its employees have “no role or mandate to recommend or raise it”. The department said staff are expressly forbidden from raising or recommending MAID “under any circumstances”.
The department said concerns first emerged in August 2022, leading to an investigation of more than 402,000 client files dating back to 2016.
That review identified four inappropriate MAID discussions, all involving the same employee, who no longer works for the department.
VAC maintained that the findings demonstrated the incidents were “not a systemic issue, but an isolated case”. It said mandatory staff training and additional safeguards had since been introduced, and that no further reports of inappropriate discussions had been received.